We are pleased to be a platinum sponsor of ATypI Hong Kong 2012, the annual conference presented by ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale), Oct. 10–14. Several of our resident type experts from around the world will be sharing their knowledge and skills. Come by and join us as we take a look at Web fonts, Japanese typographic history, new automotive type trends and so much more:

• Alan Tam, director of product marketing for Web Font Services at Monotype Imaging, will present “How Web-based Fonts and Dynamic Subsetting Improve Brand Performance in East Asian Writing Systems.” Developed initially to reduce the larger font file sizes of East Asian writing systems, Monotype’s patent-pending dynamic subsetting technology is ideal for enabling brands to improve the performance and user experience when using Web fonts.
  Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 11:50 a.m.
  

• Robin Hui, a typographer at Monotype Imaging in Hong Kong, together with Kenneth Kwok, will present “Ideographic Type Design and Production.” There are many challenges when designing and producing Chinese, Japanese and Korean ideographic fonts. Robin and Kenneth will discuss how to maintain design consistency and tranquility using traditional techniques and design methodologies.
  Thursday, Oct. 11 at 9:30 a.m. (workshop)
  Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. (presentation)
  

• Toshi Omagari, a typeface designer at Monotype Imaging, will examine “Web Fonts for Non-Latin Scripts.” While Web fonts are gaining popularity in Latin typographic communities, the domain of non-Latin Web fonts remains relatively unexplored. Toshi will address how to work with specific browsers and scripts when implementing non-Latin Web fonts.
  Thursday, Oct. 11 at 11:50 a.m.
  

• Linotype’s type director Akira Kobayashi will present “Rounded Sans in Japan.” In Western countries, sans serif letters are frequently the default choice for public signs. Very few Latin rounded sans serif types were available until very recently. In Japan, rounded sans serif letters were the default choice for public signs. He will discuss why historically rounded sans were so popular in Japan and why they are being replaced with square sans today.
  Saturday, Oct. 13 at 9:00 a.m.
  

• Vladimir Levantovsky, senior technology strategist at Monotype Imaging, will discuss “Evaluating Fonts Legibility in Automotive Environment.” Vladimir will report on the new findings from a study that links typeface style with reduced driver distraction risk. He’ll discuss why using typefaces optimized for the driver’s short glance patterns reduced average duration of glance time per subject. Full results of the study are available in an MIT AgeLab white paper, in addition to a video that highlights the research and its findings.
  Saturday, Oct. 13 at 9:50 a.m.
  

• Florian Wittig, a font engineer at Linotype, will present “漢語拼音之父 – Zhou Youguang, the father of Pinyin.” He will talk about the life and work of linguist Zhōu Yǒuguāng, who turned 106 this year. His most famous creation, the Hanyu Pinyin system, serves as the most frequently used input method for Chinese characters on computers and mobile devices. He will discuss how the Pinyin works, its advantages over other transcription methods and why it has never replaced Chinese characters.
  Saturday, Oct. 13 at 5:35 p.m.

Allan Haley is Director of Words & Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs.