A Web Directions event Respond 2017 Australia's Front End design conference

Session Details

Wayne Thompson

Designing OneABC, a typeface for Australia

Wayne Thompson Type Designer

How do you design your country’s national font? Wayne was asked to do this by the ABC, Australia’s most trusted media brand. They set out to create a font family that unifies the ABC's digital presence across multiple platforms, while also being best-in-class for legibility and accessibility.

It’s designed to replace the thousands of font configurations in use across the ABC, allow for a proud, uniquely Australian typographical expression, and align with their charter to deliver content that contributes to our national identity. Wayne’s here to tell you about the project which consumed him for over a year.

Wayne Thompson

Fascinated by letters since he was a teenager, Wayne began with rub-down lettering and worked as a signwriter, photographer and journalist before settling into the design profession in the – *ahem* – late 1980s. After many years as Art Director, Wayne started Australian Type Foundry in 2001 and works full-time as a type designer, handletterator (technical term) and typography educator. He’s been running the popular Type by Hand series of handlettering workshops for several years, punishing the nation with his lame jokes like this one: Did you hear about the conservative Maltese guy who wanted to save all the fish? He built a Maltese Tory Carp Ark.

To date, Wayne has produced custom typefaces for Animal Logic, Officeworks, Public Transport Victoria, Holden and O’Brien Glass, and spent much of 2016 developing a custom type family for ABC which is currently being implemented across its digital and television networks. He also enjoys working for smaller clients such as a micro brewery who paid him in beer.

Wayne’s aim is to always learn more about typography, and hopefully contribute an Aussie flavour to the world of type design. Wayne has never won any awards.

Don't miss your chance to see Wayne Thompson and many other inspiring speakers at Respond 17.

Tickets start at $999, for an in-depth day with the world's leading Front End design experts.

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Australia's Front End design conference, now in Sydney and Melbourne.

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What is Respond?

Australia's Front End design conference, now in Sydney and Melbourne

Now in its fourth year, and curated by John Allsopp, cited by Ethan Marcotte as one of the originators of Responsive design, Respond goes beyond the technology, to address the myriad challenges we face in delivering modern, responsive Web experiences.

Featuring a mix of renowned international and local speakers, Respond is one of the World's leading events for the Web industry.

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Praise for past Web Directions events

Web Directions is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development.

Phil Whitehouse, General Manager, DT Sydney

I’ve been admiring the Web Directions events for years, and was honored to be part… What a fantastic event!

Ethan Marcotte, inventor of "responsive Web design"

Out of any conference, Web Directions is far and away our favourite

Dave Greiner, founder, Campaign Monitor

our audience watches intently

About Us

Co-founded and now run by John Allsopp, Web Directions has for over a decade brought together leading developers, engineers, visual, IxD, UX and product designers, Art and Creative Directors, indeed everyone involved in producing web and digital products to learn from one another, and the World's leading experts across this vast field.

We spend our lives thinking about what comes next, keeping up with trends in technology, practices and processes, and filtering the hype, to make sure you don't miss trends that matter, and don't waste time on hype that doesn't.

We promise attending one of our events will leave you significantly better versed in the challenges you face day to day, and in solutions for addressing them.

In 2017, we'll be organising Respond in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Transform in Canberra, Code also in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Direction in Sydney.

vignettes form our events, social, speakers and more. Includes Hannah Donovan skylarking.

John Allsopp

John Allsopp has been working on the Web for over 20 years. He's been responsible for innovative developer tools such as Style Master, X-Ray and many more. He's spoken at numerous conferences around the World and delivered dozens of workshops in that time as well.

His writing includes two books, including Developing With Web Standards and countless articles and tutorials in print and online publications.

His "A Dao of Web Design" published in 2000 is cited by Ethan Marcotte as a key influence in the development of Responsive Web Design, who's rightly acclaimed article in 2010 begins by quoting John in detail, and by Jeremy Keith as "a manifesto for anyone working on the Web".

Code of Conduct

For over a decade, we've worked hard to create inclusive, fun, inspring and safe events for the Web Industry.

As part of our commitment to these values, we've adopted a code of conduct for all involved: ourselves, our speakers, our partners and our audience.

If you have any concern or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us.