NEED SUPPORT for Words of Type, an online and multilingual encyclopaedia for typographic terms.

Lisa Huang

Hello everyone,

Even though this is not an “event” so to speak, but somewhat is...

Many of you here might have seen news about Words of Type already, here or on other media.
I’ve posted about Words of Type a few days ago already in the “Resource” discussion topic, and thought that it might be good to post it here too, for more 👀

To respond to a need for more accessible typographic knowledge — and not only for Latin script but many many more — I created a project that I could only dream of during my graphic design student years. An encyclopedia of typography, translated (accurately and well written) into multiple languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean), illustrated, and freely accessible as a website!

 

There are already plenty of great books about (Latin) typography and type design. I have many (but unfortunately no ALL of them!), and as the main source from which I’ve learned about typography (and also life), I LOVE books. But for these fields that are — now more than ever — in constant evolution, a physical version would bring too many down sides. Especially for the many other languages that can join, and more words to be added. Also, there is our need for quality international communication, easier access to typographic knowledge for scripts other than Latin, access to other people than type designers only, so I thought that an online version for such resource is the best. Maybe printed goods may exist in the future, but I’ll do things one at a time.

I’ve already worked on many aspects and invested a lot of personal savings for Words of Type to “sprout”, but this project needs the expertise and work from many people including me (translation, proofreading, illustrations, web development, etc.). To work with everyone in a decent collaboration (can’t for such help for free!), I need to collect 50k€... I know this is a huge amount, but for such kind of website, I made my best to lower the budget to as low as reasonably possible.

So I launched a fundraising on Kickstarter some two weeks ago. So far, the campaign is 25% funded as the moment I’m writing this message. There are still (or, for me, ONLY) 11 days left before it ends.

I know that Kickstarter campaigns have many risks, especially with such a high goal. And I could’ve gone for sponsorship systems, from individuals and/or companies right away instead.

But I think that having Words of Type — a project for people — to be initially funded by people, is a good idea. There are a few plan Bs that I’m thinking of, more and more seriously these days, given the higher risk now that the campaign may fail... 😭 But I keep faith in it, we never know... There is still a bit of time! 🤞

Please join the effort to help make this become true!

Thank you! and Merci beaucoup !

Lisa Huang

Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellolisahuang/words-of-type
Minisite with additional info on rewards: https://www.wordsoftype.com/

Instagram: @words_of_type

❤️

Craig Eliason

Good luck Lisa, hope the campaign succeeds!
I'm reminded of Legros & Grant, Typographical Printing Surfaces (1916), one of my favorite vintage type reference books (fully available on Google Books). The Appendix III is almost 20 pages of type terms with their equivalents in French and German.

Thierry Blancpain

Supported

Lisa Huang

Craig Eliason said:

Good luck Lisa, hope the campaign succeeds!
I'm reminded of Legros & Grant, Typographical Printing Surfaces (1916), one of my favorite vintage type reference books (fully available on Google Books). The Appendix III is almost 20 pages of type terms with their equivalents in French and German.

Thanks a lot Craig for the reference book! Adding that to my list of very useful resource

Thierry Blancpain said:

Supported

Thank you very much Thierry! 💖

Lisa Huang

Dear TypeDrawers people,

There are only FIVE days left before the fundraiser ends on Kickstarter. We’ve reached so far only 38% to the goal. I know it may seem very risky by now, but it is STILL ongoing, so I keep faith in it! Having such project—that aims to be useful to people—to be initially funded thanks to a collective effort seems to be the best way to start.
That being said, even if it fails, I’ll keep looking for solutions to make it happen.

So, here is another attempt to convince those who need to 😀

Words of Type’s agenda is to have typographic knowledge made more:
ACCESSIBLE
- with easy-to-understand descriptions, written by multiple pairs of hands, eyes, brains
- a digital format to be handy at all times, from everywhere

INSTRUCTIVE
- with didactic illustrations
- with useful references for further digging (books, works, articles, and more)

INTERNATIONAL
- available in multiple languages (and more to come over time)
- by bringing forward a more diverse typographic knowledge

and... FREE
- thanks to a collective effort to keep access to such knowledge free.

It DOES NOT aim to be the unique reference for everything related to typography, nor a competitor to every awesome resource there is already, but more of a sidekick helper that makes access to all these easier and more international!

If the campaign succeeds, the first version of Words of Type will contain:
- 200 words explained (listed in the attached image)
- available in seven languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)
- more than half of the words illustrated

Further updates will contain:
- addition of 200 words MINIMUM
- addition of languages & scripts extensions (depending on the future supports)
- addition of illustrations

Please let me know if you have any questions or opinions to share. Anything that can help to improve this project is very much welcome.

And PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! 💖 THANK YOU!

bit.ly/3Q3AD0l

Simon Cozens

Lisa: Sent you a DM with some thoughts.

Lisa Huang

Hello Type Drawers folks,

Sorry to be back here only now. These last months have been quite hectic, but I thought that it would be nice to bring updates about Words of Type, for those who were wondering, even if it’s only now...

How the campaign went
A lot has happened during the month of the campaign.

• a lot of generous backers (273) who pledged for a total of almost 50% of the goal (24k€ of the 50€ goal);
• lots of communication on multiple media on my side (with Instagram, Twitter, Mastodon, and Wechat too!);
• much reposts, shares, and media relays (Words of Type got featured in It’s Nice That, Slanted Magazine, design360, Alphabettes, Sidebar, Goodtype, Type@Cooper, St Bride’s Library, and so much more)
  
• a talk at Inscript conference in October 2023.

How it ended
Well, as an all-or-nothing campaign on Kickstarter, it didn’t succeed despite all the efforts from everyone who participated.

Plan B

But the project didn’t stop at that!

Asking for contributions from individuals was a nice idea, and I had to give it a chance even if all the energy spent to prepare for the campaign only were not guaranteed to succeed.
Since then, I went on to my plan B: ask type foundries to support the project, where they could showcase their typefaces in the encyclopedia illustrations all in one go! I asked to the people I know (teachers, friends, people I personally know) and those who backed the campaign, and most are still in (woohoo!).

The plan B is also about setting in place a series of lectures and workshops (what I started to do as campaign‘s rewards). Some are now listed for the rest of this year. All online and in English (for now), and about typography and type design in specific scripts (more topics are on their way for 2025).

Now

Many months have passed now, and the website is in progress, same for the translations. Me and everyone I embarked on this project are doing our best to deliver the website (its first version!) by August, this year!

While the encyclopedia website is under construction, there is a platform listing the lectures and workshops. Please have a look HERE, and book your seat or mark your calendars when the next ones can be booked to those you are interested in!

And I’ll introduce more information in a separate post  

Thanks for reading,

Cheers!