Well folks, believe it or not, I've been accepted to the MA Typeface Design program at the University of Reading!!! In a few months, if everything falls into place, I'll be in England, devoting nearly all my time to learning, research, and the development of a typeface from some amazingly knowledgeable people. And hopefully, the beginning of a lifetime of dedication, improvement, new experiences, and challenges. Sounds pretty good, eh?I've been thinking a lot since I heard the news, about how big of a change this will be. I was really frightened at first (maybe just because of my recent economics encounter?) But today, I was remembering something that inspired me SO much, back when I was just starting to learn Devanagari. After watching a bunch of Hindi videos on youtube with English subtitles, I was wondering if I'd be able to find videos captioned in Hindi, so that I could better understand the pronunciation of the letters. Turns out some very smart and good-hearted people have already thought of this. And it is being implemented in India as we speak, helping to improve the reading skills of millions of young readers - it's called Same Language Subtitling, and is being promoted, studied, and developed by the amazing people at Planet Read.
I'll let you read more about it at their site - it really says it all. (And feel free to donate! Of course!!) But it just struck me as such a simple but amazing way to improve the lives of so many people. And I bet there's a lot more that we can do, using design and typography, combined with an innovative use of the existing technology and systems in developing parts of the world. I guess now I just have to join the ranks of people trying to figure that all out! That sort of motivation will wash away any fears I have. This coming year should be a good start down that path! Wish me luck!
And in the meantime, enjoy some SLS.
*oh, P.S. - our amazing friend Deven Sansare got in contact with the director of "The Last Calligraphers" film and is sad to report that "the project was shelved because the Senior Editor passed away and his son is not committed or interested in taking the newspaper forward. So all they have is the trailer." - How incredibly sad. As Deven put it so hauntingly, "Another piece of history becomes history."
