Let's talk about it: what is the way forward for typographic research?

In 2009 in Mexico City, Mary enacted a short counselling session exploring areas of agreement and conflict surrounding the contribution of scientific legibility research to design practice. In 2011 in Reykjavik, a SIG on Type and Science was created to build a forum for the discussion of diverse interests surrounding this topic. But we are not yet convinced that the barriers between researchers and practitioners have been pushed strongly enough to fall down.

We will introduce the discussion by describing what we perceive to be the current situation, drawing on examples from sources ranging from published work, to online posts within the typographic community, to anecdotes. We will then outline our collaboration and what we have done to try to reconcile differences. This includes carrying out experiments with objectives, materials and procedures informed by typographic knowledge. From here, we will invite discussion around the nature of future research that might be welcomed by practitioners. Questions to address are: (i) who could or should do the research; (ii) what needs to be researched; (iii) what approach and methods are valid and acceptable to both parties.

This session is aimed primarily at design educators and researchers who we hope will have an influence on future generations of practising designers and academics. But the session would benefit enormously from practitioners' contributions.