Typographics 2019: Ugly Typefaces with Marta Bernstein

This talk took place in The Great Hall at The Cooper Union on June 15, 2019. The livestreaming and video recording were​ made possible by a generous sponsorship from Google.

“The types cut between 1810 and 1850 represent the worst that has ever been”. Or not.
Through her research on Italian Nineteenth Century type, Marta Bernstein will build a case in defense of loud, quirky, overly-decorated and extremely lively typefaces and the century that generated them. Because we still love some ugly type.

Marta Bernstein is a partner at TM, an architecture and design studio based in Seattle. Type and typography are her true passions and the common threads of all her projects. She has a soft spot for 19th Century type, a topic she has been researching for more than ten years.
Marta collaborates with international companies, several start-ups and public institutions. She has a decade long experience in developing identities across various media, and designing wayfinding and signage systems.
Her teaching roles include: adjunct professor in Typography at Milan’s Polytechnic, visiting professor in Architecture and Design at University of Navarra and regular lecturer for the Interior Design master at Tongji University, Shanghai.
She is one of the founders of CAST digital type foundry. Marta completed her B.Sc. & M.Sc. in Graphic Design at Milan’s Polytechnic and her M.Des in type design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.