«SPACES» – Typo Berlin 2009 infos now online

FontShop published some days ago the latest information about their annually design conference known as «Typo Berlin». In 2009 the conference will take place between the 21st and 23rd of May on the subject of «SPACE». As last year many famous speakers are announced. Among them there will be one of my docents for typography, Philipp Stamm, talking about his recently published book about the oeuvre of Adrian Frutiger. So the gentle visitor can look forward to enlightening lectures and presentations again.

As appears from the website the choise of the topic was motivated by the current trend among graphic designers to leave the screen behind and to compose images and typography in an installative way in the familiar spaces of the real life. These experiments confront the author of design works with new possibilies and aspects like light, material or the relations between perspective and size. These things have fallen victim to the comfortable flatness of the screen. Of course there are the possibilities of 3d imaging. But using the space arround us in combination with things we all know generates astonishing relations and aspects over and over again. And that's an important matter graphic design is all about, isn't it?

Of course trends in graphic design always find a materialization in several books that make our Amazon wish lists grow towards infinity. Lately «Drei D – Grafische Räume» («Three D – Graphical Spaces») was published. Edited by Gerrit Terstiege, chief editor of the well known design mag «form», and layouted by the young and award-winning studio Pinxelgarten located in Frankfurt, the book offers insights into the different means of expression that are charateristics for this approach.

Another great book titled «Tactile» was already released at the end of 2007 by the Berlin based publisher gestalten. They say:

«Now, Tactile shows how graphic design is moving into three-dimensional objects and products and presents graphic design that works with space – or the perception of space.»

And to document this development in an adequate way there is another book at the ready: «Tangible» will be published in January 2009.

Seeing that much drive to research challenges the idea of space as the final frontier.