He is not one of those type designers who produces a new font family every two or three months. Each of his typefaces has taken considerable time to mature, and it shows: they are thoughtful, original and well-wrought. Rather than responding to passing trends, his Emtype Foundry publishes fonts that are aimed at having a long shelf-life, and his Geogrotesque has been a bestseller ever since it came out five years ago. He is also prepared to pull his weight when it comes to nourishing international typographic culture — he’ll be co-organizer of next year’s ATypI conference, the world’s major annual get-together of type designers. Meet Eduardo Manso, an Argentinian who has made Barcelona his home.
He is not one of those type designers who produces a new font family every two or three months. Each of his typefaces has taken considerable time to mature, and it shows: they are thoughtful, original and well-wrought. Rather than responding to passing trends, his Emtype Foundry publishes fonts that are aimed at having a long shelf-life, and his Geogrotesque has been a bestseller ever since it came out five years ago. He is also prepared to pull his weight when it comes to nourishing international typographic culture — he’ll be co-organizer of next year’s ATypI conference, the world’s major annual get-together of type designers. Meet Eduardo Manso, an Argentinian who has made Barcelona his home.
This month’s catchword is “more”. First of all, the MyFonts website itself has been receiving some major (and rather amazing) updates, offering more and smoother ways of testing and installing fonts. Scroll down to the news section for more details. As for our Rising Stars, they are certainly not of the “Less is More” persuasion. Each offers a huge choice of options beyond the basic functions of a font — more ornaments, more swashes and ligatures; or fancy shadows and dynamic fillings for multicolored layering. Finally, this month’s recent text fonts are also rather maximalist in their approach, offering up to eight weights and lots of extra features.
One of the biggest changes in the world of type and typography is a geographic one. A sector that was once was almost exclusively in European and North American hands, is now truly global — MyFonts sells typefaces from six continents. The typographic rise of Latin America has been especially remarkable, and this month’s newsletter is proof of that. Of our four Rising Stars, three come from South America. They combine a strong sense of purpose and tradition with the charm and novelty that we have come to identify with fonts from that part of the world. Europe, true to its tradition, is strongly represented in the text font section. Enjoy!
He started up his foundry Alphabet Soup seven years ago, and has published one typeface family a year on average. But what typefaces they are! With up to 2000 glyphs per font, and endless ways of using digital technology to emulate hand-lettering, his fonts are clearly the work of a seasoned scriptmeister. Indeed, before entering the font business, Michael Doret was already a household name in the design world, producing iconic designs for the likes of The New York Knicks, KISS and TIME Magazine. Having learned the trade under the guidance of no less a guru than Ed Benguiat, this month’s interviewee has been a one-man force in lettering and logotype design since the mid ’70s. These days his partners in type are designers like Stuart Sandler, Patrick Griffin and Mark Simonson. Meet Michael Doret, a man with a past... creating fonts for the future.
“August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied,” wrote a poet with the marvellous name Joseph Wood Krutch. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if August were that kind of month for all of us, type designers and users alike, laid-back yet productive? One way type designers reap their harvest, so to speak, is to rework and expand their earlier designs and — coincidence? providence? — you’ll see among this month’s Rising Stars several faces at last yielding their full potential.
Rational yet friendly: such is the personality of many a typeface today. Many of the fonts featured in this newsletter are the result of the somewhat paradoxical fusion of geometrical shapes — constructed with circles and straight lines — and just enough likable detailing to steer clear of rigidity and iciness. Which is just as well at this chilly time of year, as millions of us in the Northern hemisphere crave silver linings, bluebells and blossoms, and the warm yet sensible curves of well-crafted type.
July is turning into quite a serious type month here at MyFonts, with some great text fonts and classically inspired titling fonts competing for the top positions in our Hot New Fonts list. We’re not forgetting the fun stuff, though. Check out the great picture fonts that have arrived in our shop lately — like the attractive set of frames and vignettes you find below. All in all, we’re pretty sure your midsummer newsletter (well, midwinter, if you’re in Buenos Aires, Cape Town or Sydney) offers something for everyone.
The type industry today is truly a global affair. This month’s newsletter is evidence of that: it features fonts from Germany and North America, but also from Buenos Aires and Ahmedabad, India. Based on the sales of the past thirty days, each Rising Stars is also a way of taking the pulse of the font-loving community. One thing is clear — Spencerian script, the nineteenth-century style that has long been such an important model for American handwriting, is more popular than ever. To compensate for all the flourish, the cool objectivity of geometric sans and slab serifs is going equally strong. It’s June: a month of contrasts.
Dear Reader: Get ready for the longest Creative Characters interview ever. It’s not just that Stuart Sandler is a talented talker, he also has a lot to talk about. He runs and co-directs no less than five foundries and labels that MyFonts represents: the Font Diner, Sideshow, Breaking The Norm, the Tart Workshop and, most recently, Filmotype. He runs a handful of other companies and web shops as well, including Mister Retro. He is enamored with the lettering and typefaces of the 1920s through the 1960s, a period when letter-making was a very different craft indeed. Meet Stuart Sandler, a master of digital retro-americana.
It has often been noted that the best general-purpose typefaces are those that were made with a specific function in mind. Purpose-driven thinking has produced successful “no-nonsense” sans-serifs such as DIN, a great new incarnation of which is introduced in this newsletter. But even fancy display type may owe its inspiration to specific circumstances and precise briefings. The story of Memoriam, told below, is a case in point. And those are just two of a bunch of inspiring new faces that make up this May newsletter. Enjoy.
Type design is a craft that requires training and practice. Some newcomers choose to grow up in public, sharing their half-baked first attempts with the entire internet. Others do it differently: they develop their skills away from the public forums, then impress with a series of mature, quality fonts — which in the long run may be more rewarding. Our interviewee this month has followed such a path. His first typeface, released in 2008, was accomplished and singular — Ninfa made clear that, although still in his mid-twenties, Eduilson Wessler Coan knew what he wanted. Four years on, Coan’s dooType foundry has grown into a remarkable little collection of diverse typefaces with strong personalities. Meet our man in Curitiba, Brazil.
The Parachute foundry from Athens, Greece, had been on our wish list for a while when, about a year ago, they replied to our gentle poking with a whole-hearted “yes”.
A decade ago, he was the prince of free fonts. Today, his Typodermic foundry is one of MyFonts’ most successful type libraries, although hundreds of his freeware fonts are still out there. His output is awe-inspiring, his tastes as diverse as can be, and his sense of style spot-on. His tool of choice is the computer. Don’t look for pencil sketches or brush-drawn alphabets in this newsletter; it was all done on the screen — with a trackball. Meet Ray Larabie, a Canadian in Nagoya, Japan.
He’s one of those designers who live and breathe letterforms, whose hand-lettered titles and brand names look as if they’ve always been there. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mark Simonson worked as an art director and lettering artist for many years before being able to fulfill a lifelong dream: to become a full-time type designer. Having started out in the pen-and-ink, cut-and-paste era, he has made the transition to digital design with flying colors. Meet Mark Simonson, a contemporary craftsman.
Based in Bulgaria, Svetoslav Simov — “Svet” to his friends — runs one of the most successful young microfoundries to have joined MyFonts in recent times. In less than three years, his Fontfabric collection has grown to almost thirty type families, many of which have become top sellers. His typefaces are in perfect tune with the current revival of 1970s geometric lettering and ornamentation, a style of graphic design which he loves and admires, while adding subtle new flavors to the repertoire of available fonts. Meet Svetoslav Simov, our man in Sofia.
Welcome to another jam-packed issue of In Your Face! This quarter, we have more new type than ever, both from new foundries as well as from designers who are already established with MyFonts. Highlights abound — from full-featured multi-weight/width sans-serif families to some of the most original display type in the world — and we are certain that you'll find plenty of useful bits and pieces to add to your type library.
He is one of those rather modest designers who let their work speak for itself. He is not on every student’s list of “great names in type design.” Yet he has been in the business of making letters – be it with a brush, a pen, or a computer mouse – for decades, and has worked for some of the most innovative type companies, including Bitstream and Adobe. Now he is a staff designer at Boston’s Font Bureau, and as productive as ever. Meet Richard Lipton, a master of many scripts.
This month marks the second anniversary of our acclaimed series of interviews. Thank you all for your compliments and encouragements! We celebrate the event with a lengthy interview conducted in French (don't worry — we did translate it)…
Silas Dilworth has the kind of technical instinct that many of us are envious of. He can repair your car or motorcycle. He taught himself the technicalities of high-end font production and web programming. Yet he has also trained as a painter, and it shows. His letterforms are economic yet elegant: with minimal means, they provide typographic style and character. He is one half of TypeTrust, a platform for high-quality typefaces. Meet Silas Dilworth, a type designer who does not believe in retirement.
