Carolyn Puzzovio’s background is as a practicing graphic designer and her major interest has always been lettering and type design. She was involved in design education for over thirty years and until recently was Principal Lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln, UK. In the late 1990s her interest in lettering and alphabets evolved into an increasing fascination for the Armenian ‘aybuben’*. Carolyn has given talks on the Armenian alphabet at international conferences/events – and following an invitation from the Armenian Ministry of Culture, held a one-woman exhibition of design work at the Armenian National Gallery, Yerevan in October 2005, where she met Edik Ghabuzyan.
Since then, Carolyn Puzzovio and Edik Ghabuzyan have developed a new font ‘Brayford’ which won a diploma in the Armenian School Fonts competition in January 2006. Another OpenType font Mariam – now adopted as the ‘official’ Armenian Government font – was developed in late 2006. She has made a number of visits to Armenia to carry out research and to judge Armenian type design competitions.
In 2007-8, Carolyn developed her OpenType typeface: Lagoon which is based on a Venetian model from 1810. This project was supported by a grant from the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK) and won a first prize in Granshan ’08.
Having left academia this summer, Carolyn is now pursuing her own graphic design practice and working on designs for new OpenType typefaces for Armenian/Latin use.
*For further information, Carolyn’s articles on the subject of the Armenian alphabet and type are published in the 2009/10 issues of Baseline: nos. 57 & 58.
Carolyn Puzzovio’s background is as a practicing graphic designer and her major interest has always been lettering and type design. She was involved in design education for over thirty years and until recently was Principal Lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln, UK. In the late 1990s her interest in lettering and alphabets evolved into an increasing fascination for the Armenian ‘aybuben’*. Carolyn has given talks on the Armenian alphabet at international conferences/events – and following an invitation from the Armenian Ministry of Culture, held a one-woman exhibition of design work at the Armenian National Gallery, Yerevan in October 2005, where she met Edik Ghabuzyan.
Since then, Carolyn Puzzovio and Edik Ghabuzyan have developed a new font ‘Brayford’ which won a diploma in the Armenian School Fonts competition in January 2006. Another OpenType font Mariam – now adopted as the ‘official’ Armenian Government font – was developed in late 2006. She has made a number of visits to Armenia to carry out research and to judge Armenian type design competitions.
In 2007-8, Carolyn developed her OpenType typeface: Lagoon which is based on a Venetian model from 1810. This project was supported by a grant from the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK) and won a first prize in Granshan ’08.
Having left academia this summer, Carolyn is now pursuing her own graphic design practice and working on designs for new OpenType typefaces for Armenian/Latin use.
*For further information, Carolyn’s articles on the subject of the Armenian alphabet and type are published in the 2009/10 issues of Baseline: nos. 57 & 58.