Design in all its forms—graphic, industrial, fashion, and multimedia—is a discipline that invites us to reflect on the quality of life and what we can do to improve it.
As I progressed through my studies toward a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at this very institution, I came to understand this concept while also striving to develop approaches and ways of thinking and working that align with what this conception of design entails: an individual and social commitment.
I found a faculty that, through diverse perspectives and various aspects of professional practice, nurtured me and encouraged me to develop that reflective mindset. Studying at the university—at ORT in particular—means keeping an open mind, creating, thinking, and sharing; sharing by being open to what others have to offer and, at the same time, actively participating by sharing with others.
Today, as a professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay, I strive to keep alive that sense of community I learned as a student.
Vicente Lamónaca holds a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Universidad ORT Uruguay, where he has been a faculty member at the School of Design since 2000. In 2016, he received the Award for Academic Excellence. He works in the fields of Art and Aesthetics, Typography, and Editorial Design. His professional work focuses on typography and publishing, primarily in typeface design, periodicals, and exhibition catalogs. He is a managing partner at TipoType, Uruguay’s first type foundry.
He is the designer of the Económica typeface, the first typeface designed in Uruguay to be marketed internationally. Together with Fernando Díaz and José de los Santos, he founded the Montevideo Typographic Society (STM). He was part of this collective until March 2015.
He compiled the book *Latin American Typography: A Current and Future Overview*, which brings together the work of more than 42 Latin American authors to present an overview of the state of the discipline in the region. In 2016 , he edited *It Happened: Ten Years of Uruguayan Digital Typography*, a book that explores, among other topics, the cultural value of having one’s own typefaces.