If you were wondering what to do this Friday, wonder no more: the V&A is on hand with an evening of typographic delights. There really will be something for everyone.
The last Friday of the month is almost upon us and over at the V&A that signals the day when this grand old institution can let its hair down, stay up late and shows it can still keep up with the kids.
These Friday Late events have become an increasingly popular highlight of the creative calendar and this Friday promises to be no exception. Quite apart from the buzz you get from wandering the museum after hours (especially as galleries often thought of as sacred ground suddenly brim with interventions of all sorts), this Friday’s typography-themed line-up promises much. Visitors will be able to hear Jonathan Barnbrook consider why it’s worth designing yet more typefaces, help Colophon Foundry build on the success of their Design of the Year-nominated Castledown font, create a typeface with Dalton Maag, listen to Vincent Connare (the designer behind Comic Sans) explain himself and even get a (temporary) typographic tattoo. And as standard there will be DJs, films, drinks and food.
And once you’ve recuperated with a drink or two in grand surroundings, there’s still the chance to learn to write Korean, show off your hard-won type knowledge with a quiz in the beautiful National Art Library, dress up as a letter and pull some shapes (in front of the Queen’s Raphael paintings), wonder at some of the typographic highlights from the V&A’s extensive archives and get your hands dirty and take home your own hand-pressed clay letter with artists in residence Matt Raw and Grafik’s own Thom Swann.
From the look of this line-up, the V&A still has has its finger firmly on the pulse.
What the Font
28 November, 2014
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
vam.ac.uk
