Panuwat Usakulwattana, 25, is a typeface designer. He studied communication design at Bangkok University, where his senior project, in which he studied the relationship between dyslexia and type design, won first prize at the Degree Show 2012. Panuwat is also a co-founder of the Totem Project, launched for young designers who are interested in typeface production. He will give a lecture next month at the Bangkok International Typographic Symposium (TCDC, Oct 30), where he will be the event's youngest speaker.
What spurred your interested in typography?
Typography plays an important role in communication. It can be the main point or a supporting factor in communicating a message. How you place the message and what the message looks like are the springboard of the point you want to make. I also think typography is the reflection of society, representing people's values in each period of time. You can just look at it and feel it without analysing.
What did you discover in your senior project, "Dyslexia and Type Design"?
First of all, it made me understand that design cannot be isolated from other fields of knowledge. I had to study dyslexia, which is a condition that doctors know of, but not font designers. I questioned whether font designers could help those with dyslexia to read better by altering the spacing between letters.
What are the challenges of designing Thai fonts?
I am lucky that there is a lot of interest in Thai fonts today, as a result of hard work by the former generation. There are more possibilities than in the past. There are a lot of challenges, but if I had to name just one, it would be creating something that transcends trends and time.
What do you like best about your job?
I think this job, in a way, is similar to other jobs in the sense that there are many phases. I enjoy the production phase of my job, when I get to draw the letters and learn through trial and error. Spending time with delicate details makes me believe that drawing typeface is a real craft.
What is your role in this year's Bangkok International Typographic Symposium?
I will give a talk entitled "Typing Thai and the Ghost of Typewriter". It's about typing culture from the 1930s to the present, as well as the future. What I will share with the audience comes from my two years' experience in this job, which might be a relatively short time, but is interesting all the same. Since this is the only international typographic symposium in Southeast Asia, I'm excited about meeting international typeface designers and exchanging knowledge with them, so I can improve myself.
