Axis-Praxis: lessons from 6 months running a website celebrating variable fonts

In the weeks after the OpenType 1.8 announcement about variable fonts at ATypI 2016, despite explanatory texts and videos there was no environment for enthusiasts and font-makers to experience variable fonts in practice. The following month, Laurence’s Axis-Praxis website fulfilled the need for such a place, somewhere to experiment with your own fonts and to play with fonts that others had released. The site has developed into a resource for fonts, user interfaces, ideas about the future of variable fonts, and reminders of similar activity in font technology a generation ago. Laurence will talk about what he’s learned so far, and will present Axis-Praxis Version 2.