Variable Fonts and the Future of Typography

For April, we're honored to have Jason Pamental join us to present Variable Fonts and the Future of Typography.

For centuries, typography has shaped the way we ‘hear’ what we read. In our web work, though, we've have to balance our typographic desires with user experience and performance, knowing that every weight, width, or style of a typeface required a different file download. Variable fonts change that, as they include every width, weight, slant, and other permutation of a typeface, all in a single file not much bigger than a regular font file. Now, beautiful web typography can be crafted to respond to screen size, language setting, even ambient light. We’ll also look at how variable fonts and other modern CSS capabilities like grid can work together to enable better art direction and more interesting and unique design than every before possible on the web. In a detail-packed hour, Jason will show you not just how far the new capabilities can take us, but how to make use of them right away.

A bit about our presenter:

Jason is a long-time practitioner of web design and development, having first gotten involved with the industry in 1994. Over the years he has led projects ranging from Ivy League and High Tech to the NFL and America’s Cup from both creative and technical roles. His focus on digital strategy has been a natural outgrowth of that synthesis of technology and design.

After years of having his love affair with type stymied by the likes of font tags, SIFR, and Cufon, the advent of @font-face and the launch of Typekit gave new life and avenues of exploration. Since 2010 he’s been researching and writing on typography for the web and digital platforms: he’s author of Responsive Typography from O’Reilly, articles for Net Magazine, PRINT Magazine, HOW, Typecast Blog, Fonts.com, and more. He’s also a frequent podcast guest, having appeared on The Web Ahead, Boagworld, Non-Breaking Space, and others. An experienced speaker and workshop leader, he has presented at dozens of national and international conferences on the subjects of web typography, responsive design, and design strategy & process.

General details:

Doors open at 6:30pm for food and drinks, sponsored by Vermonster. The talk will start at 7pm.

Unfortunately, while Vermonster’s old brick building has a lot of charm, it also has a lot of stairs, and does not have an elevator. We wish that wasn’t the case.

We will be live streaming the event and afterwards it will be posted to our Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB-Q0Af4p8A23QTnUxg-fgg). Please check this page for the link on the date of the event.