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2022, 10:51 Eye Magazine | Feature | Pay it forward

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Spring 2019
Pay it forward
Sarah Snaith
Rubén Fontana devised a system for teaching
Rubén Fontana

typography that is grounded in Argentina’s culture

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and politics

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Designer Rubén Fontana (b.1942) is a figurehead of design and design Illustration

education in Argentina. Fontana endured the effects of the coups and Information design

periods of military rule during the 1960s and 70s. ‘Dictatorship dealt a Magazines

blow to everything on a social and cultural level,’ says Fontana. ‘We were New media

at an impasse; we just worked to survive.’ (See ‘Buenos Aires project’, Eye Photography

63.) Posters

Reviews

Last December Fontana, now retired from teaching, sat down in his studio
Type Tuesday

in Buenos Aires, FontanaDiseño, to discuss his long tenure, from 1985 to

Typography

2017, at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), where education in

Uncategorized

typography is part of the graphic design programme. UBA is a public and

Visual culture

state-funded university which provides education free of charge to

craft

students from Argentina, and more widely to students from across Latin
Design for eating

America. Furthermore, an egalitarian admission system allows all

Front matter

applicants who meet the educational prerequisites to enrol – no

Monotype

interviews or portfolio reviews. A consequence of this is large classes:

Wordless picturebooks

Fontana recalls teaching classes of more than 300 students from the start
of the BA Graphic Design Career course. The classes later grew to as many
as 600, taught by fourteen or so professors – it takes a lot of teachers to

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13.01.2022, 10:51 Eye Magazine | Feature | Pay it forward
lead such a popular course. When education is free, the teachers’ fees are
meagre, but many academics are themselves former UBA graduates who
view their teaching duties as a way to pay back and pay forward: they are
repaying the privilege of free education by contributing to the next
generation. And there is no obligation to pass students whose work does
not meet the standards and requirements of the course.
Fontana said: ‘The positive aspect of such huge classes is that students
have to learn to survive among so many people. When they finish their
studies, it equips them for the local market and abroad. Students here
must also work during their studies, which gives them perspective and a
work ethic. When students graduated and went out looking for work, they
widened the market and the demand grew.’

Fontana’s book Pensamiento tipográfico / Typographic Thought (1996)

tells the story of building the course from scratch.

His syllabus aimed to ‘be the source of inspiration in countries which, like
Argentina, have little experience in the knowledge and teaching of the art
of typography.’ His detailed account explained how each session should be
run and why, covering subjects such as ‘Developing sensitivity to rhythm’,
‘Visual memory’ and ‘Typography and identity’, and later ‘Typographic
thought as a methodology of design’ and ‘Experiencing typography’.
No time for ‘stars’

Most remarkably, the staff conclude each day with a crit that sees students
placing their work in long rows on the workshop floor. This model allows
professors little one-to-one time with students, but Fontana had little
interest in the ‘stars’ of his classes. ‘I was only ever interested in the whole
group moving forward. Even those who don’t stand out have something to
learn and something to teach. The most important thing is teamwork.
Everyone co-operating. We played, studied, investigated, made and spoke
together.’

Since Typographic Thought was published, teaching at UBA has

developed in many ways. In 2007 Fontana started a postgraduate
typography course, which grew into a programme for a masters in
typography six years later. And it has expanded thinking about typography
– for example, asking students to consider the role of written language in
unconventional ways. One exercise that Fontana describes asks students
to design communication systems for one of Argentina’s many indigenous
peoples such as the Mapuche, Wichí, Pilagá, Toba and Guaraní. (The
country has fifteen living indigenous languages.)
Fontana says: ‘Colonisation flattened native cultures and the development
of languages was interrupted. No one is studying them. We care about the
previous 500 or 600 years; we care about the culture, the laws, the
customs. A written form of that culture is a way to not lose it.’ Zalma
Jalluf, his co-director at FontanaDiseño, continues: ‘It is not a matter of
reviewing the past, or nostalgia. Currently there are tens of thousands of
people who speak Quechua or Guaraní. And in Argentina there is
intercultural, bilingual teaching in Spanish and native languages, so
typography remains important.’

The magazine tipoGráfica is another example of Fontana’s dedication to

students’ understanding of international typography and type design. As
its editorial director, he commissioned designers, type designers and
historians from Argentina and around the world, including Félix Beltrán
from Cuba, Martin Solomon from the US and Robert Bringhurst from
Canada. While tipoGráfica had an international, professional readership,
its prime audience was students; the magazine supplemented their
education. Since it closed in 2007, no type or graphics magazine has taken
its place.
Rubén Fontana and the typography programmes he founded at the UBA
are an example of how to instigate change and propagate the importance
of typographic design outside English-language and European models.
While there are parallels to be drawn between approaches to typographic
teaching all over the world, Fontana and his colleagues built a syllabus
that has remained rooted in Argentinian cultures.
Thanks to Zalma Jalluf, and to designer Daniela Pedro, who assisted
with translation.
Top: Rubén Fontana’s tipoGráfica no. 1, July 1987, published in Buenos
Aires.

Sarah Snaith, design writer, editor and tutor, RCA, London

First published in Eye no. 98 vol. 25, 2019

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13.01.2022, 10:51 Eye Magazine | Feature | Pay it forward
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Links ‘Buenos Aires project’ in Eye 63

Archivo tipoGráfica

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