An Introduction to Type Design | The Type Designer as Artist 
Frederik Berlaen sketching some characters with pencil on tracing paper.
Before I start with my series of articles on type design, let's first dispel any misunderstandings – I am not a type designer; merely a fascinated onlooker. These articles are born of two reasons.
On the one hand I’ve had to defend this profession once too often. There still are too many people that think typefaces simply “are”, or that they miraculously appear on their computer out of nowhere. Because of this they are convinced that typefaces ought to be free, and they question the legitimacy of type design as a commercial activity.
Frederik explains why he didn’t need to comb his hair before taking this photo.
On the other hand I’ve been asked a number of times if I didn’t feel like designing a typeface myself. My answer has always been the same: “I’d like to, but I don’t dare to because I know too much.” So what do I find so scary about designing type? To put it succinctly: it is an extremely complex discipline that – if you are earnest and determined to do it properly – is labour-intensive and time-consuming, and requires a combination of very diverse skills. You have to be artistically grounded, master the craft well and be technically proficient. It is no coincidence that this is the division of my series of articles. In this first episode we will look at the type designer as artist, the second and third episodes focus on the craftsman and the technician respectively.
initial sketches for Greta by Peter Bil’ak
The type designer as artist
I’ve always found it very odd that even within the profession it is sometimes contested that a type designer also is an artist. For instance David Berlow of The Font Bureau, Inc. fame has repeatedly asserted in discussions that type design is a craft, nothing more, nothing less. Personally I am persuaded that artistic sense is indispensable for a good type designer. A good example that supports my thesis is Vincent Connare, designer of the ubiquitous Comic Sans and Trebuchet. He may be a skilled craftsman and a technical wizard, but I don’t consider him to be a good type designer: his creations lack soul and are sometimes even somewhat clumsy.
Most importantly a type designer needs to be an artist because he must be able to translate concepts into shapes, to commit ideas to paper or a computer monitor. It’s one thing to have beautiful typeface in your head, it’s entirely another to make a beautiful drawing of said typeface.
initial sketches for Greta by Peter Bil’ak
initial sketches for Greta by Peter Bil’ak
initial sketches for Greta by Peter Bil’ak
Why design new typefaces?
There are tens of thousands of digital fonts available on the market, so why design even more? One could ask exactly the same question concerning music, or books, or any other form of artistic expression. Many type designers start on new designs because of an artistic impulse – they see something in everyday life, or imagine shapes or a particular atmosphere in their mind, or ask themselves “What if I tried to…”, and that is enough motivation to pick up pencil or mouse. Xavier Dupré falls into that category – during my recent interview with him for Addmagazine he told me he continually sketches and whenever one of his scribbles looks promising he uses that as a starting point.
initial sketches for Malaga by Xavier Dupré
initial sketches for Malaga by Xavier Dupré
Other designers might be frustrated with the shortcomings of certain existing typefaces and decide to remedy that. There are many classic examples, one of the best known being Adrian Frutiger’s Avenir which sought to improve on Futura (and consequently Avenir Next was a further improvement on the original Avenir). Furthermore there are revivals, reinterpretations, tributes, reprises, spinoffs, parodies and so on – all new designs based on existing fonts. A similar approach is when a designer notices a lacuna in the current offering of fonts – as in “there are no chunky wide semiserif rounded fonts” – and sets out to fill that void, sometimes creating a completely new class in the process.
At the other end of the spectrum opposite the artistic impulse is the pragmatic approach: type design as the logical outcome of a well defined set of criteria. Let’s take FF Quadraat as an example: Fred Smeijers wanted a traditional serif face, as economic as Times New Roman but with less contrast, as balanced as Plantin but more elegant. And FF Meta, the typeface Erik Spiekermann initially designed for the Bundespost, had to conform to an extensive list of standards. The best type designs are often a combination of these two extremes; they are the result of both functional and aesthetic considerations.
Artur Schmal working on his upcoming Parry Condensed
What constitutes good type design?
How does one recognise a well designed typeface? It certainly is easy to spot the poorly designed ones. Usually their structure is neither sound nor balanced. Too much attention is spent on trivialities and the wrong details, while the overall picture is lost. Often they have no overarching theme: they are assemblies of pretty things that don’t go well together and create a scattered impression.
While the technical qualities of fonts are fairly easy to evaluate, it is quite difficult to appraise something as subjective as the “beauty” of a typeface. De gustibus et coloribus et yadda yadda as they say in Latin. Tastes differ, and no-one can tell you your personal appreciation of a typeface is worth less than someone else’s. Nonetheless I have noticed since I started reviewing typefaces in February 2005 that there are a number of fairly objective criteria that can be used to evaluate a type design. Things like appropriateness, originality, context, relevance, historical reference, even humour, wit and gut feeling come into play. The combination of all these impressions allows one to formulate an educated opinion about the beauty of a typeface.
Peter Bruhn studying some asymmetrical serifs
This concludes the first chapter of our introduction to type design. Next time we will focus on what exactly needs to be drawn and how, and how much, and spacing and kerning and all those things that constitute the craft of type design.
An Introduction to Type Design | The Type Designer as Craftsman
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Te vette post!
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Zeker! Ben benieuwd naar de rest! Goed bezig Yves.
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Killerpost! Keep on keepin on, we'll be tracking :)
Way to go!
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mooi! maar allemaal geen excuus om niet zelf eens een font te ontwerpen hoor.
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Beetje offtopic misschien, maar moet er toch wat van zeggen. Alle drie de typedesigners afgebeeld op de foto's verpesten hun rug en nek. De voet van de Cinema Display is te laag om ergonomisch verantwoord te kunnen werken. Leg een paar dikke boeken onder, zodat je meer rechtop kan zitten.
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Eindelijk eens niet alleen het resultaat in beeld!
Show me more...
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Interessant.
En net lang genoeg om bij de ochtendkoffie te degusteren. Nog van dattum.
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Boeiend om te lezen. Dank & lof.
Zie met belangstelling uit naar het vervolg.
Maar waarom is er geen auteursnaam te ontdekken?
Wie is toch die "I"?
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Randall, Wij wachten met spanning op jouw letterontwerp
Wij zullen het resultaat tonen aan de wereld. En iedereen mag zijn opinie dan geven.Dus ... doen ...NU
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Rudy, ik vrees dat Randall bedoelt dat ik het ben die zelf eens een letter moet ontwerpen. Hij heeft er me al enkele keren over aangesproken. :/ :P
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Ach So. Spijtig dus.Want jouw font zal dus nooit komen hé ;-)
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I really enjoyed the initial segment on the type designer as artist. When will the second and third episodes be posted?
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Beginning of September, thank you for asking. :)
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