The GRANSHAN Type Design Competition 2019 results are out! We proudly announce, the GRAND PRIZE goes to Lewis McGuffie for his typefaces Columba, awarded in the multi script Category C for the Cyrillic and Greek typefaces.
Ideec Conference, Exhibition and Workshops is now open for registration. San Jose State University is partnering with the GRANSHAN Foundation and AIGA to host this exciting free conference to share the value and diversity of design education with invited international educational institutions.
No idea could reach too far, no color, no structure, no history and no obsession. On the contrary, there was hardly a challenge he would not take on and find his own answer for, his own new adaptation and solution. We will dearly miss his ability to bring history into the present, as well as his passion for the big context and the small details – with infinite generosity, serenity and humour. Gerard Unger, who was a key contributor to promoting GRANSHAN, died last Friday. We bid farewell with great respect and a deep bow: Thank you Gerard!
The GRANSHAN conference last year in Yerevan marked the tenth anniversary of the GRANSHAN project, and an opportunity for reflection and intensive work on the future of GRANSHAN. The unique initiative from Armenia by Edik Ghabuzyan and his team for non-Latin typefaces has become a widely respected and supported industry project. With the entry of the Typographische Gesellschaft München (Munich Typographic Society) and the first big international conference in Bangkok in 2013, we expanded significantly the original ideas – the lead statement on our website captures this: “GRANSHAN is the hub for global visual identity. We celebrate non-Latin type faces and typography, design and communication that enable communities to develop culture and enterprises in a balance between local, regional, and global.”
Thanks to all speakers, organizers, sponsors and a wonderful audience for this successful event! It has been a blast!
Today, Edik Ghabuzyan and Boris Kochan with the founding members Chang Sik Kim and Gerry Leonidas are announcing next year’s location.
SAVE THE DATE: 23 – 29 July 2018 GRANSHAN Conference will take place in beautiful California!
TUMO Center for creative technologies above all for hosting GRANSHAN conference 2017 and supporting in all manners! We were also very grateful for the Sandoll communications having sponsored a highlevel simultanous translation from Armenian to English and viceversa! And very happy were we about commercial sponsoring bags and specimen of Graphik – which, and that was just perfect – was awarded 1st prize in this year’s competition for the Arabic version. Well done!
Paul Geum Ho Seok, founder of the Korean type foundry Sandoll, is sharing his experience and views on designing Hangul specifically with a commercial context in mind, showing some of their work for clients such as Microsoft, Samsung, Google and Apple as well as for their own library.
Hrant Papazian and Khajag Apelian are discussing Armenian type with previous GRANSHAN winners Hrachuhi Grigoryan, Marieta Arzumanyan, and Syuzi Hakobyan.
Khajak Apelian, designer and educator, is talking us through his process of researching and designing an Armenian typeface – one that would be distinctly Armenian, yet contemporary.
“Armenian people have two hearts – not always beating in sync. But two hearts is better than one.“ Hrant Papazian is speaking about Armenian typography, in Armenia and globally. Armenian typefaces look to the west, for diasporans it is the opposite.
In Yerevan, Armenia the GRANSHAN jury members decided on this year’s winners in non-Latin typeface designs. Congratulation to all winners of GRANSHAN prizes and special mentions. We are very proud of you! A Grand prize was not awarded in this year, but see the winners’ chart here!
Carolyn is drawing parallels between the Armenian and the Georgian alphabet: such as the fact that both were developed for a specific language, and are used by their people exclusively.
Adi Stern, Head of the Department of Visual Communication at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, is captivating our attention with examples of students’ work.
In her keynote presentation Fiona Ross is emphasising the importance of the design brief as a starting point for typeface design. Focussing on South Asian scripts, this is just as relevant for other scripts: it is the consideration where, how and for what a typeface is used.
GRANSHAN conference is complemented by a number of exhibitions: ATypI’s Letter2 exhibitions, GRANSHAN’s 2016 competition winners, TUMO students’ work, a group calligraphy project by Ruben Malayan as well an exhibition by the Association of Georgian Typefaces. We are surrounded and engulfed in letters!
Cinema and film making has a strong history in Egypt. Haytham Nawar is presenting expressive designs of lettering in cinema posters and film booklets of the Golden Era (1940s-70s) and comparing them to later digital examples
Three talks by Alexei Vanyashin, Kyrylo Tkachov and Ilja Ruderman about Cyrillic are followed by a lively discussion. About variants, standards, cultural diversity and the current practice – living letters indeed!
”Giga, what is your opinion on capitals?” “To be quite frank, it is very negative.” … Giga Khatiashvili is reporting on typography in Georgia and pointing out script specific specialities.
Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, one of the brains behind the font editor Glyphs, is giving pro tips for designing Cyrillic – efficiently, but to a perfectionist typographer’s standard.
We’re starting our second conference day with a keynote talk by Gerry Leonidas, president of ATypI and associate professor at the University of Reading.
Armenian meets Latin, ink meets paper. Black on white, white on black – the letters criss cross and intertwine, merge and grow. Fascinating performance by Ruben Malayan and Timothy Donaldson, we are spellbound by the magic of calligraphy.
During the last two days, the GRANSHAN jury came together to assess this year’s submissions, to consider the experts feedback and to discuss the works. And now Edik Ghabuzyan and Boris Kochan announce the winners of the 2017 competition: We would like to congratulate all the winners – well done! We applaud you for making the world of non-Latin type more diverse and beautiful!
We dive right into the subject of the Armenian script with Edik Ghabuzyan’s keynote presentation. 10 million people globally, 3 million of them in Armenia, share this alphabet – it is an integer part of the Armenian identity. His talk is a passionate appeal for the preservation of the letterforms, styles and traditions, a great start to this conference.
Angela Poghosova is giving an overview over the ten year history of GRANSHAN: From it’s beginnings as a type competition in Armenia to an organisation promoting non-Latin type and typography on a global scale today.
For our 10 year anniversary, GRANSHAN is returning to its place of origin: Հայաստան. The conference curators Edik Ghabuzyan, Boris Kochan and Gerry Leonidas open this year’s exhibitions, discussions and talks here at TUMO Center in Yerevan where we are kindly greeted by Armen Amiryan and Aram Gyumishyan. We are very excited to be here, and we are looking forward to a great conference!
GRANSHAN Competition 2016 winners' poster travel to Montréal!
During the AtypI in Montréal you can see over 30 posters of the awarded typefaces. Gratulations to all winners again!
We have had many questions on this, so we decided: This year’s GRANSHAN non-Latin international typeface design competition will extend the deadline for a couple of days, and submissions will be accepted until the 6th of September!
Be alert for this year's call on entries for GRANSHAN Competition. Find out more about the catagories, rules and regulations: Visit the Granshan Competition 2017 section.
We are very excited! The next international GRANSHAN non-Latin Type Conference will take place in Yerevan, Armenia. And not only that: the conference will be hosted at TUMO Center for Creative Technologies.
Check out the GRANSHAN publication "DESIGN & IDENTITY". It provides all information on the idea of GRANSHAN – the font competition, the conferences on non-Latin and multiscript typefaces, the people behind and much more.
Check out the GRANSHAN publication "DESIGN & IDENTITY". It provides all information on the idea of GRANSHAN – the font competition, the conferences on non-Latin and multiscript typefaces, the people behind and much more.
