The Best Paper Award for ITU Researchers

Assoc. Prof. Dr Koray Gelmez and Res. Asst. Onur Yılmaz from the Department of Industrial Design at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) received the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Design History and Design Studies (ICDHS).

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Koray Gelmez and Res. Asst. Onur Yılmaz, faculty members of ITU’s Department of Industrial Design, were awarded the Best Paper Award at ICDHS 2025 for their paper titled “Mapping the Ubiquity of a Font in the Visual Landscape of Türkiye: The Curious Case of ‘that font’”, presented under the theme “Typographic Cultures of Design.”

The study titled “Mapping the Ubiquity of a Font in the Visual Landscape of Türkiye: The Curious Case of ‘that font’” investigates the unexpectedly widespread use of Revue, a Letraset typeface from 1968, in Türkiye’s visual culture. The research is based on visual ethnography and content analysis methods applied to over 3,000 examples collected in the Instagram archive @that.font. A systematic examination of 529 photos and videos reveals the presence of this typeface in diverse contexts, ranging from restaurant signs and health centers to truck lettering and album covers. The study argues that this prevalence stems not from strategic branding decisions but from practical factors such as accessibility, recognizability, and ease of reproduction. It thus emphasizes typography not merely as an aesthetic tool but as a component shaping the cultural identity of everyday life.

The 14th edition of the International Conference on Design History and Design Studies (ICDHS) was held in New Delhi from October 10 to 12, 2025. The event brought together researchers from various regions and design disciplines around the theme “Cultures of Design.” Since its inception in 1999, the ICDHS conference series has been recognized as an international platform that fosters dialogue and interaction in the fields of design history and design studies, with a focus on interdisciplinary participation and cultural diversity.