Type Electives Lecture Series:

Designing Type for American Indigenous Languages with Manuel López Rocha

Join us for a series of insightful conversations exploring the challenges of language support, diacritic design, and the role of type design in language revitalization. Our guests will share their experiences designing for diverse languages and scripts, offering both practical insights and critical perspectives.

In this session, we’ll be speaking with Manuel López Rocha about Designing Type for American Indigenous languages, with a focus on the Mixe language and a broader conversation around supporting the many Indigenous languages of the Americas. We’ll explore the linguistic and cultural considerations involved in designing type for underrepresented languages, the complexities of diacritic construction and placement, and the importance of collaborating with Indigenous communities throughout the design process. What does it mean to co-create typefaces with language users? How can typography contribute to language preservation? What challenges do designers face, and how can we ensure typographic inclusivity beyond dominant languages?

While this session centers on American Indigenous languages, the insights shared will resonate with anyone interested in designing for linguistic diversity. Whether you're a type designer expanding your character set knowledge or someone passionate about the intersection of language, identity, and design, this conversation will highlight how type can serve as a powerful tool for visibility, representation, and respect.

This session will feature a short presentation, followed by a conversation moderated by Juan and Lynne, and an open Q&A for the attendees.

Send us your questions through our Instagram @typeelectives

The event will be hosted online via Zoom.

We look forward to having you with us!

Manuel López Rocha

Manuel López Rocha (he/him) is a graphic designer specializing in type and editorial design. For over a decade, he has researched and developed typographic solutions for Indigenous languages, working closely with linguists and native speakers.

He has contributed to type tools for Woun Meu and Embera Katio, designed a type family for Mexican languages, and developed several typefaces for the Mixe language. He also co-organized Multilingüe, a conference focused on typography and Indigenous languages of the Americas. His work explores the intersection of design, linguistics, language preservation, and cultural identity.

His type design work has been featured in the Tipos Latinos Latin American Typography Biennial in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018. In addition, he has collaborated with foundries such as Fontstage for Google, PampaType, and AndRepeat Inc. He has also led workshops and given lectures on typography for Indigenous languages in Mexico, the United States, Colombia, Argentina, and Canada.

Currently, he is a partner and designer at Cuatro Ojos Studio, a professor teaching typography and type design at Universidad Anáhuac Veracruz, and a member of the Letrástica collective.

Instagram: @manuel.lopez.r