We are happy to announce the winner of the Gerard Unger Scholarship 2023: the Poltik typeface by Patrycja Walczak, developed while studying at Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts, Poznan, under Krzysztof Kochnowicz and Viktoriya Grabowska’s tutoring.
Winner: Poltik by Patrycja Walczak, developed at Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznań. Teachers: Krzysztof Kochnowicz and Viktoriya Grabowska.
2023 winner: Poltik by Patrycja Walczak
Congratulations to this year’s scholarship winner, Patrycja Walczak and her Poltik font family! TypeTogether’s founders, José Scaglione and Veronika Burian, fell in love with Poltik. José said, “We enjoyed Poltik’s reinterpretation of a lettering style from half a century ago, and see a lot of potential in how this typeface could be developed and expanded. Patrycja’s outlines effortlessly fuse the self-assuredness of a seasoned designer with the creative ingenuity characteristic of a student. Her typeface is a visual delight.”
And Veronika added, “Poltik is an intriguing and fun design that convinces by its strong character and retro aesthetic. With additional complimentary styles, it will become a joyful oddball in the TypeTogether library.”
Patrycja is a young, passionate graphic design student at Magdalena Abakanowicz University in Poznań, Poland. In 2022 she took part in the Erasmus programme at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland, where her main focus was type design and exploring the power of typography in branding and communication. Patrycja currently freelances and plans to establish her own graphic design studio.
As you can see, Patrycja has the Poltik family off to an incredible start, so over the next year or so we will introduce you to her, bring more definition to the font family, and then release it for the wildest uses you can imagine — and we really hope you use it to the extreme!
With Poltik, Patrycja Walczak has become the scholarship’s ninth recipient: Roxane Gataud (Bely), Juan Bruce (Noort), Quentin Schmerber (Temeraire), Bogidar Mascareñas (Laima), Florian Fecher (Lektorat), Anya Danilova (Rezak), Nina Faulhaber (Aeroplan) and Emma Marichal’s upcoming Ploquine. Each of the Gerard Unger Scholarship published typefaces have won awards, including the coveted TDC Certificate of Excellence for three of them so far.
This year we received 98 submissions from 91 designers living all over the world — representing 46 schools in 26 countries. Sixty of the families were single script and 38 were multiscript, showcasing fourteen different scripts.
More than just the winner, we had some amazing submissions that are worthy of significant recognition and, shall we say, a little something extra. The six promising typeface projects receiving TypeTogether’s merit award are (alphabetically): Entro by Seryozha Rasskazov; Familia by János Hunor Vári; Onida by Richard McDonald; Paraguaria by Ramiro Nuñez; Rhetta by Nika Langosz; and Rubina by Lora Shtirkova.
These merit winners will be receiving a copy of our book, Building Ligatures: the power of type, and Veronika and José will personally reach out to them soon to offer their insights on taking their projects to the next level. Congratulations to these six winners!
Merit: Entro by Seryozha Rasskazov, developed at Ecal / École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne. Teachers: Matthieu Cortat-Roller, Kai Bernau, Alice Savoie, and Irene Vlachou.
Seryozha Rasskazov
Born in Ukraine and now based in Switzerland, Seryozha graduated from the 2022 ECAL Type Design Master’s programme. He is an experimental type designer and lettering artist with a background in branding, sign painting, and a penchant for experiments. Seryozha organises international conferences, exhibitions, and design courses, and is currently filming a documentary about experimental type design.
Merit: Familia by János Hunor Vári, developed at Ecal / École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne. Teachers: Alice Savoie, Kai Bernau, and Matthieu Cortat-Roller.
János Hunor Vári
János is a Hungarian type designer, graphic designer, and art director now based in Switzerland, where he recent graduated from the Type Design Master’s programme of Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne. His practice is built on experimenting with unexpected tools and materials, using a speculative and playful approach to serve both cultural and commercial purposes. Besides his professional practice, he produces music, publishes essays and literature, and curates the platform for experimental typography called Dunno How To Write.
Merit: Onida by Richard McDonald, developed at MA Communication Design: Typeface Design Pathway, University of Reading. Teachers: Gerry Leonidas and Fred Smeijers.
Richard McDonald
After spending the better part of ten years working as an in-house graphic designer, Richard took a year off to study Typeface Design at the University of Reading. Since graduating, he has been working on freelance design projects, drawing typefaces, and printing letterpress from his small studio space in London.
Merit: Paraguaria by Ramiro Nuñez, developed at Maestría en Tipografía, Universidad de Buenos Aires – UBA. Teachers: Fer Cozzi and Yorlmar Campos.
Ramiro Nuñez
Ramiro is a graphic designer, instructor at FAU UNNE, and is completing a Master’s degree in Typography at FADU Universidad de Buenos Aires. He works in calligraphy, lettering, and typography linked to the Guarani language and culture from the Argentinian region of Corrientes.
Merit: Rhetta by Nika Langosz, developed at TypeMedia, at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK). Teacher: Erik van Blokland.
Nika Langosz
Hailing from Poland, Nika graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław with high honours. She attended a Monotype internship, completed her Master’s degree from TypeMedia in 2023, and is now freelancing for Threedotstype. Nika sometimes feels like a fox person — like cat software running on dog hardware. She likes the raw and vernacular typography found in repair shops, monuments, chapels, tombstones, tools, and print.
Merit: Rubina by Lora Shtirkova, developed at TypeMedia, at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK). Teachers: Erik van Blokland, Peter Verheul, and Paul van Der Laan.
Lora Shtirkova
Lora is a Bulgarian type and graphic designer with a strong interest in calligraphy and type. She completed the 2021 TypeMedia Master’s programme at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and then received the opportunity to intern at Blast Foundry in the Netherlands. Her previous work experience with typography and layouts inspired her to create Rubina, a diverse family of typefaces for different purposes and sizes. Lora is now working as a freelance type designer focusing on Cyrillic and Latin designs.
We were completely blown away by the amount and the quality of the work we received. We want to thank every student who submitted their typefaces to this year’s Gerard Unger Scholarship, and also the teachers and tutors who have helped throughout the process. Your efforts have produced impressive work and you deserve to be very proud.
What will next year’s Gerard Unger Scholarship hold? We certainly can’t wait to see!
TypeTogether is an indie type foundry committed to excellence in type design with a focus on editorial use. Additionally, TypeTogether creates custom type design for corporate use. We invite you to browse our library of retail fonts or contact us to discuss custom type design projects.
