Call for papers
The song of the sans serif
Conference to be held at the
Centre for printing history & culture (CPHC)
Birmingham City University / University of Birmingham
30 September 2016
Details
From printing types to digital typography the sans serif resonates across both page and screen; and from the advent of Caslon IV’s Two Line English Egyptian in 1816* to the present day the voice of the sans serif has greatly influenced communication. In the nineteenth-century the sans serif sang out from billboards competing for attention through the smog of industrialised cities; with the advent of the railways it forged an unique relationship with transport and it became the face of the information age the indispensable choice for tabular matter. In the twenty-first century, with the emergence of new vernacular types, the sans serif continues to speak within contemporary advertising and user-experience design.
In October 2016, the Centre for printing history & culture is celebrating 200 years of the sans serif through a one-day symposium and accompanying exhibition. Speakers are invited to address aspects of the world-wide development, use and impact of the sans serif from the nineteenth century and beyond. The symposium organisers are inviting contributions from academics, research students, independent scholars and practitioners working in the realms of printing history and culture, typography and type design, social and industrial history and other related topics.
The event will include an exhibition of sans serif material from collections in the Cadbury Research Library.
Submission guidelines
Abstracts of no longer than 250 words should be submitted along with a brief biography to:
david.osbaldestin@bcu.ac.uk and caroline.archer@bcu.ac.uk
by 29 February 2016.
Invitees will be allocated 20 minutes in which to present their papers.
Event organisers
Professor Caroline Archer (BCU), David Osbaldestin (BCU), Martin Killeen (University of Birmingham)
Supporters
The conference is supported by the Centre for printing history & culture, Birmingham City University, Cadbury Research Library and the University of Birmingham.
More information
www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/cadbury/index.aspx
* first dated sans serif specimen
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Professor Caroline Archer-Parré
The Typographic Hub part of the
Centre for Printing History & Culture
Faculty of Art, Design and Media, Birmingham City University
Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham B4 7BD
0121 331 5871
www.typographichub.org www.cphc.org.uk @typetweet @cphc_15
Co-Director, Centre for Printing History & Culture
Chairman, Baskerville Society
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
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