We all know that typography is the art of beautifying language and writing it in its best form for learning and recognition. But what result do we get when speakers of multiple languages join this auspicious profession and combine their unique linguistic and aesthetic talents to flaunt to the world?
Researchtells us that multilingual speakers exceed monolingual speakers in the total of world’s population. Among the estimated 6000 languages of the world, there are few which serve either as link languages or as vernacular of particular regions. These most common languages include Arabic, Bengali, English, French, Hindi, Malay, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Therefore, when artists, belonging to various cultures, enter the global typography Hall of Fame; we see great concepts, techniques, and lettering being executed; resulting in an unusual yet fabulous display of Multilingual Typography.
If you observe carefully, many of the typographers on this list today, started off as street artists or calligraphers. They are skilled in digital art but have strong roots in the art of tattoo as well. Some of these are highly educated and other – not so much. But when it comes to their creativity and designing, you would have a hard time deciding who surpasses who as the best multilingual artist.
If you want your pool of font resources to never dry up, take inspiration from these amazing typographers!
Heavily involved with the teaching and practice of Arabic type designing and typography, Pascal Zoghbi, co-authored the “Arabic Graffiti” book published in Berlin. His design work consists of creating new Arabic fonts, brand identities, and print publications. He also contributes to the Typographic Matchmaking and Typographic Matchmaking projects organized by The Khatt Foundation.
Rathna Ramanathan of Minus9 Design is an Indian typographer based in London. She has taught design and typography in India, worked as the Subject Leader for Design and Interaction at Central St Martins, and received a number of international design awards on her work for Tara Publications. She also holds the Country Delegate position for India in the Association Typographique Internationale [ATypI].
A versatile artist, Peter, lives and works in the Netherlands. He specializes in the field of editorial, graphic and type design. He established Typotheque type foundry in 1999, and founded and edited an art & design journal Dot Dot Dot. In 2009, he co-founded the Indian Type Foundry.
Biernat is a very special designer whose portfolios can be found on both Dribble and Behance. His art work specialties include typography, branding, pastel drawings, Chinese artwork, car design, and t-shirt design. He lives in Warsaw, Poland.
Girard is a Canadian graphic designer who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He loves to take freelance projects as varied as network branding to editorial illustrations. He is also interested in motion design and product and his portfolios are available on a number of online design platforms.
In his own words, Pokras defines himself as a “calligraffiti and typography artist” based in Moscow, Russia. He specializes in lettering, calligraphy, and the streetart.
Robu works both in Bangkok, Thailand, and Bucharest, Romania. He is a brand designer and artist, who focuses on type lettering and illustrations. He is always on a look out for ideas to improve classic typefaces by deconstructing them. His client list includes big names like Bloomberg, Nike, Toyota, ESPN, The Coca Cola Company, Aarp Magazine, etc.
Sjosten is a Swedish creative who loves to create logotypes, lettering, typefaces and other typographic pieces. You may contact him for any type of custom typography. He has worked with clients like Samsung, Coca Cola, The UN Development Programme, The Swedish Police Union, etc.
Based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Eric van den Boom is known for his powerful and authentic illustrations. As a freelance designer, his main areas of interest are illustration and custom lettering. He has been working under the name of BoomArtwork since 2005.
Based in China, Nod Young, is a graphic designer and visual artist who boldly flaunts his unique artistry with the help of carefully planned layout, contours, and brilliant colors. His international clientele includes McDonald’s, NIKE, Microsoft, Mercedes, Nokia, etc.
Lok Ng works from Guangzhou, China. He specializes in calligraphy, illustrations and typography. He’s also the creative director at AWT (Artsworthing) design Inc. He tries to incorporate the Chinese spirit and character of design in all of his projects.
A graphic and type designer from Moscow, Russia, Sebyakina is also a teacher at the British Higher School of Art and design. She also works as an Art Director at the CBI Consult. She is one of those creatives who firmly believe in the sanctity of traditional methods of design. For her, technology only helps in improving the overall picture.
Another Moscow based creative director who specializes in branding, graphic design and typography. You will find his work tastefully modern and powerful.
Alex is a graphic designer, illustrator, and art director based in Barcelona, Spain. He focuses on typography and lettering with a work philosophy that is, “More is more.” He has worked with clients like MTV, Nixon, Saatchi & Saatchi, The Guardian, The Rolling Stones, The New York Times, etc.
Rui Abreu is a Portuguese Type Designer who works from Lisbon. Unlike others, he’s a designer who loves the medium of video and you can check out his typography videos on his vimeo channel.
Ahjopalo is a Finnish graphic designer and illustrator who can create anything between identities and logos to annual reports and invitations. He works freelance with design agencies as well as individual clients.
Tomi Haaparanta is a type designer from Finland, creating typefaces since 1990. He is the founder of the Suomi Type Foundry. Even though, he’s been working in this industry for two decades, his types are just as fresh and interesting as ever.
Anantakul is the owner of Design Reform Council which he founded in 2006. He is a Bangkok based graphic designer, type designer, illustrator, and motion graphic director. Recently, he joined the YouWorkForThem American firm based in Bangkok as a senior art director.
Vergara is a teacher, graphic designer, and typographer based in Chile. He has also worked as an information designer at different engineering offices. He is currently engaged as a typography factory professor at the Instituto Profecional Providencia, Concepción Chile.
Brezina is a type designer, typographer, teacher, and writer based in the Czech Republic. He is the co-founder and director of Rosetta Type Foundry. One of his most notable works is the award-winning type family Skolar.
You have probably heard the buzz by now: data is the next big thing! We…
Gen Z, Gen Z, and Gen Z! This looks to be one of the most…
While spirituality and branding may seem very different or even opposing sides, they can come…
If you are in the fintech business you already know that becoming known can take…
T-shirts are no longer limited to pre-designed versions when it comes to selecting one for…
Social media focuses on creating visual content that is easy to consume and recall nowadays.…
