Žarko Dumičić

The New Type

The New Type—referencing to Jan Tschichold’s seminal book—is a project developed both at The Glasgow School of Art and on summer exchange to the Tokyo University of the Arts.  Described as fitting under the umbrella of  ‘Alphabetic Kanji’: The New Type typeface design connects letters and words into abstract shapes, creating an alphabetic-logographic hybrid.

The typographic sculptures based on the typeface are visually reminiscent of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Art Nouveau furniture designs, creating a visual connection between the two universities where I have been recently researching design: Glasgow School of Art and Tokyo University of the Arts. 

“Spending time in Japan I was fascinated by the Kanji writing system, adapted from Chinese characters, that communicates meaning through the overall form of the words rather than by decoding a string of graphemes and phonemes like in the Greek, Latin or Cyrillic based alphabets.⁠ I wanted to create a similar system that is based on the English written language (as today’s ‘lingua franca’), where each letter in the typeface ‘locks’ into the next, giving each word a unique abstract shape that could possibly create understanding based on its form rather than pronunciation.”

Žarko Dumičić

Am I a Graphic Designer?

An 8,000 word essay that researches the difference between art and design, as well as the importance of practical functionality within the design field. It also contains interviews with the Glasgow School of Art’s Communication Design staff members on the topic of graphic design in the contemporary world. The essay has been transformed into a piece of editorial design in form of a booklet, as well as a piece of information design in form of handmade wooden data sculptures on wheels.

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