Pablo Martín ^ES

Thinking with the eyes.

Why I became a graphic designer and what have I learned in 30 years of practice.

A graduate of graphic design, Pablo Martin worked with Mario Eskenazi and Vignelli Associates in New York. For 13 years he headed the studio “Grafica”, which he founded with Fernando Gutiérrez. Later he started “Atlas”, a design agency, with Astrid Stavro. His latest projects include collaboration with the magazine “Elephant”, the Design Museum of Barcelona and books for publishers “Phaidon” and “Laurence King”. In 2014 he was the recipient of the National Award of Spain for his work in graphic design. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique International (AGI), a prestigious design association.

Nina Ulmaja ^SE

The space-in-between.

Legibility from a micro and macro perspective, and why the empty spaces in a book are particularly relevant for designers.

Author, illustrator and designer Nina Ulmaja works as Head of Graphic Design at „Albert Bonniers Förlag“ – one of the oldest and most influential publishing houses in Sweden. Nina Ulmajas book design is widely awarded in Sweden and her work has been awarded twice in the Best Book Design from All over the World in Leipzig. In 2012 she received the August prize – best childrens book of the year, for a book which she wrote, illustrated and designed.

Markus Dreßen ^DE

Service industry in the field of art.

Markus Dreßen graduated from the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts in 1999. The collaborative project “Spector” was founded in 2000 and Markus is co-editor of its magazine outlet “Spector cut+paste”. In 2004 Markus was selected to become member of Alliance Graphique International (AGI). Since 2006 he has been senior lecturer for first and second year graphic design at the Leipzig Academy.

Lina Ozerkina ^IT

Learning through the languages of book design, linguistic choices and typographic traditions.

Lina Ozerkina is a book maker and designer who has made central to her practice all aspects of the book making process: design, printing and binding. For the past ten years, together with her partner and type designer Joseph Miceli, she has been working as an independent book designer with projects across Europe under the name Alfa60. In 2012 the pair founded an independent publishing collective called Friends Make Books specializing in limited edition Risograph printing and publishing, producing publications and printed matter for the cultural and artistic fields.

Didier Tsala Effa ^FR

From books to ebooks: what presuppositions for reading?

Didier Tsala Effa is associate professor in semiotics and communication at university de Limoges in France, Researcher at Centre de Recherches Sémiotiques (CeRes). The fields of his researches are based on semiotics of every day objects, mass market products, luxury and since four years, he started a new research about ageing people and humanoids robotics.

Linas Spurga ^LT

Improvisation: word – image

An energetic educator both at Vilnius University and Kaunas College, he is known to have a kind heart and subtle humour. He is creative director at major publishing houses such as “Vaga”, “Alma Littera”, and “Šviesa”). He loves book designers and is generously shares his professional advice with them. He has a magical touch that changes a book into a beacon of creativity, and does so meticulously and innovatively. He currently works for “Baltos lankos” publishing house.