Typography-Marathon Saturday Type Fever

On Friday, January 11 in the name of NoFoundry.xyz, a student platform for the exchange of fonts, students of the HfG Karlsruhe invited to the Typography Marathon at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. The focus of the marathon under the motto "Saturday Type Fever" was the mutual exchange of students, professors and designers from all over Europe. The student platform NoFoundry.xyz under the direction of the professors of communication design Michael Kryenbühl and Ivan Weiss was founded for the exchange of fonts and stands beside many other initiatives for the lively student engagement at HfG Karlsruhe.

From Friday evening to Saturday night, over 80 typographers from Germany, Belgium, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland gathered in the university's atriums to complete thirty-hour writings and implement new script ideas.

The marathon started on Fridays at 6 pm with various workshops organized and implemented by HfG students. This content input formed the starting point for working with typography. Between lectures and workshops, graphic and typeface designers also provided insights into their work and the use of typefaces in practice. On Saturday at 11 pm all results of the past thirty hours were presented. During this time, the students developed numerous fonts, but also used the opportunity to exchange ideas among themselves. Carlotte Viglino from Geneva, Switzerland reports: "I wanted to challenge myself and see what I can do in thirty hours. It's also a great opportunity to meet other designers and work in an unfamiliar environment. " Alice from Lugano in Switzerland had previously had no experience in typography: "I wanted to try to make a typeface; So it was my first experience in typography design and the event was the best opportunity for that. I am very happy that I came here. "

The typography marathon was independently organized by students of the No-Foundry. The team was supervised by Professors Michael Kryenbühl and Ivan Weiss; It was made up of students from all disciplines and semesters and thus exemplifies the special interdisciplinarity and openness of the university structures at the HfG Karlsruhe.

Overall, the event evoked great enthusiasm from all typography enthusiasts. Piero Beldenbos from Lyon in France summarizes: "The organization was great, the discussions and the feedback were really inspiring and I really liked the working atmosphere."