ALGARVE DESIGN MEETING 2021: Welcome to the Type Factory

If you got to this page via a QR code it means you made it to Algarve Design Meeting‘s Room 6, where our noble and steamy Type Factory operated. Hence, we would like to thank you for joining us and wish you take in as much as you possibly can from this experience you’re about to embark on. To put it shortly, “The Type Factory” is an exhibition that aims to immerse you as a visitor in the world of typeface design, introducing you to typefaces that we’ve been creating at KOBU™ Foundry over the last two years. We are thrilled to be part of ADM2021 and we must express a heartfelt thank you to UALG for inviting us.

Ready? Come closer then, look around, say hello, ask questions and, most importantly, blow off some steam and enjoy it!

Creating Typefaces that tell Stories

Now, time for a little context to brief you on what’s exactly happened at Algarve Design Meeting 2021. In case we haven’t met before, we are KOBU™, a Laboratory for Design and Digital Experiences working from Faro to the world. “The Type Factory” you stepped into moments ago was developed in the context of an in-house project launched in 2019 called KOBU™ Foundry, a sort of love letter to the inventive world of possibilities of typography, but also a way to share the work that the agency has been developing over the years with our community.

KOBU™ Foundry is the natural fruition from our passion for the typographic universe, by the hand of our talented type design guru, Brígida Guerreiro-san. But rather than simply bring typefaces to life, Brígida seeks to fill them with meaning. How, you ask? By using them as vehicles to convey narratives and stories as well as express visual concepts capable to sparkle and expand one’s imagination. Each KOBU™ Foundry typeface channels a visual identity of its own in order to carry out a broader storyline that binds them as a whole.

If you’re already feeling curious to explore more on this matter, you may as well get right to it right here, right now! In this humble factory, you will find several presentation boards displaying our various typefaces with QR Codes that will direct you to a quite visually pleasant digital place where you’ll find out all about these beautiful creations. Go ahead and tap ‘em away!

Forge your own Singularity

Come for the typography, stay for the wall painting! Throughout the whole event, we’ll be carrying out a live wall painting led by our graphic and calligraphy designer, Miguel, in an artistic performance that reinforces the way variable fonts can transmit versatility and allow graphic dynamism to leap forward, while urging designers to find and forge their own style and language. Keep coming back to check on developments and remember to join us during the last day to see the final result in all is splendour.

If you are a connoisseur of the potential of typography and its effects on how you relate to any given brand, you know the role custom typefaces play in the branding process is much more important than meets the eye. Just like logos, typefaces are visual extensions that make a brand immediately recognisable. So much that, in fact, many brands allow their unique typefaces to do all the talking instead of having their logos plastered everywhere.

But as designers, we all know that finding that one custom font that perfectly expresses the concept behind a project or a brand’s self is far from being a walk in the park. To emphasise the importance we put on typeface character, we have displayed an exhibition of the KOBU Text custom font specimen, a custom-designed font made to reflect the general mood of the KOBU™ brand developed by KOBU™ Foundry. Find the translucent paper sheets hanging around and, please, mind to take a look and tell us what you think of it!

Plus, there’s plenty going on so keep your eyes peeled for all the nice stuff we have prepared for you. Have a seat and relax on our red sofa and take a moment to contemplate the exhibition and also the projection of selected works from the agency’s portfolio. Oh! We almost forgot, we have font specimens for you! These little gifts carry discount coupons which you can redeem on your favourite fonts at kobufoundry.com! Have a little tour around the website, meet all the fonts we have in store for you and choose wisely.

Additionally, if you’re interested in discussions around creative topics, you can also attend Brígida’s Alumni Talk “On Creative Process” on Thursday 24th after 9pm, or Nuno and Sandra’s talk “On Weirdness, Boundaries and Meaning” on Friday 25th, at 5.10pm (both talks will be held in Portuguese).

Now, enough reading and let’s explore full steam ahead, shall we?

In case you’re interested, you can head to our Behance to see a bit more of our “The Type Factory” exhibition.