nr.69 Robert Finkei | From UX to Contextype | 17 Jun 2026 de Lange Adem

With Robert Finkei, we venture into a corner of type design we haven't explored much before. His background as a UX designer brings a surprising and refreshing perspective to the discipline. Through his project User Type Lab, he A/B tests individual letterforms with users and feeds results back into his typefaces, without ceding art direction to the data. Together with his Slovak school friend and business partner Michal Chrastina, he runs , a foundry that is set to release a new typeface very soon.

—

Robert Finkei is a type and digital designer based in Amsterdam. His practice moves between product design, typography, research, and the development of visual tools. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, where he deepened his interest in the intersection of kinetic type, user experience, and type design. Alongside collaborations with startups, cultural institutions, and brands, he explores the possible overlaps between UX and typography. In 2024, he co-founded Contextype, a type design studio passionate about the visual form of written language. The studio focuses on producing typefaces within the context of page, screen, and beyond, with an emphasis on challenging reading conditions while maintaining an intriguing visual appeal.

—

Robert Finkei’s lecture explores the intersections between type and digital design, kinetic typography, and a selection of research-driven projects and visual experiments. Drawing from activities ranging from animated typographic systems and toolmaking to workshop formats and type design, the talk explores how user involvement can influence both the creation and perception of typography. Topics include the development of experimental image-processing tools such as Virtual Image Garden, the use of motion and kinetic type in visual identities, and User Type Lab, an ongoing investigation into the application of user experience principles within type design. The lecture also presents recent activities connected to the type foundry Contextype, including the upcoming release of the font family CT Usera and custom typefaces developed for city branding.

—

Hosted at:
De Lange Adem
Ruyschstraat 295
Amsterdam

—

Supported by:

Typotheque & PICTORIGHT Fonds