Current MFA candidate Marisa Ten Brink recently attended the TypeCon conference in Seattle, where she took part in the popular Type Crit. Marisa had a lively exchange with renown type designers Matthew Carter, John Downer and Akira Kobayashi. Here is Marisa’s review of her experience:

When Ian Lynam, my faculty advisor, suggested participating in the type critique I was quite hesitant. Showing my first type design to three of the most well-respected individuals in the type industry? Umm, no thanks. But with more encouragement and a pep talk with some VCFA faculty and alums, I managed not to chicken out. The critique itself went really well — the critics seemed excited about my research and helped me correct some beginner mistakes.

The typeface is based on lettering from the city auditorium in Watertown, SD, which was constructed by the Public Works Administration during the 1930s. The lettering had always caught my eye because it was so different than anything else around it. I had started creating a full uppercase alphabet before coming to VCFA and thought it would be a good “small” project to start out the semester and would help me jump right into learning the software. In true VCFA fashion, it quickly grew into my main focus and is now on track to be a five-style display family that can be mixed and matched for a variety of effects.url clone | Air Jordan