- Review TWO talks by contemporary practitioners based on talks of interviews on the following websites and blogs; diegestalten.tv / ted.com / D&AD blog / AOI blog / aiga.org / itsnicethat.com / thisiscolossal.com.
Design Discourse; Talking Type
About Type Navigator; The Independent Foundries Handbook.
'Type Navigator'
'Gestalten.tv met a true "Type Writer" and typography expert to find out more about the "GPS for fonts." Alongside Martin Lorenz and Lupi Ascensio of TwoPoints.Net, Jan Middendorp edited Type Navigator: The Independent Foundries Handbook, the essential overview of the modern typefaces currently available and the innovative people and companies behind them. Hear him talk about the need for a substantial guide within the ever growing landscape of typography and the current popularity of typefaces and fonts within the design community.'
Jan Middendorp is a type writer and page marker from Berlin, Germany. This talk mainly focuses on his reasoning for creating a 320 paged, full colour book containing a range of typefaces from around the world. Jan explains that the first reason behind the idea of this book is because as a teacher himself, he often surveys his students on what kind of subjects they want him to talk about and what their individually interested in and in response they often refer to type and typography.
Jan explains how he finds particularly amongst young designers and students that type and lettering; more or less everything to do with fonts is very popular at the moment and is becoming more contemporary and evolving with its audience.
Particularly with new technology, Jan explains that it is becoming much easier to make your own typefaces and produce something that can be sellable due to the rapidly expanding online market for digital typefaces. Typography has gained a new significance. Now with a contemporary audience relying and resorting to the internet, companies can produce typefaces which can be sold on the internet to reach the targeted audience. Jan explains that this is the reason why there are so many independent companies trying to sell fonts, launching different typefaces on a daily basis. It had been difficult to keep track of notable developments and due to the fact that in order to have an overview of all these companies and fonts, there needed to be a guide. Previous books on type and font were originally published by one or few companies, therefore they were limited in the variety of typefaces. Jan describes his book like an atlas, due to the fact that the landscape of this book is so broad.
He continues his talk by suggesting certain trends throughout the book, referring to a European trend of making the same Sans-Serif, which is in response to another trend of finely crafted typeface; which will be most commonly used within glossy magazines. Jan compares the variety of trends within type to the variety of trends found within fashion or music.
What do you need to decide about font?
In his talk, he also explains the reasoning behind certain people being attracted to certain typefaces and this is due to the fact that a lot of people say 'I need to use it first'. This is why you have fonts available for free download so the targeted audience can test different fonts before settling with the one they think is most successful. Jan explains why this book in particular will be successful because a lot of foundries have collaborated together to create a CD (that comes free with the book) to allow the audience to try fonts before purchasing any.
This has a few advantages; firstly because it allows the foundries to become popular and recognised due to the fact that it displays their fonts and contact details. It is also great for the buyer of the book because not only are they provided with fonts to use for free but they also get to judge the fonts in an off-set print environment, instead of just looking at them on-screen. Type Navigator provides inspirational visual examples of fonts in use which also benefits the user. Jan also states that Type Navigator provides the necessary information needed, whether the user is in need of a specific type of font, is looking for fonts by a selected designer, from a certain country or even just wants to compare prices.
Jan also explains that he found a niche market for this book. He demonstrates a series of booklets created by FontSmith, that he believes are beautifully created and published however are quite small in both actual size and in variety of fonts. However 'Type Navigator' contains a variety of text from a range of categories that has been written especially for the contemporary use of type. Jan finishes his talk by explaining that because you don't find books containing that variety or use of font anymore, he wanted to create a new exciting feel with the book.
I personally like to explore different type within the majority of my projects and it's something that I hope to develop and involve within future projects, so having a collection of typefaces available in this format is something that I think I would benefit from.
Jan explains how he finds particularly amongst young designers and students that type and lettering; more or less everything to do with fonts is very popular at the moment and is becoming more contemporary and evolving with its audience.
'A slide taken from the interview'
Particularly with new technology, Jan explains that it is becoming much easier to make your own typefaces and produce something that can be sellable due to the rapidly expanding online market for digital typefaces. Typography has gained a new significance. Now with a contemporary audience relying and resorting to the internet, companies can produce typefaces which can be sold on the internet to reach the targeted audience. Jan explains that this is the reason why there are so many independent companies trying to sell fonts, launching different typefaces on a daily basis. It had been difficult to keep track of notable developments and due to the fact that in order to have an overview of all these companies and fonts, there needed to be a guide. Previous books on type and font were originally published by one or few companies, therefore they were limited in the variety of typefaces. Jan describes his book like an atlas, due to the fact that the landscape of this book is so broad.
He continues his talk by suggesting certain trends throughout the book, referring to a European trend of making the same Sans-Serif, which is in response to another trend of finely crafted typeface; which will be most commonly used within glossy magazines. Jan compares the variety of trends within type to the variety of trends found within fashion or music.
'T page selected from the book'
What do you need to decide about font?
In his talk, he also explains the reasoning behind certain people being attracted to certain typefaces and this is due to the fact that a lot of people say 'I need to use it first'. This is why you have fonts available for free download so the targeted audience can test different fonts before settling with the one they think is most successful. Jan explains why this book in particular will be successful because a lot of foundries have collaborated together to create a CD (that comes free with the book) to allow the audience to try fonts before purchasing any.
This has a few advantages; firstly because it allows the foundries to become popular and recognised due to the fact that it displays their fonts and contact details. It is also great for the buyer of the book because not only are they provided with fonts to use for free but they also get to judge the fonts in an off-set print environment, instead of just looking at them on-screen. Type Navigator provides inspirational visual examples of fonts in use which also benefits the user. Jan also states that Type Navigator provides the necessary information needed, whether the user is in need of a specific type of font, is looking for fonts by a selected designer, from a certain country or even just wants to compare prices.
'A slide taken from the interview'
Jan also explains that he found a niche market for this book. He demonstrates a series of booklets created by FontSmith, that he believes are beautifully created and published however are quite small in both actual size and in variety of fonts. However 'Type Navigator' contains a variety of text from a range of categories that has been written especially for the contemporary use of type. Jan finishes his talk by explaining that because you don't find books containing that variety or use of font anymore, he wanted to create a new exciting feel with the book.
I personally like to explore different type within the majority of my projects and it's something that I hope to develop and involve within future projects, so having a collection of typefaces available in this format is something that I think I would benefit from.
Jan Middendorp; www.dorpdal.com
Interview; http://www.gestalten.tv/motion/talking-type
Word Count; 770.
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