We continue getting acquainted with the Alphateca team and today we present our font manager and calligraphy artist Vladimir Anosov, who not only created a unique corporate style of the company but also managed to cheer up each participant of the Amsterdam Expo 2018.
The main task of each calligrapher is to create an individual style that will either preserve the traditional methods of the classical school of fonts or open up new stages for a personalized representation of creativity. When choosing your own professional vector, what was the main inspiration?
- It was me, the main inspiration. After all, calligraphy requires special attention to your personality, desire to grow and a lot of practice every day. Otherwise, it is almost impossible to achieve outstanding results.
What was the first alphabet in your career as a calligraphy artist?
- It all started with a change of my own handwriting, then there were English italics, modern calligraphy, a lot of ink and different tools. After three years of studying calligraphy and lettering, I can finally say that I can do something!
How important are the tools and materials for the calligrapher? Some tend to argue that a real crackerjack can make a masterpiece on the sand with an ice-cream stick.
- Each material and tool put an artist in certain brackets, whether it is color of the sand, the flexibility of the tool, its width, size of the brush, lack of inspiration.
I had an experience of drawing huge letters on the sand using a rake, and it was awesome — try it one day! Another day I was writing letters with the help of horseradish, pepper, and radishes. Such creative solutions are joy, the process hooks you and the result are never clear. I like experiments.
How did the creation of Alphateca graphic image start? Can we glance at the process of designing the logo?
- The creation of the Alphateca graphic image began with the search of ideas for a different set of signs in the cryptosphere and international symbol markets, which would reflect our views and interests. I wanted to convey the features of Alphateca in the sign, and it worked thanks to the combination of a heroic symbol (many believe that pride of place goes to the symbol of “the Avengers”), which contains references to currency, both digital and fiat (double lines and circles).
Actually, the pride of place of our logo goes to the font Anonymous, the first letter of the name of our project and the use of strokes resembling different currencies. The logo font was deliberately made stencil to show our revolutionary views on the crypto sphere in general.
When the visual identity was created, our team was guided by the principles of openness, transparency, and clarity. And our presentation is a good example: for the printing we decided to use a tracing paper, which shows the multilevel system, ease, simplicity, and at the same time one can see not one page, but peep at some more.
Other elements of the graphic image are also “simple”, we tried to use one font with several styles, a lot of “ air “ in the design layouts, rays of love and peace. J
Finally, is calligraphy an action or creativity?
- Calligraphy is an art, enforced by action. A real artist studies fonts and styles first, sharpen his skills, accuracy and grace of lines daily, and only years later begins to create something unique, personal, creative.
When our team participated in Blockchain Euro 2018 in Amsterdam, we decided to surprise the guests at the exhibition with calligraphy. It was a very creative and accessible way to reach the hearts and minds of coolheaded crypto enthusiasts. I was signing postcards with our Alphy the Bull to everyone who came to our stand. Words were inspired by the person himself. Luckily, all of them hit the mark and guests were leaving the stand with a beaming smile. Moreover, it even caused quite a stir around the stand of the project. We did a good job, got to know the world, the world got to know us. J
What interesting projects of Alphateca with your participation can we see in the nearest future?
- All the projects we are working on now are kept secretly, so I can’t reveal them now. We are growing, developing, the best is yet to come! Whatever happens… just happens. We are making, creating, moving forward!
