Hello, Words of Type News readers! Here are the latest info you need to know for this month 🙂

I. Upcoming (& confirmed) WoT Events

Book your ticket(s) here

Arabic Lettering (2-sessions workshop), with Samar Zureik
Mar 7 + 14, 2026 — 01:00 to 04:00 PM CET
This workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of Arabic letter shaping and guides them in creating an original lettering piece based on a chosen keyword.
There are only 2 spots left!!!

Hangeul script & its typography (lecture), with Min-Young Kim
Apr 11, 2026 — 01:00 to 02:30 PM CEST
This lecture will examine the historical development of Hangeul, from early metal type to contemporary digital fonts, and explore how these technological shifts have shaped the letterforms we use today.

Hangeul script lettering (2-sessions workshop), with Min-Young Kim & Mingoo Yoon
Apr 18 + 25 — 11:00 AM to 03:00 PM CEST
In this workshop, you will design a set of non-square style Hangeul. The non-square style is also known as “out-of-the-box” — as the name suggests, the letterform is designed to be fully proportional, free from the embox.

Japanese Writing System: History and Type Design (lecture), with Yui Yoshitomi & Ikumi Honda
May 2, 2026 — 09:00 to 10:30 AM CEST
The lecture will give an overview of their origins and how they have been used differently within a historical context. We will explore how each script has been designed, and developed over time, in relation to the transition of printing technologies and letterforms.

Introduction to Japanese Type Design (3-sessions workshop), with Yui Yoshitomi & Ikumi Honda
May 9, 16 & 23, 2026 — 09:00 AM to 01:00 PM CEST
In this workshop, you will design the three scripts used in Japanese: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Participants will select one Latin typeface (Roman or display) from our selection and create five Japanese characters that harmonise with it.

II. Type foundries, companies: Support Words of Type!
If you are a type foundry or a company and wish to show the community that you are supporting Words of Type initiative, you can sponsor tickets to our events so that selected students can join for free!
We’ll gladly communicate about your support on our socials and during the events, and you get to help some students who wouldn’t be able to afford these otherwise 💖
Ask us about the future events if you’re interested!

Side note (to be proud of)
Words of Type Encyclopedia has (so far, hehe) won THREE competitions! 🤩
TDC 2025, category: websites
Communication Arts 2026, category: Interactive
TDC Tokyo 2026, category: web site / applications

III. WoT Events — Recordings
For those who didn’t know it yet, you can find our free recordings on our YouTube channel, with every episode of WoT Conversations and our first free lecture.
Feel free to share and spread these great content!

IV. KBI 2026
The second edition of the KBI program (short for Donald Knuth and Charles Bigelow Type Design Incubator) is on!
We have made the selection of participants from about 200 applications.
The program doesn’t want to keep things focused on selected scripts in particular. Instead, one of its goal is to bring the light on as many different scripts as possible, alongside the Decolonizing Latin track which is the one that remains the same throughout the years. Which is why at each edition, we decide on the topic for the two other tracks depending on the applications that we receive. Last year were Arabic and Arabic-derived, and South East Asian scripts. This year, it will be Indigenous, and South Asian scripts!
Together with Stanford University’s SILICON team, Letterform Archive, and Words of Type, we are aaaalmost all set with the detailed schedule. Same for the instructors, lecturers, and guest critiques. More news about it will be sent to you in this newsletter! Until then, you can check out the work from the 2025 edition’s participants on the KBI website!

WE NEED YOU
We always need help to get going. There are many options to contribute:
- membership if you’re an individual;
- sponsorship if you’re a type foundry;
- partnership (to sponsor our events) if you’re a company or type foundry;
- donations too!
Please reach out and/or share this to make it happen 💫

Okay, that’s all for this month.
Thanks for reading, following, supporting, everything 💖

Lisa Huang