I was asked to design a hairline face to go with this face:


I was given as reference these two faces. It was suggested that the final typeface might be related to these two:



and




This is what I came up with:




There are lots of problems with this kind of relationship. One is that there is a visual problem between bold and light faces because the counters of light faces are visually larger, while the strokes are smaller. It makes the two weights hard to integrate successfully.

I was watching the English / USA World Cup today (supporting England because a) my parents grew up there, and b) the USA already wins enough stuff). Imagine my typographical delight that England has names and numbers in Gill Sans, quintessentially English typeface from 1925 or thereabouts. Very few countries can claim to have such a universally known yet specifically national typeface (maybe Switzerland...). I don’t know how much this affects non-typographically obsessed people. Does the British fan recognize (probably subconciously, if at all) the fact that it is a particularly English face? Do people from other countries?
And it’s true unimproved Gill...check out the characteristic overly simple, slightly too tall “1” on Wayne Rooney’s shirt.

Tacky eighties / cool seventies typeface

I've been working on this typeface for the last little while. It’s not really my kind of thing: too geometric. I can’t decide whether I like it or not. Sometimes it feels like something from the 1980s, an adolescent science fiction techno-utopia kind of face, which I really don't like:

At other times, I like its 1970s Dutch modernist Wim-Crouwelish graphic design modularity:

Anyway, just about any typeface will work somewhere, with some copy, and even if I can't see any use for this one, I will probably keep working on it....

Subpixel typefaces

I am fascinated by the phenomenon of how perception of type is affected by gestalt and physiological stuff. It is really evident with screen typography, and the smaller it gets, the more obvious it becomes. Here is an example: there is no way I could tell what the letters are in the large version, but at a small size (below right), I can make them out. (Open image to see the original).

It’s from this Typophile thread, which is worth reading not only for the discussion of the subject, but also for the vituperation as StoneCypher practically climbs into his computer to attack Miha and his claims.

Some typefaces I have been working on

These faces are works in progress, but I am becoming quite fond of them. They started as a client project, but I continue to develop them. I sometimes find myself working on them when I should really be doing something else.

How I approach thesis

As I am teaching graphic design core project at OCAD next fall, students ask me what my approach to the class (commonly known as thesis) is.

I see it as having three principal qualities

1. an opportunity to become an expert in some area of graphic design and related content

2. an occasion to produce a body of graphic design work representative of the abilities and interests of the student

3. the requirement to record the research, process and chronology of the core project in a well-written, well- designed, well-edited and well-executed significant document.


My interests
I am interested in the typography (I practice as a typography consultant to graphic design companies and book and magazine publishers, among others), in information design (which was the basis of my master’s thesis). So book design, periodical design, public communication (i.e., posters), interaction design and type in motion are principal areas of interest.

I like intelligence, and logical and ingenious solutions. I believe you should research and know the theory that are the related to your thesis. If you can’t explain what you are doing, I will think you don’t know what you are doing, though I realize I may be wrong; I value the ability to articulate. I also respect the ability to work hard.

I am not particularly into (for example) tattoos or graffiti, because these seem media of self expression (art) more than communication (design). If you are interested in a branding project, I will insist that you understand branding theory, how it applies to your project, and that a great deal of research will be what is essentially market research on the branded organization, its competitors, its users and other stakeholders. Visual identity itself is a relatively small part of the overall exercise of branding, and in my view, is seldom substantive enough to be a satisfying year-long project in itself. I think of graphic design as being a part of a successful society, not an avenue for self-expression. I believe that audiences are as complex and interesting as designers are, and that design is a bridge between people. I am interested in idea and concepts. I appreciate visual brilliance, but I insist on good execution.

Legibility typefaces

Sure it's the same old game: look, I made the x-height really high and so was able to give it big counters, so it's as legible at 8.5 point as Times is at 10. The only trouble is that because of those big lowercase letters it now takes up just as much horizontal space at 8.5 point as Times 10 point does.

Looking at Gerard Unger's 1993 legibility typeface Gulliver, which at 8.5 point “looks just as large as a type like Times (1932) in 10-point,” I am struck once again by the futility of making typefaces “more legible” by making the x-height proportionally larger.

Because sure, it is easier to identify letters if you make the x-height and counters larger. And sure, you can set it with tighter leading, and it won't crash, but with that big x-height, you want more leading...about the same proportion of vertical white space to x-height as Times... And you can even, as Unger did, reduce the size of serifs so tightly spaced letters don’t crash…but following that logic, you could set text set in sans serif with hairlines between the characters. And that won't work, because the correct space between letters is at least partly related to the size of the counter space.

Gulliver, like Ionic or Utopia, looks like a reasonably good typeface, though it might be nicer if the ascenders and descenders were a bit longer, and the only way to do that is reduce the x-height, thereby making the counters smaller.....

Oh well.

Here is a face that’s REALLY serious about big counters and legibility, Minuscule Deux, designed for setting at 2 point, by Thomas Huot-Marchand.