Olivera Stojadinovic
Olivera Stojadinovic began her higher education, studying mechanical engineering at technical college. However, when she discovered art was her true passion, she gave up her engineering degree to enrol at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade. She studied lettering, printmaking and calligraphy, and graduated with honours in 1985.
She joined the Center for Art and Scientific Research at the University of Arts in Belgrade. Her earlier engineering interest proved useful in mastering computer-aided typeface design. She was part of a team researching the origins of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet and developing new Cyrillic typefaces.
Working with small publishing houses, she created a special series of "Masterpiece" books. She designed a set of initial letters for each book. The first fonts were Cyrillic alphabets, but she later created Latin ones too: ITC Aspera, ITC Rastko, and ITC Hedera. She has worn international awards and her work has been exhibited in many countries. Currently, she is a professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, teaching typeface design and typographic history.
[LC, December 2009]
