What led you into design?
My parents were the ones who nurtured my passion for design. They made sure to immerse me in a rich cultural and artistic environment. As a child, I would always attend art exhibitions, and I was even a member of an art history club.
However, type design had yet to become my passion. Back then, my goal was to become an illustrator, so I went to college for it. There, I was incredibly fortunate to have a typography professor who guided me into the craft. In his classes, we explored more than just type design. We worked with processing, created foam type sculptures, and decorated kites with calligraphy. From that moment on, I fell in love with type design forever.
What does a typical day look like?
I've completely shifted away from being a morning person. My workday now leans heavily into the evening, mainly because my colleague Maria Doreuli lives in California, and we have an 11-hour time difference. In the morning, while my focus is sharp, I work on emails, project comments, and less interesting tasks. Closer to lunch, I dive into sketching letters. Our studio calls usually begin after 7 p.m. We have an ongoing joke that ContrastFoundry operates 24 hours a day. When I finish work in Yerevan, Maria picks it up in San Francisco.
With such a drastic time difference, two constants shape my day. The first is my dog. Walking him in the morning and evening ensures that my physical and mental health stay in check. And the second is, of course, coffee. Black, no milk, no sugar, straight from my AeroPress.
What's your workstation setup?
Where do you go to get inspired?
Nature is a major source of inspiration for me. I prefer to spend my weekends hiking, absorbing the beauty of the Armenian mountains. I also love exploring the narrow streets of Yerevan’s downtown with my friends, many of whom work outside the design field. They enrich my work with inspiration from other areas—science, cooking, and music.
Oh, and anything involving manual labor inspires me greatly. This spring, I started taking pottery classes, which have become a huge source of inspiration for me. It's a slow, meditative activity similar to type design, but with the immediate gratification of touching the results.
What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?
I would like to mention gradientor. This is a great example of creative coding meets design! Try it and make fun!
What pieces of work are you most proud of?
It's hard to choose one, but I'm particularly proud of the CoFo Cinema1909 typeface. It strikes a balance between a distinctive design with narrow apertures and practicality. I'm thrilled to see it being used by graphic designers worldwide in their projects.
What design challenges do you face at your company?
One major challenge is that the Latin script isn't used by the majority of the world's population. We need to supplement our typefaces with Arabic, Hindi, Armenian, and other scripts. We prefer not to design scripts we're not connected to but rather collaborate with local type designers to expand the character set.
What music do you listen to while designing?
Any advice for ambitious designers?
Stay open-minded and don't focus solely on design. Design reflects everything else happening in the world, so it's important to explore it and experience life in various ways.
Find a physical activity you enjoy and stick with it! Go outside, look at nature. Travel if you can. Sitting at a computer for nine hours a day isn't healthy for anyone.
Not being sure is a good thing!
Anything you want to promote or plug?
First, check out our beautiful typefaces at contrastfoundry.com and follow us on Instagram.
Lastly, I want to support my partner and a talented musician, Tolya. You can explore his music and listen to his album here.
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