Please find the Letter.2 rules and submission procedure description below. Registration and submission are now open.
Submission procedure
Typefaces may be submitted by anyone involved in their design, production, or marketing, with no limits to the number of submissions. They should be functional fonts, completed between 2001 and August 2011, and have full character sets for their intended uses, be they commercial or non-commercial.
Typefaces submitted to Bukva:raz! are excluded, as are typefaces with which the Jury members have had a significant involvement.
Submissions are anonymous: no names of the designer, foundry, seller or typeface should appear anywhere in the submission. We will use a submission code to identify each entry. Submission codes can be purchased at www.letter.2.org. The fee per entry is 25 USD (price for one submission code) to cover printing costs. A special early-bird rate of 15 USD is available until 20 June 2011.
On www.letter2.org you can create a user account to manage your entries. Each entry needs its own submission code, which, once assigned to an entry, is locked and can no longer be changed. Only entries that have had a submission code applied will be considered 'entered' into the competition. Further details and instructions will be available in your private account area at www.letter2.org.
Submission format
Submission format is A3 portrait (29,7 x 42 cm, with the printing area 27.7 x 40cm). Presentations should be no more than 4 pages for each submission: one page for the display of 1 font, two pages for up to 4 fonts, three pages for up to 10 fonts, and four pages for more than 10 fonts per family. As an example, Letter.2 has provided this sample pdf file for a 4-style font family. Note this is an example only, not a template.
We will output entries on a new black & white Postscript compatible laser printer on uncoated paper at 1200 dpi.
Submission dates and deadline
The competition opens for submissions on 4 April 2011. All entries must be submitted online at www.letter.2.org by 15 August 2011 [note: the submission deadline has been extended to the 29th August 2011]. Late submissions will not be accepted and unused submission codes will not be refunded.
Categories
Categories will only be used to help us organise and judge entries, and for statistic purposes.
No division will appear in the final selection. There are no separate categories for students and multi-script typefaces, which must be submitted in one of the main categories. Multi-script families are considered as one entry. The organisers reserve the right to split up multi-script families, or revise the categorisation of the entries.
For each category the minimum presentation requirement is a showing of the full character set, in one size only. We strongly advise showing enough text samples of the typeface for each script in the appropriate context; plus additional samples in big point sizes (above 48pt) for detailed evaluation. If there are non-Latin scripts being presented, please treat them equally and consider the equivalent point size for examples. Make sure that the text samples allow the jury to judge the design appropriately. It is the designer's responsibility to show their typeface in the best light.
- Text
- Typefaces and type families intended for use in composition of texts for continuous reading.
- Display
- Typefaces and type families intended for use in larger sizes rather than for body text.
- Type System
- Extended groups of related typefaces featuring designs belonging to different style categories and/or functions; e.g. serif and sans-serif, serif and slab serif, text and display, print and screen, and so on.
- Screen
- Typefaces and type families intended for use on screen, e.g. computer, mobile devices, and so on.
We strongly advise, but not require, that submissions for screen fonts include a photograph (high resolution jpg) showing the typeface rendered on screen. - Bitmap fonts
- Typefaces consisting of a series of dots or pixels representing the image of each glyph in each face and size.
- Non-alphabetics
- Typefaces featuring special character sets for mathematical, phonetic, and or specialised applications, as well as dingbats, icons, symbols, and other pictorial items in a font format. Ornament and border designs are also included in this category.
Types of design
- Original
- Typeface designs that are wholly or substantially original in conception and execution. They may be inspired by historical examples, or in the same general style as an existing typeface, but with a substantial element of original design that unambiguously differentiates the typeface from its sources.
- Custom
- Typefaces tailored specifically for private use, rather than resale. They may include typefaces designed for use by a specific corporate client, or non-commercial use. Indicate whether the design is based on an existing typeface, as well as the intended use, without identifying the client: for example, 'a text typeface for a popular science magazine', 'display typeface created for an airline', etc.
- Revival
- Typefaces based closely on historical models, with an element of adaptation for contemporary use, and maintaining a clear visual link to the source. Please provide information about the original design in the brief description of the project in the entry form, and also an example of the original within your presentation template.
- Derivative designs
- Customised versions or extensions of existing typefaces: additional weights, narrow/expanded versions, romans/italics/schoolbooks/scripts, sans/serifs, text/display/decorative/initials, etc.
- Auto-traced from printed specimens, or adaptations to new formats of existing typefaces.
- Typefaces made up of new glyphs designed to harmonise with glyphs of existing or historical typefaces (e.g. ligatures, small capitals, old-style/lining/smaller/tabular figures, accented/alternate glyphs, fleurons, etc.) for composition in languages using the same alphabet/writing system.
- Typefaces made up of new glyphs designed to harmonise with glyphs of existing or historical typefaces, for composition in languages using different alphabets/writing systems.Please provide information about the original design in the brief description of the project in the entry form, and also an example of the original within your presentation template.
Judging Criteria
The submissions will be judged regarding the following criteria, but not limited to:
- The typeface/family/system is well-conceived and appropriate for the demonstrated use
- There is evidence of confidence and quality in type drawing
- The typeface is well spaced and kerned
- There is evidence of experimentation and exploration of originality
- The Latin and non-Latin complements are harmonised typographically
- The non-Latin complements demonstrate sensitivity to the particularities of the script
The Jury
Biographies for each Jury member are available on the Jury page.
Notification of Winners
The results will be announced at www.letter2.org website on 17 October 2011. The selected projects will be exhibited at the 2012 AtypI conference.
Acceptance of rules
By submitting entries the participants agree to the rules. Non-compliance with any of the rules will result in the automatic disqualification of the entry. The jury's decision is final.
Further Information
The judging will happen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 1 and 2 October 2011 followed by a conference on October 4th. For further information please contact Letter.2 via e-mail: info@letter2.org.
Letter.2 is organized by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI), the principal global typographic organization that provides a forum for the discussion of the creative and business aspects of type design and use.