Here are messages from the judges of Latin Category.
honorific titles omitted
Cyrus Highsmith
My message to the participants is a passage from the book The Elements of Lettering by John Benson.
He writes the “end or purpose of a thing to be made is the first concern of the intelligent artist. The object must be thought of form the point of view of its user, its consumer, the patron. Nothing is made by art unless some person desires good as a result of that making, and this good is one of the thing’s causes. To understand the thing you must appreciate this reason for its existence. You cannot know what it is unless you what good it is. The maker cannot make well unless he knows and respects function.”
Fred Smeijers
Designing new typefaces can be an exciting, even thrilling experience. It can also be an interest so strong, that holds your attention, time, and effort over and over again.
If you sympathize with and recognize yourself in these lines, it means you are gifted with a true passion! And, I hope that we can persuade you – a novice or an experienced type designer – to participate in the Morisawa type design competition of 2014.
My views on type design competitions are no secret – there are competitions and competitions. The Morisawa type design competition is a respected one. One with a past. A present. And, I hope, with a long future. It is therefore a great opportunity to funnel your efforts towards a clear goal, let your work compete, and shine!
Sara Soskolne
It was truly exciting to be involved in the newly re-established Morisawa competition in 2012, and we can only hope that the 2014 competition will see an even broader range of entries — designs from the most seasoned of experts to the freshest of student works, from the most novel display types to the sturdiest of text faces. We all work with the same basic set of ingredients, yet somehow at their best each designer manages to make them look utterly different; every time it seems as though everything has already been done, someone comes along and demonstrates that we’re not even close. Show us what the alphabet looks like to you.
Matthew Carter
The next Morisawa Type Design Competition, to be held in 2014, will be the second in the new series. The first, in 2012, received entries of excellent quantity and quality from which deserving winners were chosen. Encouraged by this success, the organizers and judges are hoping for an even better response this time.
There are more and more art and design schools around the world that teach type design, either as a specialized degree program or as part of a more general graphic design curriculum. The Morisawa competition provides an excellent showcase to bring students’ type designs to a wider audience and to put them in competition with the work of more established designers. In addition to the incentive of good publicity the winners receive generous cash prizes. I’m sure I can speak for all the judges, in both the Japanese and Latin categories, in saying that we are looking forward to meeting in Morisawa’s offices in Osaka to survey the entries and undertake the difficult but rewarding task of choosing the winners. We encourage you to astonish us with the quality and variety of your type designs.