David Březina is a typeface designer, writer, researcher, and managing director at Rosetta Type. He has designed typefaces for a diverse palette of the world’s scripts, but focuses mostly on Gujarati and Latin. David holds a Master’s degree in computer science from Masaryk University in Brno (Czechia) and an MA in Typeface Design and PhD from the University of Reading (UK). His cross-disciplinary PhD thesis studied visual similarity and coherence of characters in typefaces for continuous reading in Latin, Cyrillic, and Devanagari scripts.
Email: hello@mrbrezina.com
ORCID: 0009-0007-4410-0133
RSS: feed.xml
Main projects
- Rosetta Type – a leading type design studio and distributor of high-quality fonts for a growing number of the world’s scripts
- Hyperglot – preview basic characters needed to write in the world’s languages (concept and art-direction).
- Design Regression – a journalette (mini journal) publishing texts that are about design for reading and reading-related research
Typeface design (design)
- Gridlite PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2020). Design.
- Handjet (Arabic, Armenian, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, 2018–20). Design.
- Yrsa & Rasa (Gujarati, Latin, 2016–2021). Art direction, design with Anna Giedryś.
- Skolar Sans PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2014–16). Designed with Sláva Jevčinová.
- Adobe Gujarati (2013). Design for Adobe, art-direction Fiona Ross.
- Nirmala UI Gujarati (2012). Design for Microsoft within Tiro Typeworks, art-direction Fiona Ross.
- Skolar Gujarati (2012). Design.
- Skolar PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2009–2012). Design.
- Veto Devanagari (2009). Design for Linotype (now Monotype).
Typeface design (art direction)
- Adapter Georgian (2024). Art direction, design by Ana Sanikidze.
- Adapter Tamil (2023). Art direction, design by Aadarsh Rajan.
- Adapter Mono PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2022). Art direction, design by Tania Chacana.
- Adapter Hebrew (2020). Art direction, design by Sláva Jevčinová.
- Adapter Arabic (2020). Art direction, design by Borna Izadpanah.
- Adapter PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2019). Art direction with William Montrose. Design by William Montrose and Sláva Jevčinová.
- Skolar Sans Arabic (2016). Art direction, designed by Titus Nemeth.
- Skolar Devanagari (2012). Art direction, design by Vaibhav Singh.
Academic articles
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Březina, D.
(2024).
Context-sensitive study of the visual similarity of characters in Cyrillic, Devanagari, and Latin scripts: effects of typeface design and expertise.
(preprint)
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cfgdp
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Březina, D., & Dyson, M. C.
(2024).
Can we selectively attend to the top halves of letters and ignore the bottom halves?. Design Regression.
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Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D.
(2022).
The sequel to exploring disfluency: Do we remember the visual appearance of words?. Design Regression.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Elements of multi-script typography: paragraphs and pixels. Design Regression.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Elements of multi-script typography: codes, keys, and word shapes. Design Regression.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Elements of multi-script typography: introduction. Design Regression.
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Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D.
(2021).
Exploring disfluency: Are designers too sensitive to harder-to-read typefaces?. Design Regression.
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Březina, D.
(2021).
Character complexity and redundancy in writing systems over human history [review]. Design Regression.
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Březina, D.
(2018).
Coherence in typeface design: visual similarity of characters in Cyrillic, Devanagari, and Latin.
The University of Reading.
(PhD thesis)
https://doi.org/10.48683/1926.00085141
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Boček, V., & Březina, D.
(2012).
Typography follows linguistics?: on some parallels between the Prague School of Linguistics and Karel Teige’s typographic program. Hyphen: a typographic forum, 9(15).
Institute for the study of Typography and Visual Communication.
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Březina, D.
(2007).
The evolution of the Gujarati typographic script.
The University of Reading.
(unpublished MA dissertation)
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Březina, D.
(2007).
General issues in multi-script typography.
The University of Reading.
(unpublished MA essay)
Other articles
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Březina, D.
(2021).
Ten years of Rosetta. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2019).
The making of Adapter. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2016).
Yrsa & Rasa released. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2016).
Harmonizing Rasa Gujarati and Yrsa Latin. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2015).
Introducing Yrsa.. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2015).
Considerations in multilingual type design. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2014).
Rethinking type experience. Rosetta Articles.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
A critical approach to typefaces. Smashing Magazine.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
Balkan Sans [typeface review]. Typographica.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Indian type: An opportunity for real design innovation. TYPO, 49.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Challenges in multilingual type design. Codex, 2.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
Celeste [typeface review]. TYPO, 41.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2010).
Tomate & Lavigne Display [typeface review]. TYPO, 39.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2009).
On diacritics. I love typography.
(See also the Russian translation by Vasily V. Melenchuk)
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Klimax [typeface review]. TYPO, 36.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Odile & Elido [typeface review]. TYPO, 36.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D., & Vlachou, I.
(2008).
Maiola [typeface review]. TYPO, 33.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2008).
Greta [typeface review]. TYPO, 31.
(In Czech and English)
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Pecina, M., & Březina, D.
(2008).
Type Anatomy 1.0.. Typomil.
(In Czech and English)
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Březina, D.
(2007).
Non-Latin Typefaces [exhibition review]. TYPO, 29.
(In Czech and English)
Lectures
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Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D.
(2024).
Do we process characters as shapes, nothing special?.
Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, Venice, Italy.
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Březina, D.
(2024).
Structural analysis of the visual appearance of scripts.
WAVE conference, University of Cambridge, UK.
(watch the recording)
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Březina, D.
(2024).
Elements of multi-script typography: the wayfinding edition.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Písmo jako základ vizuálního stylu.
Brno Bold, Brno, Czechia.
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Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D.
(2022).
Questioning the obvious: different ways of seeing. ICTVC, 8.
Thessaloniki, Greece.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Hyperglot – a database and tools for discovering language support in fonts. ICTVC, 8.
Thessaloniki, Greece.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
About Rosetta and research.
ANRT/ENSAD, Nancy, France.
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Březina, D.
(2022).
About Rosetta and research.
TypeParis Talks, Paris, France.
(watch the recording)
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Březina, D.
(2021).
Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu.
VOŠG, Hellichova, online.
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Březina, D.
(2021).
Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu.
SSUD, Brno, Czechia.
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Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D.
(2019).
Challenging design training: do designers suffer more with harder to read typefaces?. ICTVC, 7.
Patras, Greece.
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Březina, D.
(2019).
Character similarity and coherence in typeface design. ICTVC, 7.
Patras, Greece.
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Březina, D.
(2019).
Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu.
FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2018).
Recent projects from Rosetta.
FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2018).
Recent projects from Rosetta.
Brno Design Days, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2018).
Character similarity and coherence in typeface design.
Graphemics in 21st century: From graphemes to knowledge, Brest, France.
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Březina, D.
(2017).
Some of the things I do not know about typefaces.
Typostammtisch, Berlin, Germany.
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Březina, D.
(2017).
Recent projects from Rosetta.
Typostammtisch, Berlin, Germany.
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Březina, D.
(2015).
Recent projects from Rosetta.
Du monde entier au cœur du monde, Paris, France.
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Březina, D.
(2015).
Letters of Rosetta: from Brno to Bern. TypEast.
Bern, Switzerland.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
Challenges in multilingual type design (II). ATypI conference.
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
Rethinking type experience.
Smashing conference, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Challenges in Indian type design.
Association of British Scholars, Vadodara, India.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Challenges in multilingual type design. Typography day.
IID, Mumbai, India.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Challenges in multilingual type design.
NID, Ahmedabad, India.
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Březina, D.
(2011).
Písmo je na webu to nejdůležitější.
WebExpo, Prague, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2011).
Specifying type consistency. TypoTopo talks.
Bratislava, Slovakia.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Specifying type consistency.
The University of the Arts London, London, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
Thinking in typeface design. ICTVC, 3.
Nicosia, Cyprus.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
General issues in multi-script typography.
ATypI conference, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
General issues in multi-script typography.
4th International ConTeXt Meeting, Brejlov (Prague), Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
On typeface design.
University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
On typeface design.
Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Cieszyn, Poland.
Workshops
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Březina, D.
(2022).
Guest feedback sessions.
TypeParis Talks, Paris, France.
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Březina, D.
(2019).
Návrh logotypu pro neznámý skript.
Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2016).
A brief introduction to Python for data visualisation.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2015).
A brief introduction to Python for type designers.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
Concepts for originality in typeface design.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Type design workshop focused on webfonts.
Seznam.cz, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Concepts for originality in type design.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2012).
Type design workshop.
University of the Arts London, London, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2011).
Type design workshops.
FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2011).
Type design workflow and running a Type Foundry.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Type design workshops.
FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2010).
O písmu.
Pellico5 workshops, Brno, Czechia.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Multilingual typography workshop.
The Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Lanckorona, Poland.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Type design process & automation.
The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
A brief introduction to Python for FontLab.
Monotype Imaging, Salfords, UK.
Interviews, profiles, and other appearances
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Mikulcová, K., & Smělík, P.
(2024).
Identity: the story of Czech graphic design [film].
Mowshe.
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Serret, G.
(2022).
Q&A David Březina. TypeParis News.
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Murphy, Z. L.
(2021).
How important is harmony when designing multiscript type systems? An interview with David Březina. Type 01.
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Michailidis, S.
(2021).
Fenomén: česká typografie včera, dnes a zítra. ČT Art.
Czech TV.
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Hartmann, T., Thoma, S., & Wittner, B.
(2018).
Forget your knowledge: Interview with David Březina of Rosetta Type. Bi-Scriptual: Typography and Graphic Design with Multiple Script Systems.
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Pecina, M.
(2014).
Nowe Terytoria. 2+3D, 52.
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Middendorp, J.
(2013).
Rosetta Type Foundry: Vaibhav Singh, Titus Nemeth, David Březina. Creative Characters: The faces behind the fonts, 71.
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Stuttard, J.
(2013).
What is multi-script typography all about. Rosetta Articles.
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Falvey, C.
(2012).
Award-winning Czech typographer takes on Gujarati. Radio Praha.
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Lutonský, F.
(2012).
Interview for the Czech National News TV. ČT 24.
Czech TV.
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Pathak, B.
(2012).
This Czech is a Gujarati ‘type’. Times of India.
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Stocks, E. J.
(2011).
David Březina. 8 Faces, 4.
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Fojtů, M.
(2011).
Březina: Vytvářet písma je jako mluvit různými hlasy. Magazine of the Masaryk University.
Design awards
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Jevčinová, S., & Březina, D.
(2019).
Award for Adapter PE.
Modern Cyrillic.
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Březina, D., Jevčinová, S., & Saraiva, R.
(2015).
Silver award for Skolar Sans Latin.
European Design Awards.
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Březina, D.
(2013).
2nd prize (Indic category) for Skolar Gujarati.
Granshan.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
1st prize (Cyrillic category) for Skolar Cyrillic.
Granshan.
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Březina, D.
(2009).
Special diploma for Skolar Cyrillic.
Modern Cyrillic.
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Březina, D.
(2008).
Silver for Skolar & Surat (Skolar Gujarati).
European Design Awards.
Exhibitions
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(2016).
Granshan exhibition (ATypI Warszaw).
Warszaw, Poland.
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(2013).
Granshan exhibition.
Bangkok, Thailand.
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(2012).
24th International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno.
Brno, Czechia.
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(2010).
23rd International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno.
Brno, Czechia.
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(2008).
22nd International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno.
Brno, Czechia.
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(2006).
21st International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno.
Brno, Czechia.
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(2010).
Collective type design exhibition at Klingspor-Museum Offenbach.
Offenbach, Germany.
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(2009).
Modern Cyrillic exhibition (ATypI Mexico City).
Mexico City, Mexico.
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(2011).
TypeTogether collective exhibition.
Poznań, Poland.
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(2010).
TypeTogether collective exhibition.
Cieszyn, Poland.
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(2008).
TypeTogether collective exhibition.
Rosario, Argentina.