STUDENTS 2007
author: Olivera Stojadinović

This year font production from the classes of Typeface Design, in fourth and fifth year of studies at the Graphic Department of the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, deserves to be presented in the section Catalogue (instead of in Kaleidoscope, where the student artwork is usually posted).

A novelty with respect to the last year is transfer from outdated Fontographer to FontLab, contemporary software for font design and generating, offering more technical advantages, and more importantly - a possibility for organizing fonts in unicode tables. Although this application has been available for several years and also has been updated (recent version is 5), the real reason for us to start using it is expansion of unicode oriented software (packages Adobe CS, Microsoft Office, Macromedia, Corel and others) which made the tool for creating such fonts essential.

While fifth year students educated on Fontographer had to learn procedures with new software, for students in the fourth year of studies it was default standard which they adopted easily. If we consider that in the past students had to do Cyrillic or Latin set only (since these two fonts were separated), whereas starting from this school year they have to complete both codepages as part of the same font, their success seem to be more noteworthy. If you ask for more, you'll get more - seems to be true this time.

The presented typefaces are distinguished not only by their artistic values and originality, but also by their high technical qualities which make them instantly usable, after minor corrections and amendments. Parallel existence of Cyrillic and Latin set in the same font is not only a unique and satisfactory option for our demands in typography, but it also makes needless discussions on advantages and drawbacks of one or the other alphabets and which one is more difficult to create.

Display typefaces that are intended for larger sizes outnumber text typefaces. Book typefaces might be presented by semi-serif Subtract by Bratislav Milenković. Excellent in layout are Grancla by Marica Bucek, Iva by Iva Cirić and Sveden by Jelena Drobac. All three are linear typefaces, characterized by even strokes and more or less accented endings. More geometrized are Durisha by Radoman Durković, Milica by Milica Pantelić and Momcilovi Momci by Verica Sokanović, made by means of modular procedure combining several simple elements into the letterforms. In the other hand, Bogdanov by Lidija Bogdanov, Patkica by Marija Jovanović and Sibi by Milos Sibinović interpret handwritten or drawn sketches. Two capitalized typefaces, Interval by Iva Cirić and Zakon by Lazar Bodroža are founded on congenial ideas but are very different in final results. At last, two unusual typefaces: lovely Tovin font by Jovana Tokić combining geometric shapes with script principal of linked letters and extreme Kub by Bratislav Milenković where the effect of fitting areas is primary, while the letterforms skillfully balance on the edge of recognizable.

It is noteworthy that there were other good typefaces, and only subtle differences were decisive in final selection. This exceptional generation of students proved their skill and ability to contribute professionally in replenishing of our, presently modest, typeface library.

Bogdanov, Lidija Bogdanov
Durisha, Radoman Durković
Grancla, Marica Bucek
Iva, Iva Ćirić
Interval, Iva Ćirić
Kub, Bratislav Milenković
Milica, Milica Pantelić
Momcilovi Momci, Verica Sokanović
Patkica, Marija Jovanović
Sibi, Miloš Sibinović
Subtract, Bratislav Milenković
Sveden, Jelena Drobac
Tovin font, Jovana Tokić
Zakon, Lazar Bodroža