David Březina

David Březina is a typeface designer, writer, researcher, and managing director at Rosetta Type. While you may know him as the designer of the award-winning type family Skolar, he has also worked on custom typefaces for Adobe, Linotype (Monotype), Microsoft, Google, and others. So far, he has designed typefaces for Cyrillic, Greek, Gujarati, Devanagari, and various extensions of Latin. David holds a Master’s degree in computer science from Masaryk University in Brno (Czechia) and an MA in Typeface Design and PhD from the University of Reading (UK). His cross-disciplinary PhD thesis studied visual similarity and coherence of characters in typefaces. He also co-founded Design Regression, a mini journal publishing texts that are about design for reading and reading-related research.

Change language ⇄ čeština

Contact

Email: hello@mrbrezina.com
ORCID: 0009-0007-4410-0133
RSS: feed.xml

Projects

Rosetta Type – a leading type design studio and distributor of high-quality fonts for a growing number of the world’s scripts
Hyperglot – database of basic characters needed to write in the world’s languages (concept and art direction)
Design Regression – a journalette (mini journal) publishing texts that are about design for reading and reading-related research
All types of ‘a’ – a collection of peculiar shapes of the Latin lowercase letter ‘a’ (U+0061)

Typefaces (design)

Only Yours (Latin, 2025). Design.
Gridlite PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2020). Design.
Handjet (Arabic, Armenian, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, 2018–20). Design.
Yrsa & Rasa (Gujarati, Latin, 2016–2021). Art direction, design with Anna Giedryś.
Skolar Sans PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2014–16). Designed with Sláva Jevčinová.
Adobe Gujarati (2013). Design for Adobe, art direction Fiona Ross.
Nirmala UI Gujarati (2012). Design for Microsoft within Tiro Typeworks, art direction Fiona Ross.
Skolar Gujarati (2012). Design.
Skolar PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2009–2012). Design.
Veto Devanagari (2009). Design for Linotype (now Monotype).

Typefaces (art direction)

Adapter Georgian (2024). Art direction, design by Ana Sanikidze.
Adapter Tamil (2023). Art direction, design by Aadarsh Rajan.
Adapter Mono PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2022). Art direction, design by Tania Chacana.
Adapter Hebrew (2020). Art direction, design by Sláva Jevčinová.
Adapter Arabic (2020). Art direction, design by Borna Izadpanah.
Adapter PE (Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, 2019). Art direction with William Montrose. Design by William Montrose and Sláva Jevčinová.
Skolar Sans Arabic (2016). Art direction, design by Titus Nemeth.
Skolar Devanagari (2012). Art direction, design by Vaibhav Singh.

Academic articles

Březina, D. (2025). What is a (universal) script grammar?. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2025). A method for studying the contextual similarity of characters in Cyrillic, Devanagari, and Latin scripts and exploration of the effects of typeface design and expertise. (preprint) https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cfgdp_v2
Březina, D., & Dyson, M. C. (2024). Can we selectively attend to the top halves of letters and ignore the bottom halves?. Design Regression.
Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D. (2022). The sequel to exploring disfluency: Do we remember the visual appearance of words?. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2022). Elements of multi-script typography: paragraphs and pixels. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2022). Elements of multi-script typography: codes, keys, and word shapes. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2022). Elements of multi-script typography: introduction. Design Regression.
Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D. (2021). Exploring disfluency: Are designers too sensitive to harder-to-read typefaces?. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2021). Character complexity and redundancy in writing systems over human history [review]. Design Regression.
Březina, D. (2018). Coherence in typeface design: visual similarity of characters in Cyrillic, Devanagari, and Latin. The University of Reading. (PhD thesis) https://doi.org/10.48683/1926.00085141
Boček, V., & Březina, D. (2012). Typography follows linguistics?: on some parallels between the Prague School of Linguistics and Karel Teige’s typographic program. Hyphen: a typographic forum, 9(15). Institute for the study of Typography and Visual Communication.
Březina, D. (2007). The evolution of the Gujarati typographic script. The University of Reading. (unpublished MA dissertation)
Březina, D. (2007). General issues in multi-script typography. The University of Reading. (unpublished MA essay)

Lectures

Březina, D. (2025). About Rosetta type and research. Identity project & Wyndham social, Virtual/Hong Kong.
Březina, D., & Štepanovská Anna (2025). Useless Fonts. Typographics, Virtual/New York, USA.
Březina, D., & Štepanovská Anna (2025). Useless Fonts. Brno Bold Typo 02, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2025). Hyperglot – a toolkit for discovering language support in digital fonts [poster presentation]. Language Technologies for All, Unesco, Paris, France.
Březina, D. (2025). What is a universal script grammar [keynote]. Automatic Type Design 3, ANRT/ENSAD, Nancy, France. (watch the recording)
Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D. (2024). Do we process characters as shapes, nothing special?. Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, Venice, Italy. (watch the recording)
Březina, D. (2024). Structural analysis of the visual appearance of scripts. WAVE conference, University of Cambridge, UK. (watch the recording)
Březina, D. (2024). Elements of multi-script typography: the wayfinding edition. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2022). Písmo jako základ vizuálního stylu. Brno Bold, Brno, Czechia.
Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D. (2022). Questioning the obvious: different ways of seeing. ICTVC, 8. Thessaloniki, Greece.
Březina, D. (2022). Hyperglot – a database and tools for discovering language support in fonts. ICTVC, 8. Thessaloniki, Greece.
Březina, D. (2022). About Rosetta and research. ANRT/ENSAD, Nancy, France.
Březina, D. (2022). About Rosetta and research. TypeParis Talks, Paris, France. (watch the recording)
Březina, D. (2021). Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu. VOŠG, Hellichova, online.
Březina, D. (2021). Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu. SSUD, Brno, Czechia.
Dyson, M. C., & Březina, D. (2019). Challenging design training: do designers suffer more with harder to read typefaces?. ICTVC, 7. Patras, Greece.
Březina, D. (2019). Character similarity and coherence in typeface design. ICTVC, 7. Patras, Greece.
Březina, D. (2019). Několik poznámek k modernismu v písmu. FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2018). Recent projects from Rosetta. FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2018). Recent projects from Rosetta. Brno Design Days, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2018). Character similarity and coherence in typeface design. Graphemics in 21st century: From graphemes to knowledge, Brest, France.
Březina, D. (2017). Some of the things I do not know about typefaces. Typostammtisch, Berlin, Germany.
Březina, D. (2017). Recent projects from Rosetta. Typostammtisch, Berlin, Germany.
Březina, D. (2015). Recent projects from Rosetta. Du monde entier au cœur du monde, Paris, France.
Březina, D. (2015). Letters of Rosetta: from Brno to Bern. TypEast. Bern, Switzerland.
Březina, D. (2013). Challenges in multilingual type design (II). ATypI conference. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Březina, D. (2013). Rethinking type experience. Smashing conference, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Březina, D. (2012). Challenges in Indian type design. Association of British Scholars, Vadodara, India.
Březina, D. (2012). Challenges in multilingual type design. Typography day. IID, Mumbai, India.
Březina, D. (2012). Challenges in multilingual type design. NID, Ahmedabad, India.
Březina, D. (2011). Písmo je na webu to nejdůležitější. WebExpo, Prague, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2011). Specifying type consistency. TypoTopo talks. Bratislava, Slovakia.
Březina, D. (2012). Specifying type consistency. The University of the Arts London, London, UK.
Březina, D. (2010). Thinking in typeface design. ICTVC, 3. Nicosia, Cyprus.
Březina, D. (2010). General issues in multi-script typography. ATypI conference, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Březina, D. (2010). General issues in multi-script typography. 4th International ConTeXt Meeting, Brejlov (Prague), Czechia.
Březina, D. (2010). On typeface design. University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2010). On typeface design. Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Cieszyn, Poland.

Workshops

Březina, D. (2022). Guest feedback sessions. TypeParis Talks, Paris, France.
Březina, D. (2019). Návrh logotypu pro neznámý skript. Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2016). A brief introduction to Python for data visualisation. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2015). A brief introduction to Python for type designers. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2013). Concepts for originality in typeface design. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2012). Type design workshop focused on webfonts. Seznam.cz, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2012). Concepts for originality in type design. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2012). Type design workshop. University of the Arts London, London, UK.
Březina, D. (2011). Type design workshops. FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2011). Type design workflow and running a Type Foundry. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2009). Type design workshops. FaVU (Faculty of Visual Arts) VUT, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2010). O písmu. Pellico5 workshops, Brno, Czechia.
Březina, D. (2009). Multilingual typography workshop. The Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Lanckorona, Poland.
Březina, D. (2009). Type design process & automation. The University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Březina, D. (2009). A brief introduction to Python for FontLab. Monotype Imaging, Salfords, UK.

Interviews and other appearances in media

Kim Tidwell (2025). Only Yours and Softly Yours are fonts as unique as your fingerprint (no, really). Print magazine.
Tom May (2025). Only Yours: a bold new approach to typography based on unique variants. Creative Boom.
Unknown (Sponsored) (2023). Rosetta is a foundry that prioritises thorough research, design exploration and multilingual typefaces. It’s Nice That.
Ayla Angelos (2021). Rosetta Type’s David Březina on his interchangeable and variable typeface Handjet. It’s Nice That.
Mikulcová, K., & Smělík, P. (2024). Identity: the story of Czech graphic design [film]. Mowshe.
Poppy Thaxter (2024). From Expressive Experiments to Aesthetic Extremes, Rosetta Type’s Latest Releases From Signify an Exciting Shift in Pace. Type 01.
Serret, G. (2022). Q&A David Březina. TypeParis News.
Murphy, Z. L. (2021). How important is harmony when designing multiscript type systems? An interview with David Březina. Type 01.
Michailidis, S. (2021). Fenomén: česká typografie včera, dnes a zítra. ČT Art. Czech TV.
Hartmann, T., Thoma, S., & Wittner, B. (2018). Forget your knowledge: Interview with David Březina of Rosetta Type. Bi-Scriptual: Typography and Graphic Design with Multiple Script Systems.
Pecina, M. (2014). Nowe Terytoria. 2+3D, 52.
Middendorp, J. (2013). Rosetta Type Foundry: Vaibhav Singh, Titus Nemeth, David Březina. Creative Characters: The faces behind the fonts, 71.
Stuttard, J. (2013). What is multi-script typography all about. Rosetta Articles.
Falvey, C. (2012). Award-winning Czech typographer takes on Gujarati. Radio Praha.
Lutonský, F. (2012). Interview for the Czech National News TV. ČT 24. Czech TV.
Pathak, B. (2012). This Czech is a Gujarati ‘type’. Times of India.
Stocks, E. J. (2011). David Březina. 8 Faces, 4.
Fojtů, M. (2011). Březina: Vytvářet písma je jako mluvit různými hlasy. Magazine of the Masaryk University.

Awards

Jevčinová, S., & Březina, D. (2019). Award for Adapter PE. Modern Cyrillic.
Březina, D., Jevčinová, S., & Saraiva, R. (2015). Silver award for Skolar Sans Latin. European Design Awards.
Březina, D. (2013). 2nd prize (Indic category) for Skolar Gujarati. Granshan.
Březina, D. (2009). 1st prize (Cyrillic category) for Skolar Cyrillic. Granshan.
Březina, D. (2009). Special diploma for Skolar Cyrillic. Modern Cyrillic.
Březina, D. (2008). Silver for Skolar & Surat (Skolar Gujarati). European Design Awards.

Exhibitions

(2016). Granshan exhibition (ATypI Warszaw). Warszaw, Poland.
(2013). Granshan exhibition. Bangkok, Thailand.
(2012). 24th International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno. Brno, Czechia.
(2010). 23rd International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno. Brno, Czechia.
(2008). 22nd International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno. Brno, Czechia.
(2006). 21st International Biennial of Graphic design in Brno. Brno, Czechia.
(2010). Collective type design exhibition at Klingspor-Museum Offenbach. Offenbach, Germany.
(2009). Modern Cyrillic exhibition (ATypI Mexico City). Mexico City, Mexico.
(2011). TypeTogether collective exhibition. Poznań, Poland.
(2010). TypeTogether collective exhibition. Cieszyn, Poland.
(2008). TypeTogether collective exhibition. Rosario, Argentina.