Something that doesn’t work — and why

In this week’s Font Friday, Oliver Schöndorfer picks a font that’s well designed, but let down by its spacing. However, rather than dismiss it entirely, he uses it as an example of how to get the most out of type that may lack polish: “I’d rather educate you on it than keep you from it.”

Building Ligatures: the Power of Type

I’m a long-term TypeTogether fan and was so happy recently to see the announcement about their latest book. I ordered it straight away, and my copy arrived a few weeks ago. It’s that wonderful kind of book where it’s just fun and inspiring to flick through from a design perspective — look at those lovely fold-outs! — but also has some real depth to the interviews and articles contained within. I’ve yet to find a better answer to the question, “do we need more typefaces?” than Veronika Burian’s in this book. And no, I’m not going to tell you — you should order a copy!

Femme Type

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of printed books, have you seen Femme Type (volume 3)? “Born out of the lack of representation observed within the design industry, the Femme Type book intensely celebrates and highlights the work produced by over 40 talented women in the type space.” Just ordered mine.

Vocal Type

I was chatting to a colleague the other day about the embarrassing white-ness and male-ness of the type industry and was reminded of the work Tré Seals, founder of Vocal Type. From his manifesto: “Each typeface highlights a piece of history from a specific underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender—from the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Argentina to the Civil Rights Movement in America.”

#typeroasting

Over on my personal Instagram account, I’ve started posting a few stories with the hashtag #typeroasting. The idea is to highlight everyday examples of poor typesetting choices in order to help other designers not make the same mistakes. After all, we’ve all been there at one point in our careers. To be totally honest, I’m not sure if this is a great idea or not, but I’m trying it for now. Feel free to let me know what you think.