Alexei Vanyashin: Collaboration experience on open source Cyrillic fonts.

A draft sent to us by Alexei Vanyashin:

Learn Cyrillic is a resource I created to teach type designers across the world master Cyrillic. The idea came to my mind when I realised there is lack of information in this area unless you can’t read Russian. When I studied type design in Moscow we were taught by our instructors that only natives can design proper Cyrillic forms. I wanted to challenge that from the start.

2011 I ran a Cyrillic workshop for TM KABK alumni in the Hague along with fellow Russian designers Irina Smirnova and Gayaneh Bagdasaryan. It was then I realised that some of the student’s works were remarkably accurate, and that anyone with proper training can design our script as a native. Shortly I launched learncyrillic.tumblr.com and published a quick guide on Cyrillic.

I received many emails from designers around the world seeking advice. During my consultations every time there was a dilemma between choosing correct Cyrillic forms and fitting inline with the spirit of the typeface. I listened carefully to what designers said and adjusted my methodology accordingly. I learned to be less involved, to stand back and focus on providing more references and hints rather than direct solutions. It’s about guiding, not steering.

Summer 2013 I was consulting 7 open source fonts with Cyrillic for the GWF Library. It was one of my best experiences. The benefit of working opensource was the back-and-forth collaboration model that involved direct drawing of shapes by both parties. In general it took between three to eight iterations to agree on appropriate Cyrillic forms with the author. When consulting on proprietary fonts I usually don’t have this luxury and freedom of expression. Everything is tied to a deadline.

Here is a preview of fonts with Cyrillic support that are published or will appear in the GWF soon:

Exo by Natanael Gama
Lora Cyrillic by Olga Karpushina, Cyrillic extension by Alexei Vanyashin
Arvo Cyrillic by Anton Koovit (unreleased)
Kaffeesatz Cyrillic by Sol Matas (unreleased)
Raleway Cyrillic by Pablo Impallari (unreleased)
Oswald Cyrillic by Vernon Adams (unreleased)
Merriweather Cyrillic by Eben Sorkin (unreleased)
Bitter Cyrillic by Huerta Tipográfica (unreleased)

Another notion I realized was that a script has many dialects rather than one norm. A designer from Serbia has a different view on the shapes and proportions of letters compared to his Bulgarian and Russian colleagues — so which one is correct? I believe there is not one. All the different styles are necessary to express national identity.

Nowadays, Russian type designers are very intolerant to the ‘international’ Cyrillic style perhaps in the same fashion as chauvinists when they hear a foreign accent. I feel this is wrong, and should be resolved by educating and providing an opportunity to fine-tune with the peculiarities of our script.

Alexei Vanyashin (@learncyrillic, @avanyashin)