Martina Flor: The secret language of letter design
מרטינה פלור: השפה הסודית של עיצוב אותיות
Martina Flor combines her talents as designer and illustrator in the drawing of letters. Through her work as an artist and teacher, she has helped establish letter design in the European design scene. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
"TED" would have looked like
in the sun chiseling it into stone.
עם מפסלת במשך ימים,
have looked in the 80s?
electric, strange colors,
כמו התסרוקות שלנו.
the greatest of all:
beyond what they represent.
שהן מייצגות.
הן מעבירות אלינו ערכים,
our days are full of letters.
to give language an image.
communication tool we have.
that something is modern --
and monumentality of a place,
לאורך זמן,
they communicate.
by inexperienced hands
איך המקום הזה נראה מבפנים.
what a place looks like inside.
I experienced firsthand
can have in our day-to-day life.
בחיי היום יום שלנו.
exciting and novel for me.
was at times very frustrating
clutching my glass of wine,
of what was being said around me.
as if I understood everything.
לומר את מה שחשבתי,
to say what I thought,
the conversations,
שלא יכולתי לקרוא.
and text that I couldn't read.
gave me clues;
את הסיפורים הקטנים
enclosed in those shapes.
where tradition was important.
was trying to give me a signal,
it was better to stay away.
was made to last forever.
על מנת שיישאר לנצח.
understand my surroundings better
את הסביבה שלי
tasty to take back home.
until I found the perfect bakery.
I imagine the master baker
אני מדמיינת את האופה
to each loaf of bread
to each letter of this word.
with just the right ingredients,
עם המרכיבים הנכונים
drew the ends of the letters
את סופי האותיות האלו
the buns over a thin layer of flour
את אבני הפסיפס, זו אחר זו
the mosaics in the oven one by one,
that the master baker has
that went into creating this sign.
שהושקעה ביצירת השלט הזה.
we already imagine it tastes good.
אנו כבר מדמיינים שהוא טעים.
לצייר אותיות.
it requires care in its preparation,
ובאותו זמן, המגבלה שלי.
my raw material and my limitation.
is for me a playing field,
גן משחקים בשבילי
at the end of the road,
הקורא יוכל,
to design the cover of a classic book,
לעצב את העטיפה של ספר קלאסי,
through a world of fantasy, remember?
לעולם של פנטזיה, זוכרים?
is my raw material.
that are not very important,
יהיו מאוד קטנים.
on a smaller scale.
the idea of "wonder,"
יותר על כך שזה ספר קלאסי.
that the book is a classic
a little more stiff and serious,
שבספר יש כל כך הרבה אִיגָיוֹן,
this book has so much gibberish,
in a single arrangement:
living together in the same composition.
באותו ארגון?
and I'll work on it in detail.
ואעבוד על זה בפרוטרוט.
to work more comfortably.
where the words will be.
המילים האלו ייכתבו.
form to each letter.
without losing sight of the whole.
את המראה של השלם.
of the letters methodically.
or change elements.
או שינוי של אלמנטים.
the drawing turns into precise forms,
מתורגמים לצורות מדויקות,
and decorative elements.
is placed at the front
playing in the background
lots of things happen.
הרבה דברים קורים
the feeling it generates,
looking at her wonderland.
ארץ הפלאות שלה.
I recreate the text's atmosphere a little.
אני משחזרת מעט את האווירה של הטקסט.
through a peephole in the door.
מבעד לעינית ההצצה של הדלת.
to concepts and ideas
שכבר קיימים בדמיוננו:
work a bit like gestures
עובדות מעט כמו מחוות
"TEDxRíodelaPlata's audience is huge,"
הוא ענק", ׁ
"TEDxRíodelaPlata's audience is huge!"
"הציבור של TEDxRíodelaPlata הוא עצום."
יותר במדויק
what I mean to say and how,
in a very flowery way
באופן מאוד מליצי
when I talk about love.
between Buenos Aires
where my work became more colorful,
at those parties,
this limitation that language has
with which I could express myself.
has been to find my own voice
למצוא את הקול שהוא שלי,
tone and gesture I want.
שאני רוצה.
shapes that are truly beautiful
להן צורות יפות באמת,
a reaction in the reader,
if the message is important,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Martina Flor - Lettering designerMartina Flor combines her talents as designer and illustrator in the drawing of letters. Through her work as an artist and teacher, she has helped establish letter design in the European design scene.
Why you should listen
Based in Berlin, she runs a leading studio specializing in lettering and custom typography for clients around the globe, such as The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Harper Collins, Penguin Random House, Etsy, Adobe and Cosmopolitan, among others.
She cofounded the online competition Lettering vs. Calligraphy, which has garnered international attention and has initiated numerous other non-commercial projects, including Letter Collections, a series of postcards.
With a master in Type Design from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) under her belt, Flor dedicates a large part of her time to teaching lettering and type design. Her book The Golden Secrets of Lettering (Princeton Architectural Press and Thames & Hudson, 2017) is published in several languages such as German, Spanish, French and Japanese.
When she is not busy drawing letters, Martina travels around the world to teach and speak at design conferences about the importance of typography in our daily lives.
Martina Flor | Speaker | TED.com