Hybrid Letterforms

Hangul was designed in the fifteenth century to faithfully represent the sound of the Korean language. In the last century, though, Hangul has undergone enormous transformation in response to western typography and technology. What if we revert the historical process and imagine a Latin alphabet influenced by Hangul?

In the spirit of design fiction, this four-day workshop on Tuesdays and Thursdays, will attempt to see what happens when the features of Hangul—from its abstract principles to superficial mannerisms—are applied to the Latin alphabet to create hybrid letterforms. After a brief introduction to Hangul, participants will generate their own original work, learning about various examples of hypothetical letterforms and writing systems along the way.

The ultimate purpose of this workshop is to understand how forms may emerge at the intersection of ideas, accidents, scenarios, and conjectures, as well as materials and technics. Incidentally, participants will also become familiar with the Hangul writing system.

Workshop dates are Tuesdays and Thursdays, October 20, 22, 27, and 29.