Abeceda workshop publication

Published February 13, 2025

Contributed by Anna Kovalenko (Kyiv Type Foundry)

Абецедa / Abeceda was a ten-day workshop on Cyrillic for newbies in the Type Design and Typography Studio at UMPRUM, Prague.

The aim was to gain a new perspective on the Latin script through unfamiliar forms such as the Cyrillic script. At first glance, a foreign script looks like an indecipherable texture. However, Cyrillic and Latin have the same basis: Greek. The challenge of learning the basic alphabet, looking more closely at the forms, and finding rules trains the discipline of observation. Some students created a font using Cyrillic historical references; others expanded existing fonts, and some practiced calligraphy and lettering. Cyrillic is going through a renaissance, and it would be good if “outsiders” contributed to Cyrillic type design, too.

The workshop was held by Yevgen Anfalov and Oleś Gergun of Kyiv Type Foundry. Participants were Štěpán Blaschko, Šárka Blažková, Šimon Brzobohatý, Maria Chernobay, Hsin-Yi Chiu, Žofia Fodorová, Rozálie Haliřová, Eva Havlová, Benjamin Horváth, Anna Ivakhno, Matěj Kolesa, Magdalena Konečná, Jaromir Květoň, Jessica Ledoux, Viktoria Naumuk, Beata Pichugina, Eva Rotreklová, Matyáš Vedral, and Šimon Vlasák.

During the workshop, the students created several design projects for future fonts: Felix (Jaromir Květoň), Hofer (Matěj Kolesa), Osten (Šimon Brzobohatý), Pica Victoria (Jessica Ledoux), Rino (Šimon Vlasák), Ecken (Viktoria Naumuk).

The book typography uses Unity Sans.

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