TYPE: Conference, speaker bio & introduction

A German born designer, Dirk Wachowiak studied design at the Pforzheim University, School of Design (Germany) and the University of Georgia (USA). He was employed by Pforzheim shortly after graduation as an academic assistant, and after two years of this he joined the design studio Plan B Zentrale, whose mission lies in "functional readable typography and unique picture language". His early professional work consisted of a number of freelance jobs, including work for Seidlcluss and L2M3 in Stuttgart.

In 2003, Dirk Wachowiak pursued his Masters in Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Yale University School of Art, aided by the academic exchange grant DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). During this time he was employed as a teaching assistant to Tobias Frerre-Jones in typedesign courses, and lectured on varying contemporary design practices. One such lecture, exploring the questions of modular design systems, was published in 2005 as "On Modularity". This lecture questions the system's processes and its relationship to that of the natural world's, in order to achieve better human living conditions.  Dirk's main interest lies in producing variety and better forms of communication by modular design.

Currently Dirk teaches courses on typedesign and lectures at a variety of German institutes. He works professionally as a freelance designer, for L2M3 Kommunikationsdesign GmbH; the majority of this work is typedesign, which is considered experimental and of the modular kind. His type families include AF Diwa (2000), AF Generation (2002) and AF Module (2008) which are licensed to the fontlabel AcmeFonts in London and distributed by Fontshop Berlin and Fontworks UK.  His academic writings are published in Page magazine, Typo Page, Typo Index, Novum, Form, Type One, Creative Review, the Annuals of the Reddot Award Competition, as well as the Annuals of the Type Directors Club.

Introduction to TypeCon 09:

The Kansas City Art Institute and Typotheque, jointly organize an International Conference titled "The Human Grid".

The conference will take place on the premises of the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri and will last from June 26th to 30th, 2009. During these five days various topics will be discussed among which are the following: issues on the theory of experiments, modern technology in design & new media, philosophy of modularity, nature's structure of growth,  mathematical processes versus natural processes, theory of legibility, etc.

Apart from the keynote sessions, speeches and exhibitions, workshops relevant to the topic are also to take place (font design, installation, digital innovations etc). The aim of the conference is to cover as many aspects related to modular design in typography and visual communication as possible, bringing together people from various fields and countries.