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ABOUT

Viktor Kharyk

Ukrainian designer, b. Kiev, 1957. Graduate of the Senior College for Print and Design in Kiev in 1982. Viktor became art director at Sphera in Kiev. Main type designer at Düsseldorf-based company Unique GmbH since 1998. In 2012, he cofounded Apostrof with Konstantin Golovchenko. He designs Armenian, Greek, Georgian, Devanagari, Hebrew, Cyrillic and Arabic fonts, and is particularly interested in revivals of ancient, forgotten, or historically important typefaces and writing systems. His work:

• At Elsner and Flake, he published EF Bilibin (2004, uncial), EF Abetka (2004), EF Gandalf (2004, uncial), Bilbo (2004-2008, an uncial family), Kiev EF (2002), Lanzug EF (2002, letters as zippers), Rose Deco EF (2001), EF Elf (2002, imitating Tolkien's writing), EF Deco Uni (2001-2004), EF Deco Akt Light (2001-2004), EF Fairy Tale (2003-2008, caps face), EF Varbure (2004, an experimental family), Rose Garden EF (2001, initial caps ornamented with roses; the text is uncial), and Viktors Raven EF (a spectacular caps font with letters made out of a raven).
• At MasterFont: Abetka MF (1999, with Alexeev), Kiev MF (1976-2003), and Netta MF (1999, text family). These fonts have Latin and Hebrew components.
• At Paratype, he published Uni Opt (2007, Op Art letters based on free brush technique similar to experimental lettering of the early decades of the 20th century; for instance to Graficheskaya Azbuka (Graphic ABC) by Peter Miturich and works by Victor Vasareli), Joker (1978, a subtractive font---since 2000, also in Cyrillic, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Georgian, Armenian and Arabic), Blooming Meadow (2007, flowery ornaments), Bogdan Rejestrowy and Bogdan Siczowy (2006, based on Ukrainian Skoropis (fast handwriting) of the 16th and 17th centuries, and named after Ukrainian Getman Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The character set contains Cyrillic, Old Slavonic, Glagolitic, Latin and Greek alphabets), Lidia (2006, a lined engraving typeface based on a 1967 font by Iraida Chepil for Polygraphmash).
• At 2D Typo: Florentin 2D (2011, angular family), New Hotinok 2D (2010, with Henadij Zarechnijuk).
• Other work: Simeon 2D (2011, 2D Typo), some fonts at Face Typesetting (1970s), Getto (1970s), White Raven (2002), Handwritten Poluustav Ioan Cyrillic (1999-2001), Letopis (1983), New Zelek (1980s), UniAkt (2001, based on Unifont, an erotic caps face, done with Natalia Makievska).
• Free fonts at Google Web Fonts, published via Cyreal: Iceberg (2012, octagonal).
• Cyrillizations by Viktor Kharyk: Data 70 (1976; original from 1970 by R. Newman), ITC American Typewriter, Bullion Shadow (1984; of the shadow font Bullion Shadow (1978; original from 1970 by Face Photosetting), Calypso (1984; of Excoffon's 1958 original), Lazybones (1980s; of a 1972 Letraset font with the same name), Glagolitic (1983, Elvira Slysh, digitized in 2003), Augustea (1947, Allessandro Butti), Stencil (after a 1938 typeface by R.H. Middleton called Stencil), Columna (1980s; after Max Caflisch's original from 1955), Sistina (1951, Hermann Zapf), Weiss Kapitale (1935, Emil Rudolf Weiss), Vivaldi (1965, Friedrich Peter), ITC Tiffany (1974, Ed Benguiat, digitized in 1995), ITC Bookman Herb Lubalin (1974, digitized in 1980s), Berthold Cyrillic Helvetica Cyrillic (1980), Churchward Galaxy (1970s, J. Churchward, digitized in 1980s), Olive Bold Condensed (1980s, original of Roger Excoffon in 1962-1966), Motter Ombra (1980, original by O. Motter in 1975), Sinaloa (1981, original by Odermatt and Tissi in 1972), Serif Gothic (1990, original by Herb Lubalin and Tony DiSpigna in 1974), Dynamo (1980s, original of K. Sommer in 1930), EF Gimli and EF Gloin (2004-2010, mediaeval typefaces done at Elsner&Flake together with Marina Belotserkovskaja).
• Other typefaces: Lili (multilined), Rutenia (by Henadij Zarechjuk and Viktor Kharyk).

At TypeArt 01, he won first prize with Varbur Grotesque (1999-2001, with Natalia Makeyeva), third prize with Joker (1970-2000), and honorable mention with Abetka. At TypeArt 05, he received awards for UniOpt (2002, Kafkaeqsue Op Art display style) and Blooming Meadow (dingbats). In 2009, his 2006 digitization of Anatoly Shchukin's 1968 typeface Ladoga (+Text, +Display, +Ladoga Armenian) won an award at Paratype K2009.

In 2016, Henadij Zarechnjuk and Viktor Kharyk designed Dnipro for Apostrof. The Cyrillic version of this font follows Ukrainian decorative traditions, initiated by Georgy Narbut and Mark Kirnarsky in the 1920s and continued until the 1980s. The Latin part has an uncial character.

Typefaces made in 2018: Algor, Zluka (with Henadij Zarechnjuk; named after The Act Zluka, or Ukraine's Unification Act of 1919), XX Sans, Yurch (developed by Henadij Zarechnjuk and Viktor Kharyk by samples of calligraphic lettering by Ukrainian book designer Volodymyr Yurchyshyn), heb?

EXTERNAL LINKS
Viktor Kharyk
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Behance page
Klingspor Museum page
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INTERNAL LINKS
Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Cyrillic type design ⦿ Typefaces and type design for Arabic ⦿ Hebrew font links ⦿ Greek/Coptic ⦿ Armenian fonts ⦿ Ornamental caps typefaces ⦿ Type design in Ukraine ⦿ Georgian fonts ⦿ Indic language fonts ⦿ Type design in India ⦿ Type blogs ⦿ Experimental type ⦿ Brush script typefaces ⦿ Books on type design ⦿ Kafkaesque typefaces ⦿ Stencil fonts ⦿ Avant Garde typefaces ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Uncial typefaces ⦿ Octagonal typefaces ⦿ Op-art Typefaces ⦿ German type scene ⦿ Eric Gill and his typefaces ⦿ Calligraphic typefaces ⦿