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It started innocently enough. I follow a few visual artists on Instagram, some of whom I’ve met in person and others I’ve admired from afar. I really wanted the opportunity to have some interesting and inspiring conversations, so I reached out to a few artists about a small three or five-part series about local female artists in and around Toronto. One thing led to another... that led to another that led to another (as many exciting projects tend to unfold) and before I knew it, my fingers were typing madly, direct messages and emails fired off, invitations sent…. and I began receiving a whole lot of yeses to my requests for conversation. Even when I felt in over my head, I kept finding artists whose work I gravitated towards (across town, across the country and then, finally, across the ocean), who I thought would be a great fit for this series. Every time I would chat with a friend who knew what I was working on, I would mention that the episode count was up to nine or 11 or 14, and each time they would say ‘What are you thinking?!’ What I was thinking was that there are just so many creative and curious people I want to connect with. I felt this magnetic pull to speak with them and learn from them. Before I knew it, I had 17 people scheduled into my calendar ready to chat ‘art’, their sources of inspiration, their creative processes and the tools they use in their individual crafts. Curious Heart, Open Mind I’ve learned that when we listen with a curious heart and an open mind allows us, as human beings, to better understand the world and ourselves within it. When we listen - really listen - multiple truths can begin to emerge. Very few things in this world are binary ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Even fewer things in the world of art are binary and, as such, grey areas and multiple realities begin to surface if we listen intentionally. In 17 conversations with 17 female visual artists who encompass 17 different specialties offering 17 unique points of view, strong connections emerged; a web of wisdom born out of nodes of knowledge. First and foremost, these artists are now connected through this series, but I wanted to dig deeper and find underlying connections. During the conversations, overlapping circles formed in my mind as to how these very different artists were very interconnected. Like backing away from the individual tiles on a wall mosaic to reveal something much larger and much more significant than each separate piece on its own, after each conversation my aim became clearer; to find the intersections between the artists that speak to larger themes about creative processes and practices. As travel writer and novelist, Pico Iyer, states in his book The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere: “...but at some point, all the horizontal trips in the world can’t compensate for the need to go deep into somewhere challenging and unexpected.” As I continued to reach out to artists, I couldn’t help but feel that this series was careening out of my creative control in the best way possible. It was becoming bigger and more exciting than I had imagined, and I allowed my creative intuition to remain a few steps ahead of my creative brain for much of the experience. I was going somewhere deeper, more challenging and unexpected than I had originally imagined... and it was exhilarating. I was kept awake more nights than I’d like to admit, but in the best ways possible. The entire process became this huge puzzle that consisted of 17 artists, 9+ hours of audio and a blank screen ready to be transformed into a visual story. I became fascinated (nay, obsessive) by how to solve this giant puzzle in front of me, with very few constraints and the promise to myself that I was creating something a little new and novel and never quite done before. “Your art was the prettiest art of all the art.” - Roy Anderson to Pam Beasley, The Office My artistic talent, in the traditional sense, was virtually non-existent growing up. My perspective drawings in grade 7 barely made the wall for parent-teacher night. My paintings were few and far between. My clay sculptures… underwhelming. But I had lots of arts and crafts in my life growing up. As a kid there was always a crafty project within reach: pipe cleaner people and painted ornaments and paper projects a-plenty. I’ve had this need to create, to make, to design (in the broadest sense) for as long as I can remember. Is this art? Have I been doing ‘art’ all along? In addition to the big picture ideas and themes unfolding within the series, I was also presented with the opportunity to ask: What is art? Who is an artist? In her incredible book, Big Magic, author and creative soul, Elizabeth Gilbert, reminds us that we all come from makers. Even if we don’t remember our parents making art or stitching together our clothes or tending to a garden, our grandparents and great grandparents and great-great grandparents very likely did these things out of both necessity and enjoyment. To be human is to be creative and to make things. Liz explains: “The earliest evidence of recognizable human art is 40,000 years old. The earliest evidence of human agriculture, by contrast, is only 10,000 years old, which means that somewhere in our collective evolutionary story we decided it was way more important to make attractive superfluous items than it was to learn how to regularly feed ourselves.” But my art isn't of the calibre of the artists in this series. In light of this fact, can I consider myself an artist? I recently had the opportunity to moderate two round-table discussions at RGD’s DesignReThinkers 2021 conference. I was given a choice of a few different discussion topics, but the one my heart and soul gravitated towards was called ‘Gaining confidence when you don’t *feel* confident’. There were many, many takeaways from the open and honest discussions, but one that resonates here is the fact that there will always be someone whose work is better than yours. And there are two ways of looking at this fact: one is limiting while the other is liberating. (I choose the latter.) Someone will always have work that is more refined/professional/interesting/creative/noteworthy/special than yours. Period. But that doesn’t mean that your work is any less important. The beautiful thing about creative and artistic pursuits is that there’s rarely a right and a wrong answer. Instead there are hundreds of different ways to approach an artistic practice and process. Our unique views, our life experiences and our specific ways of thinking all help us create work that is meaningful to ourselves and to others. Furthermore, the nature of creative work means that not only is it encoded and created in many different ways, but it’s also received and decoded differently by each viewer. Beautiful work to one person, is less-than-stellar to another and vice-versa. The subjectivity of creative work makes it both scary and exciting, challenging and rewarding. So what is art? Who is an artist? I don’t know. But I don’t think it matters as much as I originally thought it might. I know I am a maker. And I think that makes me an artist too. I also know that the older I get, the more important a role creativity plays in my life. Trying something new, no matter the outcome and dipping my toes into the pool of artistic practice where I could very well sink to the bottom, is a risk I’m willing - no, I have to - take. The need to express myself in a very real, deep, intrinsically-motivated, non-performative way is helping me understand my sense of self. This podcast series is my creative output about creative outputs so I thought it was only fair that after having completed the series that I go back and ask myself some of the same questions that I asked my guests. Namely, what was my creative process? The Creative Process to Uncover Creative Processes What making Intersection afforded me, beyond having interesting conversations with incredible artists, is the ability to use my creative process to uncover others’ creative processes. This series was unlike any other I’ve produced before, not only because of its sheer size but also the way in which I approached recording, editing and finalizing each episode. Typically I get an idea and I run with it. Full stop. For example, when I released my ASMR episodes back in April of this year, not 48 hours before their release I had just learned about this world of ASMR. Within a very short amount of time, I took an idea, did some research, came up with a concept, recorded 3 episodes and released them into the world. Like a sleek, trendy high speed train travelling on the most direct route from the starting point to the destination, it was a whirlwind of a fast and exciting ride. That’s the part I love the most when it comes to this podcast. Spontaneously taking an idea and running with it to create audio that is inherently interesting to me (and hopefully others) in a given moment. In sticking with the train analogy, Intersection, by contrast, is more like an interestingly and ornately painted antique train that stops at every station along the way and takes months to get from its starting point to its destination. The tracks are non-linear, curving, circling back on themselves and drifting into interesting places not on my original map. For many, many weeks I had no idea where I was going with this project. I counted 52 different name ideas for this series before I landed on Intersection. Do I focus on the ‘making’ aspect of these artists and their work? Do I really focus on and push the fact that they are all women pursuing artistic disciplines? Do I focus on their energy and the importance of this invisible force in their practice? My close friends can attest to the fact that I was scattered throughout this process and it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t figure out a theme or focus or direction for this series. When I introduced a new constraint by finally deciding that I would try to find commonalities and connections in artists whose backgrounds and disciplines were so diverse, the puzzle-solving became more focused but it continued. When name #53 finally entered my consciousness - Intersection - it was a lightbulb moment. From this point forward I was able to see a path to my destination on my mental map and steer the slow-moving locomotive toward the final station, regaining control and enjoying the scenic ride. Both trains (and processes) are interesting, useful and have merits in their own right. Intersection’s ride required greater focus and greater trust that I could pull this off, as well as continue to maintain the motivation needed for the marathon 3 months (versus the usual 3 days) of work involved. Needless to say, it was just a different ride than I’m used to. And I’m so grateful for it because it has allowed me to grow and shift and think differently. The ways I’ve pushed myself here have spilled over into other areas of my personal and professional lives. And that’s the neat thing about growth: it accumulates compound interest. Invest a little time and energy and curiosity and if you do that often enough and for long enough, you’ll end up with a fortune. Furthermore, instead of my typical process of editing each conversation directly after it happened, I recorded all conversations in this series and let the ideas marinate. I then went back and listened again, editing the audio and taking meticulous notes to capture and catalogue the main ideas, sources of inspiration, creative processes and tools used by the artists. Like the pieces of an intricate puzzle that could fit together in a number of different ways, I had no idea if, in the end, I would still have a piece of two left over in the box with nowhere to go. But with a little flexibility, adaptability and creativity, all the pieces fit and, in fact, I’m delighted to say that the puzzle forms a circle of connection looping from one artist to the next to the next, all the way back to the beginning again. In summary, my process for this project involved collecting, dissecting and then reflecting, connecting, and ultimately intersecting the conversations and the stories of 17 diverse female artists. (And I’ve got the spreadsheet to prove it.) 17 artists, intersecting Over the next 17 episodes you will meet a realist painter, a Photoshop artist, an art therapist, a makeup artist, an abstract painter, a textile designer, an animator, a portraiture artist, a henna artist, a tattoo artist, a filmmaker, a photographer, a paper cut artist, a LEGO artist, a digital paper artist, a watercolour artist and a woodworker. Some of the artists are just starting their careers, while others have been in the business for 20+ years. Some are full time artists who make a living from their craft, while others pursue their art part-time or strictly as a hobby, determined never to make it a source of income. There were so many intersecting ideas and practices and underlying motivations within each of these conversations, which made it both easy and challenging to fit the puzzle together in a meaningful way. From a birds eye view, some of the most interesting overarching themes include the fact that many of these individuals started out and trained as professional illustrators, branching off from this starting point into their unique disciplines. Most, if not all, of these artists are also multi-disciplinary. They specialize in one or two or three crafts, but dabble in many others. Furthermore, many of the artists spoke about the importance of not only participating in artistic communities of like-hearted individuals, but also creating spaces for these communities to flourish. Many of these women are creative leaders in their communities, both digitally and in-person, that help to elevate the work of other artists and create joy through helping others discover and rediscover their artistic practices. Interestingly, while many of these artists do make a living through their craft, competition was rarely discussed. Community, collaboration and focusing on the development of their own artistic practices was much more commonplace. I’m excited to share with you now the points of connection interwoven throughout each of the 17 artists and their stories. A theme found in one artist’s conversation, connects to a theme found in the artist whose episode came directly before theirs, as well as a theme found in the artist whose episode comes directly after. The present will connect to the past that will connect to the future. So at the end of 17 episodes we will not only hear incredible stories of female artists, but we will also hear the stories between the stories, listening deeply for the common themes, ideas and truths that emerge and interweave one to the next. The connections start here, with this primer episode and through creating my art; reflecting and writing and storytelling. The themes include: Growth Failure The journey is more important than the destination Art as therapy The importance of creating safe spaces through art Bright colours bring joy The power of immersing oneself into nature Setting boundaries Exploring the ways traditional meets modern practice Storytelling Research Maintaining creative control Finding balance The power of play Doing work that's meaningful to oneself Finding one’s flow state Determination Spontaneity in the process After having worked on this project, I have new levels of understanding about art, artists and the worlds in which they create. One of the key insights I’ve extracted and held close is that my work, both personal and professional, is ever-evolving. Growth is an exciting part of the process that reminds us that nothing stands still for too long and that’s a good thing. In the upcoming first episode we meet Brooke, a realist painter, who shares my feelings about the process of growth as an artist and as a human being. Stay tuned... Music (public domain via Free Music Archive): Chad Crouch - Rainbow Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo byAlex onUnsplash

Technology is an incredibly powerful force that shapes virtually every aspect of our lives, from transportation, to healthcare, to agriculture, to communication. In a website by accenture all about Technology Trends 2021, they identify five major technological trends that span across a variety of global industries. Stack Strategically - They argue that companies will now be competing on their technology architecture and therefore, their technological and business strategies must be seamlessly integrated with one another. Mirrored World - With more of the physical world represented in the digital space, companies can reimagine how they “operate, collaborate and innovate”. I, Technologist - The democratization of technology means that it’s possible for every employee within a company to provide technology-driven solutions. Anywhere, Everywhere - The global pandemic has shifted to a workforce of individuals who can work from anywhere, demanding that leaders create “Bring Your Own Environment” (BYOE) strategies that will redefine where work is done. From Me to We - More seamless sharing of data, greater resiliency and adaptability are possible when multiparty systems work together. Digital publishing trends fit right into these categories, including the incorporation of artificial intelligence and the remote nature of work for individuals on each side of the publishing equation. This is The Digital re:Publish Project. Let’s hear from four more creative minds who will help us better understand what’s near, new and next in digital publishing. First, Tristan will explain whether or not the PDF has a prominent place in the future of digital publishing. Next, Mya discusses virtual education now and what it means for the future of education as a whole. Matthew walks us through what NFTs are, as well as why NFTs are all over the news. And finally, Jack will stretch our minds into imaging the future of digital publishing through the lens of AI. Let’s do this, Tristan! Tristan Fitkin discusses PDFs. The AI-powered liquid mode is a promising and exciting new feature that takes into account mobile’s steady takeover of the way in which we interact with digitally published documents. Whether bigger is better or smaller mobile is better, It’s up to the individual user and their preferences and availability of devices. Either way it seems like the PDF has got you covered. Thank you Tristan. Well the PDF standard plays a role in virtually every industry and they can have a significant impact In the virtual education space. Mya Leggo discusses virtual education. Accessible. Immersive. Realistic. It is my belief, and the belief of many others, that virtual education will not go away any time soon. Eight years ago I began my graduate degree at the University of Alberta. The only way that I was able to study in a different province while working full-time was through virtual education. The program was a hybrid model; each year’s cohort meeting in person and taking two classes for three weeks during the month of May. During the summer, fall and winter semesters I studied part-time exclusively in a virtual format. And then the whole thing repeated again in the month of May with classes for the summer, fall and winter months happening from a distance. While virtual classes looked a lot different eight years ago than they probably would today, when video conferencing software was nowhere near as advanced as it is today and collaboration and sharing tools that we rely on in 2021 weren’t a possibility. But, it still worked. I feel like I had a very strong educational experience within my masters degree studying from a distance. With a dramatic push to online learning beginning in 2020, this has only fuelled and sped up the advancement of technologies, educational strategies and willingness to consider the virtual classroom a widely accepted educational space. I believe that the future of virtual education looks something like my masters degree; a hybrid solution that encompasses the best of both worlds. A balance of human connection and flexibility. I think it’s safe to say those two elements are the bedrock of all successful educational strategies. I digress. Thank you Mya. In a world where any digital file can technically be “minted” and then sold to the highest bidder, how do NFTs fit into the digital publishing landscape? Matthew Soesito explains and contextualizes NFTs. So much promise. So many unknowns. Such a huge impact on the environment. It will be really interesting to follow this trend and see how it shapes the virtual creation marketplace. Thank you, Matthew, for shedding light on the mysterious world of NFTs. While the cryptocurrency of digital publishing is here now, what might the distant (or not so distant) future of digital publishing look like when it comes to artificial intelligence? How will AI affect any and all stakeholders in the publishing industry, for better or for worse? Jack Benjamin describes the ways in which artificial intelligence is changing digital publishing. It’s really incredible to think about all of the applications of AI possible within publishing organizations, big and small. From marketing initiatives, through to optimizing editorial content, including topics, formats and timing. And while I want to believe that artificial intelligence is simply another tool in the tool kit of publishing houses, the relatively unknown and untapped power of AI gives reason for us as knowledge workers in the world of creativity, reason to be shaking in our boots... just a little. Thank you, Jack. And thank you to all of our contributors to this episode, Tristan, May, Matthew and Jack for sharing your ideas. There are so many exciting possibilities surrounding what we can create, share and build with the world through connecting our digitally published works with one another. That’s it! We’ve done it! Three new episodes containing 12 new ideas about digital publishing, spawned from the original mini-series. From the past to present, 50 years in the making, to what’s possible through leveraging technology, to what’s near, new and next in digital publishing, we’ve come a long way. Only time will tell where and how we’ll see the digital publishing landscape shift and evolve over time. Stay tuned… Meet Our Team: Tristan Fitkin is an Undergraduate student at Ryerson University. She is currently studying in the Graphic Communications Management program, and a piece of her work was recently showcased on LinkedIn. Mya Leggo (She/Her) is a first-year Graphic Communications Management (GCM) student at Ryerson University. Her creative portfolio showcases work done in Adobe Creative Cloud as well as marketing projects. Matthew Soesito is a first-year student at the School of Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He currently works as a graphic designer while also maintaining a personal business, offering services in a variety of creative outlets, including photography and design. Jack Benjamin is a first-year student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He is studying Graphic Communications Management. He enjoys spending his time honing his graphic design skills, learning about global cultures, spending time outdoors, and experiencing new things. Music (public domain via freesound.org): Kesta - Won’t Stop Podington Bear - Sneaker Chase Podington Bear - Saver Kesta - Robot Waltz Podington Bear - Quail and Robot Convo Kesta - Won’t Stop Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash Episode Cover Art: Canva

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the digital publishing revolution. From the very first entry into Project Gutenberg‘s database of electronic, freely-accessible documents, digital publishing was born. The space has come a heck of a long way since that first entry and in the first episode of this miniseries we explored the history of blogging, the current era of digital publishing, industry software options, as well as platforms that transform content from being produced in a vacuum to collaborative co-creation. This is The Digital re:Publish Project. I want to preface this second episode by saying that while a number of the ideas contained within may allude to the fact that printing is no longer relevant, that’s not the message here. The printing industry is such a huge, multifaceted space that represents billions of dollars to the economy every year. Printed Newspapers and books represent a relatively small sub-section of the industry as a whole and while the prevalence of digital publishing is steadily increasing, it represents a small subsection of publishing as a whole. Both digital and printed publications have pros and cons. Both play a role in our everyday lives. Both are important. Just like any industry, the graphic communications industry, that includes printing, is shifting and morphing and evolving. Until we can package our breakfast cereals inside of an iPad, printing has a necessary and promising future. Let’s hear from four more creative minds who will help us better understand how digital publishing can and has evolved through leveraging technology. First, Celaia will invite us to consider the prevalence and possibilities in embracing ‘remix culture’ through harnessing digitally available works. Next, Stephen will explain how continuous publication, fuelled by the constant hum of information provided via social media platforms, is reshaping the digital news landscape. Bronwyn will help us understand the concept of paywalls. And finally, Dominique will speak to the importance of, and opportunities for, incorporating accessibility and user interaction in the digital publishing landscape. Let’s do this, Celaia! Celaia Gonzalez explains remix culture. Copy, transform, combine. We are all interwoven into the fabric of creativity; ideas merging and converging, dissolving and evolving. Remix culture is a powerful and ever-present idea. In fact, the defining and refining of the concept of remix culture was likely a remix itself. Thank you Celaia. With so many great ideas floating around in the world, ready for us to remix and put our own spin on before re-releasing them into the wild, are there any rules about when content can be published? While traditional publishing schedules and editorial calendars of yesteryear would have us believe that there is a black and white, right and wrong schedule to publish content, Stephen has us thinking in greys and believing otherwise. Stephen Fernandes speaks about continuous publication. In a world where speed equals relevancy it makes a lot of sense that continuous publication, powered by digital technologies, tools and techniques, it’s breaking down preconceived ideas of when publishing happens. Thank you Stephen. While lots of up-to-date information exists online and is published continuously, will readers pay for it? What is a paywall and in what situations will readers fork over hard earned cash for digital content and in what situations will they not? Please enlighten us, Bronwyn. Bronwyn James tells us about paywalls. Free content, indeed. With an overwhelming amount of excellent, relevant, up-to-date, free information available on the Internet (this podcast included!) it’s no wonder that many users don’t see the value in paying for similar content. This is a bigger topic that we don’t have time for here and now but this discussion begs the question as to whether or not the free vs. paid content is actually similar. For example, amidst an era of ‘fake news’, The Atlantic magazine ramped up their fact-checking efforts, which is one of the factors they say contributed to their unprecedented rise in digital subscriptions in 2020. Quality, fact-checked content aside, digital publishers who wish to get readers to pay for content (versus having advertisers pay and/or rely on other revenue streams), must determine, specifically, what their readership believes adds value above and beyond the available free content. Print may very well be part of that strategy. Thank you, Bronwyn. As the amount of content available grows, so does the audience who will read and take in this content. This means that more care must be taken as to how accessible documents are that are published online. Accessible design is good design and benefits all readers. Furthermore, there are new and interesting ways in which users can have their voices heard within a traditionally static digital publishing world. Talk to us, Dominique. Dominique helps us understand accessibility and user interaction in digital publishing. Accessibility must be considered to be more than simply an add-on. To improve both the quality of content and that content’s reach, creators must build accessibility into their digitally published works. Furthermore, there are so many interesting and unique ways to imagine greater interaction among users, as well as between readers and the publisher and even with the authors themselves. Whether through leveraging current social sharing technologies or creating new ones, the possibilities are exciting. Thank you, Dominique. And thank you to all of our contributors to this episode, Celaia, Stephen, Bronwyn and Dominique for sharing your ideas. There are so many exciting possibilities surrounding what we can create, share and build with the world through connecting our digitally published works with one another. We’ll soon be releasing our final episode in the mini-series featuring four more creative minds who will teach us about what’s near, new and next in digital publishing. The power of the PDF, the prominence of virtual education, the predilection for NFTs and the possibilities of AI in digital publishing will all be explored. Stay tuned... Meet Our Team: Celaia Gonzalez is a freelance graphic designer currently studying an undergraduate bachelor’s in technology for Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University. She is passionate about the print industry and runs a small cookie business in her spare time. Stephen Fernandes is a student at the School of Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University. He is also a freelance graphic designer. You can find his work on Instagram @sfdesigns. Bronwyn James is a student at the School of Graphic Communications at Ryerson University. She has a strong interest in Graphic Design and Digital Publishing. Dominique Paul is an undergraduate student in the Graphic Communications Management Program at Ryerson University. As a content creator, Dominique is keen on engaging in discussions relevant to the Graphic Communications and Design industries. Music (public domain via freesound.org): Kesta - Still Room Siddhartha Corsus - Endless Forms Most Beautiful Bio Unit - Solitary Kesta - Gentle Wave Bio Unit - Lightning Bug Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash Episode Cover Art: Canva

A few months ago I released a mini series of podcast episodes all about digital publishing. In a Charles Dickens-esque fashion we travelled to the past, the present and the future of digital publishing. As part of a course I taught this winter semester, I asked my graphic communications management students to listen to the min-iseries and find inspiration to create their own professionally written articles about one of the ideas explored. From there they were to dive in to learn more about that specific slice of the digital publishing realm. There were many excellent submissions. Now, what good is good work if it only ever exists in an assignment dropbox, seen by a single person? So I reached out to a number of students after the course was over to ask if they wanted to collaborate on this project with me. I was thrilled when I received 12 yes’s. My goal with this audio project is to lift this great work out of cyberspace and onto a platform for others to hear. In doing so, the original digital publishing miniseries has spawned its own mini series. Introducing: The Digital re:Publish Project; three new episodes about digital publishing, showcasing the work of talented soon-to-be second year graphic communications management students. Over the next three episodes I will interweave the students’ projects, original research and writing, into a narrative that roughly falls into the same past, present and future categories but with entirely fresh content. From the history of blogging, through to accessibility considerations, through to the world of NFTs and the ways in which AI could shape the future of digital publishing, there’s a lot of ground to cover. I’m excited for you to hear what students have been up to, in their own words and in their own voices. This is The Digital re:Publish Project. Part 1: From past to present, 50 years in the making In this first episode in the miniseries we hear from students documenting how we’ve arrived in today’s world of digital publishing. First Tristan will let us in on the history of blogging. Next Maria will provide an Overview of the current era of digital publishing. And then Aanya and Wendy will shine light on the technical aspects of Adobe InDesign vs. Pressbooks and Wattpad, respectively. Tristan Aus explains the blogoshere. Thank you, Tristan, for helping us better understand the history of blogging. Blogging is such a formative and powerful tool to connect the world. So much of what we know and experience in our day-to-day lives on the internet, sharing and sending, tweeting and tik toking, creating and connecting, has roots in the blogosphere. Maria, please help us understand an overview of the current state of digital publishing. Maria Shah explains the current state of digital publishing. Thank you, Maria, for helping us understand where we are today in the world of digital publishing. Great content is certainly important, but the way it’s visually presented, including technical considerations of file construction (such as working font files and high quality images), as well as designing for maximum readability, must be carefully considered for digital publication, just as much as for a printed publication. Aanya, please help us understand the layout software options available to us and how they compare with one another. Aanya Kumar explains the pros and cons of using InDesign vs. Pressbooks for digital publishing projects. Thank you, Aanya, for helping us understand more about important software for creating digital publications, whether in a professional context or for your personal self-publishing projects and everything in between. While creating digital publications as a solo-effort is common, what if you didn’t have to have the entire work completed before you release it into the world? What if you were able to receive feedback as you create the content for your digital publication, your work shifting and morphing with each new reader’s input. Wendy, can you tell us more? Wendy Yang explains Wattpad as a platform for digital collaboration . Thank you, Wendy, for helping us understand the ways in which collaborative storytelling can be realized through a platform like Wattpad. And thank you to all of our contributors to this episode, Tristan, Maria, Aanya and Wendy for sharing your ideas in this episode. There are so many exciting possibilities surrounding what we can create, share and build with the world through connecting our digitally published works with one another. We’ll soon be releasing our next episode featuring four more emerging publishing minds who will teach us about what’s possible in publishing when we leverage technology. Remix culture, the notion of continuous publishing, the power of paywalls and accessibility and user interaction will all be explored. Stay tuned... Meet Our Team: Tristan Aus is a graphic designer currently studying Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University. They enjoy learning, creative writing and spend most of their free time creating comics. Look at Tristan’s creations here. Instagram. Maria Shah is a 2nd-year Graphic Communications Management student at Ryerson University. She has completed many web design projects and loves to make digital and hand-drawn artworks. In her free time, she’s usually painting, learning a new musical instrument or cycling. Aanya Kumar is a student in the Graphic Communications Management (BTech) program at Ryerson University. She was a Creative Associate for the first digital publication of the RyeTAGA student chapter publication. Connect with her about graphic design and brand identity on LinkedIn. Wendy Yang is a first-year Graphic Communications Management (GCM) student at Ryerson University. Wendy is an art and design enthusiast and a recipient of the Canadian Printing Industries Scholarship. She can be reached on her LinkedIn profile. Music (public domain via freesound.org): Kesta - My Tribe Kesta - Changed Tomorrow Bio Unit - Ground Effect Siddhartha Corsus - Constellations Metre - Don't Hurry Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash Episode Cover Art: Canva

In this final episode in the mags 2022 miniseries, you’ll hear from Steph Beveridge, Account Manager at Hemlock Printers in Vancouver, BC. In this conversation, Steph explains the types of magazines Hemlock prints and the ways in which small, niche publications are growing their audiences. Steph shares a breakdown of typical printing processes for magazines, trends in magazine printing (including size, paper and finish), as well as actionable tips for designing with print in mind. She shares the big challenge for the printing industry right now, unique advertising opportunities for publishers, as well as the economics of niche magazine publications. Finally, Steph describes the reasons she got into this field and her biggest takeaways from having studied at TMU. This is a recording of TMU’s Magazine Production & Publishing class in spring 2022. Please excuse the quality of my audio in this episode, as I recorded this final class from a hotel room in New York City without my mic (that sounds so good!). Let’s listen in… About Our Guest: As a lover of all things print, Steph works as an account manager for Hemlock Printers Ltd. in Vancouver, BC. She spends her days helping great designers select the right paper and specialty finishes to allow their creativity to shine. Here's a great video plant tour of Hemlock's facility. Music: Tussle by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Meet Lonelle Selbo, publisher and designer of LIFE AU LAIT Magazine, a digital publication serving Prince Edward County (PEC), Ontario, Canada. In this conversation, Lonelle explains her magazine’s origin story, why digital is the right format for her publication and the way she’s adapted to help local businesses promote themselves during the pandemic. Lonelle defines maximalism and how she embraces it in the design of LIFE AU LAIT Magazine. She also explains how she uses rules in her creative process, specifically focusing on the criteria of intentionality and usefulness. Lonelle shares where she thinks the future of magazine content is headed and shares future plans for her magazine. Also, Diana shares her big idea for the future of the magazine industry… a collaboration is very possible and you’re hearing it here first! Finally, insights about the power of listening emerge and remerge throughout the conversation. This is a recording of TMU’s Magazine Production & Publishing class in spring 2022. You’ll hear that Lonelle shared her website in class and you can follow along in the show notes below. Let’s listen in… About Our Guest: After doing hard time in Toronto, immersed in the journalism of music, travel, food, drink, arts, and culture, Lonelle moved to Prince Edward County to live her best life. She spends each day documenting the County’s green-blue and pale-gold vistas, soft white sands, and magical limestone soils for her PEC magazine LIFE AU LAIT—wild inspiration and precious history filling the cracks in between. You can find her at any great County event, talking wine in a cellar, or singing karaoke in an old barn with some of the local characters and talents. Magazine https://lifeaulait.com/ Virtual Market https://lifeaulait.com/the-county-market/ County Guideshttps://lifeaulait.com/navigate-the-county/ Music (public domain via Free Music Archive): HoliznaCC0 - Waiting on a Train Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Name: Gill Sans Release Date: 1928 Designer: Eric Gill Classification: Humanist Sans-Serif Owned By: Monotype Claim to Fame: Typeface for London North and Eastern Railway Eric Gill This story begins with the designer of Gill Sans, Eric Gill. Although he had a controversial personal life, he was an important British type designer, printmaker, stone carver, sculptor and illustrator, who plays a significant role in the world of typography. He designed the typefaces Perpetua and Joanna, which were both named after his daughters and more importantly, the ever-so-famous Gill Sans, which some might call the Helvetica of England. But first, let’s start at the beginning. Eric Gill was Born in the year 1882 in Brighton, England. He attended the Chichester School of Art and then later, the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. At the Central School of Arts and Crafts, he was an apprentice to Edward Johnston, a British calligrapher, in 1901. When designing his own type, Gill was inspired by the sans-serif typeface Johnston designed for the London Underground Railways. Eric said, “The first notable attempt to work out the norm for plain letters was made by Mr. Edward Johnston when he designed the sans-serif letter for the London Underground Railways. Some of these letters are not entirely satisfactory, especially when it is remembered that, for such a purpose, an alphabet should be as near as possible ‘fool-proof’… as the philosophers would say—nothing should be left to the imagination of the sign-writer or enamel-plate maker.” His goal was to create a perfect and legible typeface. In 1926, Gill experimented with his new typeface idea by hand-painting lettering for a bookshop in Bristol. Stanley Morison, an advisor for Monotype, noticed Gill’s achievements and commissioned him to create a sans-serif typeface to compete with the widely popular Futura typeface. Then in 1928, the commissioned typeface Gill Sans was released commercially by Monotype. In 1930, Gill wrote and crafted a book called “An Essay on Typography”, in which he voiced his opinions and philosophies on type design and included his predictions for the future of design. Eric Gill was one of the first people to receive the diction of Royal Designer for Industry award in 1938. Eric Gill died in 1940, due to lung cancer. Gill Sans Let’s take a deep dive into the Gill Sans typeface. Firstly, Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface with some geometric features, which make it legible and readable in both large and small sizes. Gill Sans is humanist because it contains features that mimic pen-written letters. The most prevalent geometric feature of Gill Sans is its circular “O”. In addition to Johnston's Underground Railway typeface, Gill took inspiration from typographic classic roman proportions. This can be seen through the classic shapes of the “a” and “g”, as well as the vertical stroke ends on the “c”, “e” and “f”. The vertical stroke ends create an illusion of the stroke thinning, which connects back to Roman type. It also has a very clean cut and warm appearance. Some other notable features of Gill Sans include: A double story, hourglass shape lowercase “g” A double storey lowercase “a” A relatively small x-height And lastly, the upstrokes and downstrokes have the same thickness (Only the “a”, “e” and “g” have thinner strokes) The Gill Sans font family consists of 36 different typefaces, including light, condensed, bold and italic. Gill was the consultant for the design projects of many of these variations produced by Monotype. Compared to its competitors like Helvetica or Univers, the different type styles and weights were not mechanically produced from a single drawing, making each unique in their own way. For example, according to Monotype themselves, “each weight retains a distinct character of its own. The light font, with its heavily kerned ‘f’ and tall ‘t’, has an open, elegant look. The regular font has a more compact and muscular appearance, with its flat-bottomed ‘d’, flat-topped ‘p’ and ‘q’, and short, triangular-topped ‘t.’ The bold font tends to echo the softer, more open style of the light, while the extra bold and ultra-bold have their own vivid personalities.” Over the years, one alteration was added to the Gill Sans typeface to make it more legible. In the original design, there was no distinction between the lowercase “l”, uppercase “i” and the number 1. To solve this problem, a small hook or serif was added to the top of the number one in a new typeface titled “Gill Sans Alt Fig 1”. Popularity Now you might be wondering, how did Gill Sans become so popular and gain the title “The Helvetica of England”. Well, the year after its release, in 1929, Gill Sans was chosen to be used as the official typeface for the London North and Eastern Railway system. It could be seen on everything from timetables to locomotive name plates to dining car menus to advertisements. In 1935, Gill Sans was noticed globally, when designer Edward Young used it for the Penguin Books Jacket Design. By the mid 1900s, Gill Sans had become a corporate typeface and could be seen everywhere. Some more notable appearances include printed materials for British railways starting in 1948, as well as the BBC logo and branding in the 1990s. However, the BBC now uses its own typeface, BBC Reith for its branding and communication. In 2004, Gill Sans was even the official typeface for the Olympic Games in Athens. However, there were some people who chose to disregard Gill Sans, but not because of the font design. Gill was known to have a bad attitude towards women and was very controversial. This didn’t stop the popularity of Gill Sans from booming. Gill Sans Today Gill Sans is still a popular typeface used today, both digitally and in print. Over 24 Gill Sans styles and weights have been made available digitally and has been recommended for both body and headline use. In fact, Gill Sans is a standard font both on Mac OS and Microsoft Office. Just like Helvetica, it can be seen everywhere from corporate logos and documents to advertisements and movie posters. I’m sure you have seen it out and about without realizing. Toy story, Tommy Hilfiger, Philips and Rolls-Royce are among the brands that use Gill Sans in their logos. All in all, Gill Sans has been a popular typeface for decades and continues to be used today. I hope you had fun learning about the history and usage of Gill Sans throughout the years. REFERENCES Cunningham, A. (1966). Gill sans. New Blackfriars, 48(557), 39-42. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2005.1966.tb01037.x Dozome, N. (2021, September 18). Gill Sans: The sacred and the profane. Medium. Retrieved from https://uxdesign.cc/bhakti-as-typography-58270ff8126c Garfield, S. (2010). Just my type: A book about fonts. Profile Books. Idsgn. (2009). Know your type: Gill Sans. Idsgn. Retrieved from http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-gill-sans/ Lou, F. (2017, March 31). The history and characteristics of the gill sans typeface. Owlcation. Retrieved fromhttps://owlcation.com/humanities/gill-sans-typeface About Our Guest Host: Hi! I’m Johanna and I’m a fourth year Graphic Communications Management student at Toronto Metropolitan University. I’m pursuing a concentration in Publishing and a minor in Communication Design. I love anything related to graphic design, print, typography, and publishing. Gill Sans was an interesting typeface to research and I hope you enjoy this podcast! Music (public domain): TRG Banks - Above the Earth Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo byAlex on Unsplash

It’s been just about a year since I released my last magazine miniseries. In 2021, I taught the course ‘Magazine Production and Publishing’ at Toronto Metropolitan University twice; once in the spring term and once in the summer. During each of these course offerings, our class hosted three guests each for a total of six guests who spoke about the business of magazines, the design of magazines and the production of magazines. I recorded these live conversations in our virtual classroom and I later produce them as podcast episodes. If you’re interested in hearing them, they are episodes 055, 056, 057 and 063, 064, 065. I had the distinct pleasure of teaching this course again in spring 2022 and we hosted three brand new guests to chat about their experiences in the magazine world. First up is Greg Davis, Publisher of Melanistic Magazine based in Edmonton, Alberta. Next is Lonelle Selbo, Publisher and Designer of LIFE AU LAIT magazine in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Lastly we will chat with Steph Beveridge, Account Manager at Hemlock Printers in Vancouver, British Columbia. From one side of the country to the other and back again, virtual teaching space afforded us the opportunity to chat with individuals across three provinces… and the connection I’m just realizing exists between them is that at one time each lived and worked in Toronto. Let’s dive into this first conversation with Greg Davis of Melanistic Magazine, an urban lifestyle publication focussing on issues important to the Black community in Edmonton and beyond. In this talk, he describes how communicating a consistent and authentic voice that speaks to the nature of the magazine is what’s most important (versus trying to please everyone). Greg explains what a publisher of a magazine is responsible for, describes typical and creative revenue models for both small and large publications, as well as why he believes the magazine industry is stronger now than it was before the pandemic. p.s. My good friend coincidentally happens to be on the cover of the most recent issue! What are the chances?! Go Gail! About Our Guest: Once described by a good friend of mine as a Jamaican who skipped through Toronto and got lost in Japan. My name is Greg Davis, sort of recently moved to Edmonton and publisher of Melanistic Magazine. Adventure Travel, exploration, driving, and cooking are my main ways to unwind. Most of which I got into during my 10 years in Japan. Japan is also where I got into the magazine world and have been in the media business for over 15 years now. I began my journey in the world of media at Outdoor Japan Magazine (OJ) were our motto of living life freshly squeezed. From there I moved to Outpost Magazine in Toronto and in 2015 made the jump to Edmonton as Sales and Marketing manager for WHERE Edmonton Magazine. These three publications taught to find my passion, make my passion into a business and to make sure my work builds a community. All of these lessons have come together in the forming of my own title Melanistic Magazine. Music: How It Is by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Continuing our discussion of big emotions in creative living, today I am joined by entrepreneur Jaime Roberts of Rock That Creative Job. I first connected with Jamie when she saw my colourful outfits online and felt that we were kindred spirits. She, too, is expressive and has the desire to create, as well as help others in her work. I’m so glad I got the chance to meet Jamie and also to sit down to have this conversation that you’re about to hear today all about how she helps support creative people in various stages of their journeys. We take a deep dive into imposter syndrome and Jamie shares an assessment she’s created to help individuals align themselves in the right environments that will enable them to thrive. We discuss the magic of low-stakes opportunities, practicing and getting comfortable with failure in the process. She speaks about moving yourself forward — iterating and innovating — and the only way to make that happen is through doing. Jamie provides sound advice for selling oneself in an authentic way even if you loathe self-promotion (hint: know your audience!). Finally, Jamie offers some excellent advice to recent graduates about how to differentiate themselves in a competitive hiring landscape, including doubling down on your personal story so that you’re a memorable candidate for the job. About Our Guest: Jamie Roberts is a designer and sr. creative director with 20 years of advertising industry experience, and founder of Rock That Creative Job, a creative career optimization business that helps creatives sell themselves more effectively (rockthatcreativejob.com). She offers a broad range of services for creatives who feel stuck, stressed, and unsure of next steps to propel their creative career forward. When she’s not helping creatives you can also find her reading, running, writing, or color-sorting her closets. Links to some of Jamie's helpful resources: Are You An Imposter? Why Your Creative Job Isn't Good For You Is Your Career Trauma Holding You Back? Rejections Are Just Practice Rounds Music: Living Life by Scott Holmes, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Big emotions in creative living. It’s a big, important topic equally necessary for those who are just starting out in industry, seasoned professionals and everyone in between. In this three-part miniseries dedicated to this topic, you’ll meet four incredible women who are challenging the status quo when it comes to being vulnerable about their journeys in creative living. And while struggling with creative confidence is not something unique to women, through my own experiences and the many conversations I’ve had with others about this topic, it does seem to impact women in profound and disproportionate ways. I have been exploring the idea of creative confidence a lot in the past eight months, starting with moderating a roundtable discussion at RGD’s DesignThinkers 2021 conference. It was here where I (ironically) nervously facilitated conversation surrounding the topic of creative confidence. I learned how prevalent and universal the feelings of self doubt and imposter syndrome are in creative living. This led me on a journey of exploration, purely for the reason it was interesting to me and this resulted in an unplanned article for the RGD, released in January 2022 entitled ‘New Year, New-Found Confidence’, which shared my experiences with this topic and what I learned through vulnerable and heart-felt discussions with individuals at DesignThinkers. After the article was released to the RGD community I was asked if I would speak about this topic at the 2022 RGD Creative Directions conference in February. It was here that I spent a lot of time thinking about and refining not only my observations and my experiences surrounding creative confidence, but also some concrete tools and techniques to help overcome some of the roadblocks holding us back from living our most brave creative lives. It was around the same time that a really incredible opportunity presented itself. Domestika, a digital course provider and the largest online community for creatives (think LinkedIn Learning or Masterclass, but designed specifically for creative-identifying people) reached out to me. One thing led to another and I pitched them the idea that I could create a course focussed around this topic of boosting creative confidence. The course would be anchored on tools and techniques I was developing, alongside scholarly research about this topic, the important conversations I’d been having and my own creative confidence journey. It would be rooted in vulnerability; a sort of meta-experience whereby I was using all of these tools and techniques to help me boost my own creative confidence for teaching in a format that is so foreign to me - on camera in a studio. I was approaching this not as an expert in the topic of creative confidence, but as someone who had found ways to reframe the challenges holding them back. They said yes to my unconventional idea and that lit a fire under me and I began really diving deep and developing exercises that I workshopped with my undergrad students about different topics in creative confidence like imposter syndrome, acknowledging what we can control in creative work (spoiler: it’s only the process and not the outcome), as well as accepting — and even inviting — Failure into the process to walk alongside us. All in the hope that I would help current and future students, as well as myself, reframe the way we approach feelings of self-doubt that inevitably arise as part of the creative process. For anyone who follows Talk Paper Scissors on Instagram, you may have seen a lengthy survey and an ask for help on a super secret project. The cat is now officially out of the bag and thanks to a diverse range of creative superstars who helped me refine my lessons and fill in gaps that I was unable to see through my own lens (you know who you are and I’m eternally grateful for you!), I am excited to share that I just returned from New York City where I spent three days filming original content for my first Domestika course. I can’t wait to share more with you when it’s released, but all is to say that big emotions in creative living are very top of mind for me right now, which is why I’m so excited to dive into this conversation today. The last thing I will say about this right now is that a kind of Big Magic — as in the Liz Gilbert, mystical, unexplained, brilliant happenstance that is want to occur when we’re open to the mysteries of creative living — followed me around New York City. I completely believe that the universe left a little trail of Easter eggs for me to find while I was away and communicated in my love language (books!). I will save this strange and serendipitous story for another episode. Getting back to today’s conversation I am so excited for you to be introduced to “The Scaries”. In this first episode in a mini series all about big emotions in creative living, you’ll hear what The Scaries is all about, how it evolved and the form it takes today. You’ll hear the voices behind The Scaries: Nicola Hamilton and LeeAndra Cianci. We talk about the emotional realities of creative living (including regular feelings of self doubt) and how the duo overcame burnout through their creative practice. We dive into imposter syndrome, fear and why giving our big feelings a voice is a huge step towards making them work for us and not against us. About Out Guests: The Scaries is a collaboration between illustrator LeeAndra Cianci and graphic designer Nicola Hamilton. As commercial artists, our mandate is to translate our client’s visions into the tangible, to amplify their voices, and to communicate their messaging. Acting as translators, over time, can render us out of sorts with our own unique styles, processes and instincts. Combine that with the hyper-connected age we’re living in—where we’re constantly comparing ourselves to our peers—and that’s a recipe for some serious self-doubt. The Scaries is an exploration of the emotional realities of making work and the emotional turmoil the process inflicts upon us. LeeAndra Cianci is an editorial and commercial illustrator, whose client list includes The New York Times, Nike, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Life. Her work has been internationally recognized by the Society of Publication Designers, the Society for News Design, and the Canadian National Magazine Awards. She holds a Masters of Design from NSCAD University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University. IG: https://www.instagram.com/leeandracianci/ URL: http://www.leeandracianci.com/ Nicola Hamilton is an independent art director and designer, whose work has been internationally recognized by the D&AD, the Society of Publication Designers, and the National Magazine Awards, among others. She was an art director at Studio Wyse, deputy art director at Chatelaine and associate art director at The Grid. She's a part-time design educator, president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, and founder of the forthcoming Issues Magazine Shop. IG: https://www.instagram.com/nickydearest/ URL: http://nicolahamilton.com/ Music: Feeling Fine by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

I love and admire the work produced by the folks at The Weekly Typographic podcast. Their weekly emails are one of the few emails I actually look forward to receiving. It’s jam-packed full of valuable, curated resources about what’s happening in the type world. One of the recent articles they directed me to was called: North American Syllabics fonts developed in collaboration with Indigenous communities, a collaborative project between Netherlands-based type design company, Typotheque, and Canadian type designer, Kevin King, who is our guest today. This project is all about “launching a series of Unified Canadian Syllabics fonts that support Indigenous language revitalisation and preservation efforts in North America, changing the standards of future Syllabics fonts”. There is an excellent 16 minute video all about this project that I recommend checking out. Nate Evangelista is helping me co-host, having worked with me to research, develop questions and participate in the conversation with Kevin King. Nate, kindly re-introduce yourself to everyone listening. :) What’s up everybody? I’m Nate, the guy who went from studying bones, tissues and muscles to studying counters, terminals and bowls. I’m a Graphic Layout Artist at TC Transcontinental and a proud GCM alumnus. I have had the utmost pleasure of being in Diana’s Advanced Typography class in my final semester and experienced the unexpected joy of creating an original typeface from scratch. Not to mention, I was able to learn so much about the world of typography that many may not really know--specifically gaps that exist in type for other Non-Latin alphabets, Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics being one of them. What struck me most while doing my research was learning about the lengthy process type designers like Kevin King go through to get characters approved by the Unicode Technical Committee. It undoubtedly gave me a newfound appreciation and admiration for him and his efforts in Indigenous language revitalization and preservation. To provide some context, Syllabic writing systems have characters that represent syllables. There are base characters with four orientation possibilities that represent different ways to inflect the vowel of the syllable. It’s a writing system that has great local variability among communities. The big gap that Kevin King is working to bridge is that many of the glyphs in Canadian Indigenous writing systems are not recognized by Unicode, the universal character representation standard for digital text. This means that picking up a smartphone or a computer and typing an email or a text message or doing any kind of work that we take for granted when we use our Latin alphabet, is simply not possible. This creates a barrier to use and it’s one of the reasons that minority Indigenous languages are (literally) lost in translation, because of this lack of digitization. Kevin has written extensively about his work with Syllabic typography guidelines and here are the links to learn more. What many may not know about Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics that came as surprise for King himself as well, is that there is no original written orthographies as the founder of this writing system, James Evans initially created punches that were used to cast, typeset and print hymn books for the Cree peoples of Northern Manitoba. What is actually most interesting is the ongoing debate of whether or not Evans did in fact bring Syllabics to the Cree people. While many believe he did and credit him for bringing “near universal literacy” to the Indigenous population in Canada, some believe that this may have simply been a narrative perpetuated by Western missionaries and colonialists. Winona Wheeler, associate professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 territory, spoke about the Calling Badger narrative--a sacred story well-known among the Cree about how “syllabics were gifted to the people and the purposes it was given for.” While there is no conclusive evidence on where exactly the origin of Syllabics comes from, reconciliation and efforts to celebrate Indigenous traditions have become more prevalent and we thank people like Kevin King who have dedicated their careers to collaborating with the Canadian Indigenous communities and working towards revitalizing and preserving their writing systems. Part of his work involves submitting several proposals to the Unicode Technical Committee. The Unicode Standard provides a unique number for every character, no matter what platform, device, application or language. It has been adopted by all modern software providers and now allows data to be transported through many different platforms, devices and applications without corruption. Support of Unicode forms the foundation for the representation of languages and symbols in all major operating systems, search engines, browsers, laptops, and smart phones—plus the Internet and World Wide Web. Notable Links: Typotheque Syllabics Project Unicode proposals: https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20255-ucas-adds.pdf https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21141-ucas-revisions.pdf Press about the project: CBC on Nattilik Unicode CBC BC article CBC BC Radio interview: Daybreak North with Carolina de Ryk - March 23, 2022: Daybreak North March 23 - full episode PAGE magazine Kevin King's Syllabic Typeface 'November' Kevin King's Syllabic Typeface 'October' Kevin King's Syllabic Typeface 'Lava' About Our Guest: Kevin King is a typeface designer, typographer, calligrapher, and type researcher based in Canada. After working at Toronto’s Coach House Press and Canada Type, he completed his Master’s degree in Typeface Design with distinction at the University of Reading in 2018. His work focuses on font support and research for minority languages, working directly with Indigenous communities in North America to support their language revitalization and preservation efforts. Through his work collaborating with Typotheque, he has contributed to reforming the text standardisation for the Unified Canadian Syllabics in the Unicode Standard through character additions and representative glyph revisions. In conjunction with his type design work, he maintains a calligraphy practice, teaching workshops and lecturing on both subjects in Canada and Europe. Music: La Marena by Circus Marcus, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash

I was first introduced to the work of Charles Nix, Type Director at Monotype, years ago through a LinkedIn Learning course he created about Learning Type Design. This series of videos has become an incredible resource that I’ve leaned on when teaching my typography classes. Charles has been a co-instructor of sorts in my Advanced Typography class this semester, as I’ve handled the high-level, big picture ideas moving the type industry forward, while I’ve invited students to watch Charles’ video series to learn the nitty-gritty details to design their own original typefaces. I recently attended a webinar hosted by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers featuring Charles Nix chatting all about the possibilities of variable type and why it has the potential to change how we interact with and design fonts. I was thoroughly captivated and I reached out to Charles after to see if he would speak to our class. I was delighted when he enthusiastically agreed and in early April 2022, he imparted his variable type wisdom in our class. Typography student, Nate Evangelista, expressed interest in co-hosting our guest and he did an incredible job helping to ask insightful questions after Charles’ talk. Nate, why don’t you introduce yourself. :) Hey everybody! My name’s Nate, I’m a Graphic Layout Artist at TC Transcontinental and a proud GCM alumnus. I went from leaving Nursing because of human anatomy to being completely obsessed with type anatomy. I had the utmost pleasure of being a student in Diana’s Advanced Typography class in my final semester and found myself enjoying the experience of creating my own typeface from scratch. I owe it both to Diana and the tutelage of one Charles Nix. His LinkedIn Learning Course on Type Design gave me the proper insight and knowledge on how to complete this project and allowed me to create a typeface I am truly proud of. Aside from that, Nix shared invaluable knowledge about the world of type, particularly his point that type designers and graphic designers as a whole are the intersection between art and engineering. What we do isn’t only about making something that’s trendy or attention grabbing, we are also advocates of accessibility, ensuring the work we create isn’t only enjoyed by many, but also helps to improve user experience and interaction. This is where emerging trends such as Variable Font Technology have become so prevalent in today’s modern world as it gives us designers the opportunity to create content that is accessible and inclusive alongside being artistic and visually stimulating. In the following talk, you’ll hear some incredible examples of variable type that exists in the world. You’ll hear about the possibilities for both the digital and physical world and the creative solutions possible when designers can really play and experiment with type as a medium. Variable font technology allows us to move beyond the binary to space that’s fluid and dimensional and allows us to explore a spectrum of type. There are some visuals of concepts discussed, provided in the show notes at www.talkpaperscissors.info. Charles, over to you! Notable Links: Charles Nix, Type Director, Monotype https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ Jam by Eric van Blokland - 1993 variable, custom variable for bang (pressure applied), axis for crumble, axis for spatter, axis for punch (filling in of counters) Axis-Praxis Toshi Omagari’s variable font = moving images About Our Guest: Charles Nix is a Creative Type Director, designer, typographer and educator. He designed a number of popular typefaces in the Monotype Library, including Walbaum and Hope Sans, which received a Certificate of Typographic Excellence in the 22nd Annual Type Directors Club Typeface Design Competition. He’s also designed custom typefaces for Google Noto, Progressive Insurance and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Music: Drop by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash