Programme

Professor Jon Ashmann is the coordinator of the Visual Communication at Northern Illinois University where he has received recognition for excellence in teaching. He has traveled to over eighty countries performing lectures, workshops and professional work in many of them. In 2000, he received the "Above and Beyond Award" from the American Institute of Graphic Arts Chicago Chapter for design advocacy and contributions on the board and education committee.

Jessica Glaser is an associate Senior Lecturer in Graphic Communication at the University of Wolverhampton and partner in Bright Pink Communication Design. She has co-written 6 design books, including The Graphic Designer's Guide to Effective Visual Communication - Creating Hierarchies with Type Image and Colour published by Rotovision and Layout Making it Fit, published by Rockport. Her next book, The Graphic Design Exercise Book, is out spring 2010.

Using typography to communicate subtleties, sensitivity and emotion

Jeff Leak graduated with honours from North Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1986 in the same year, he was also awarded the Letraset International Design prize. After working briefly in the profession, he became a founding partner of boing! a creative design consultancy. Since this time, his work has been published and exhibited internationally. Jeff Leak is currently Course Leader for Graphic Communication at the University of Wolverhampton.

Annette O’Sullivan is Subject Director of Typography at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. She studied typography at the London College of Communication and gained a Masters in Typo/Graphic Studies. Her research interests include combining historical typographic investigation with contemporary practice. This includes museum and exhibition design, typographic design for national memorials and hand printing using historic technologies. She is a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers and their New Zealand coordinator.

Angela Morelli gained her MA in Communication Design with distinction from Central St Martins, where she specialised in Information Design. Her MA project, ‘The Global Water Footprint of Humanity’, was awarded Honorable Mention for outstanding work at the INDEX: AIGA Aspen Design Challenge Designing Water’s Future. Her recent info-graphics representation of The Steady State Economy has been selected for Images 34 - The best of British Contemporary Illustration 2010. She has collaborated with a number of research and commercial organisations in Europe and works in London as a Graphic and Information designer. She is Associate Lecturer at Central St Martins.

Arthur Asseo is a designer. In 2009 he obtained a BFA (magna cum laude) in Image and Design, Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico and the Jorge Rechany award for artistic excellency.

María de Mater O'Neill is a designer, artist and educator with a BFA from Cooper Union, New York, She is PhD candidate in Design Practice, School of Design, Northumbria University, UK. Asseo and O'Neill are partners in Rubberband, a value driven design studio from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Rob Keller (b.1981) is a typeface designer from the corn/soybean fields of Illinois. He developed a strong interest in typography while studying graphic design and sculpture at the University of Illinois. This passion lead him to the University of Reading for the MA in Typeface Design program. Following that intense year, he moved to Germany to work at Linotype in the Product Marketing department. Then in 2009 Rob started the new typefoundry Mota Italic, in Berlin, where he is fortunate to work full time on custom and retail fonts.



Ghinwa Yassine is a Lebanese graphic designer currently living in Saudi Arabia.

She's been teaching graphic design with emphasis on typography for the past two years at Dar Al Hekma College in Jeddah. Ghinwa got a BA in graphic design from the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut and has worked for several advertising and design agencies, namely Leo Burnett Jeddah, 4th Dimension Jeddah, and Graphic Shop Beirut.

Ghinwa is particularly interested in Arabic typography, where she's currently doing a research study.

D. Udaya Kumar is pursuing his PhD in Design at Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT Bombay, India; the title of the thesis is ‘Transformation of Tamil letterforms from palm leaf manuscripts to early letterpress printing’. He holds a Master’s degree in Design (Visual communication) from IDC, IIT Bombay and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Anna University, Chennai. Mr Kumar has also two years of professional experience as a Design head in a monthly magazine – Intelligent Computing CHIP. His main areas of interest include Visual Communication, Graphic design, Typography and Type design with a special focus on regional typography of India, especially in Tamil.

Girish Dalvi graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Pune; and completed his post graduation in New Media Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Following this he joined Yahoo! and worked on web based Indian Language projects. Presently he is a teaching assistant at the Industrial Design Centre and visiting faculty at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He teaches Typography and Cyberculture. Since 2006 he is pursuing his doctoral research at the Industrial Design Centre in the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. His areas of focus in research include the history of Devanāgarī typography and Classification Theories. Currently he is working towards the development a conceptual model for the structural analysis of Devanāgarī typefaces.

Titus Nemeth specialises in typeface design with a special interest for the Arabic script and multilingual typography. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Reading. His multi-script typeface Nassim won several prizes, among them the TDC²2007. Based in Paris he works for clients such as Fontsmith UK, WinSoft and the Brill publishing house in Leiden and teaches typography at the ESAD in Amiens, France.



Dulce Castro Val was born in Mexico City in 1980. She received a BA in Graphic Communication Design in 2002 from the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), Mexico City, and a certificate in Innovation and Information Technologies in University Teaching in 2007, from the University of Barcelona and UAM. Her interests include Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, Public Spaces and the bonds between rural field and graphic design. Her research work has been presented in the 13th Scientific Convention on Engineering and Architecture, (Cuba, November 2006), the 2nd National Symposium “Challenges in the Handling and Management of the Cities” (Cuba, January 2008), and the 6th International Conference of Design History and Design Studies (Japan, October 2008).

Dulce Castro Val currently works at the Autonumous Metropolitan University, Azcapotzalco campus, teaching Design Theory, Packaging and labeling, and Visual Culture.

Amélie spent the last years travelling, working and studying in different countries. She was graduated from the typography programme of Ecole Estienne in Paris. In 2009 she gained an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. Her type design study focused on three script systems: Latin, Greek and Devanagari.She currently lives in Paris where she works on her own projects as an independent designer.

Irene was graduated from the graphic design programme of Vakalo School of Art & Design in Athens. She then persued her studies at the the University of Derby, from where she was awarded an MA in Advanced practices and theories in graphic design. Irene also holds an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. She has designed Greek fonts for various international typefoundries and collaborated with Cannibal, in Athens. Since summer 2009 she runs poptype foundry.

Leila Membreno Hernandez was born and raised in El Salvador located in Central America. She is an artist, designer, and educator. Leila has a permanent attraction to ancient folklore and culture, especially Mesoamerican culture due to her strong roots to her native country located in a rich archeological area.
Leila studied handcraft design in the school of Fine Arts Carlos Alberto Imery at the Universidad Dr. Jose Matias Delgado in El Salvador where she obtained her bachelors in handcraft design (licenciatura en diseño artesanal). She continued with her upper level education by finishing a Masters of Fine Arts in graphic design at the University of Florida. A global artist, Leila has lived and travel abroad in countries such as: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, England, Greece, parts of Russia, Mexico and most of Central America: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and part of Honduras. Leila Hernandez teaches frequently with the Study Abroad Program to: Oaxaca in Mexico, Florence, Rome and Milan in Italy, and Paris France.
Leila is an Associate Professor currently teaching graphic design at the University of Texas Pan-American in the United States and is always in a persistent search to find connections between ancient symbols of power and contemporary technological mechanisms of control and how these mediums are themselves mediated through spiritual beliefs and popular culture. Her research is mostly related to contemporary issues related to popular culture, which she has presented at national and international conferences.

Paul Wilson is a Lecturer in the School of Design at the University of Leeds.His research activities are located within design and visual communication: in particular, aspects of typography and typographic design. They centre on a conceptual reorientation of typographic process and practice, investigating the relationships between typography, writing and aspects of everyday life. His current research explores (designed) narratives of community and place. In particular, it focuses on sites of situated class experience and knowledge at moments or points of transition, decay or termination.