Wow I didn’t read this until now. You’re doing an amazing job with this site. Even a few of our Type and Design layout teachers have used this website in some of their lectures. Keep it up!

Robert
Thanks very much. That’s good to hear. Perhaps you can persuade one of your teachers to write a guest piece for iLT. Thanks too for all your comments and contributions.

Your neighbor’s daughter is so cute! Hurry up and come to Tokyo. I need to have a nice long talk with someone (in English) that has design sense.

Drop me a mail when you aren’t swamped.

Cheers

Japan,eh? That’s really cool, I’d love to travel there one day.

By the way, I like how that “A” model is in all three photos. Smooth :)

Hamish
You’re always welcome to come here. I hadn’t even noticed that about my cardboard and papier mache “A”. Well spotted.

BTW, I noticed something with your Typogrify plugin: when the penultimate word of the line is hyphenated, then no break occurs before that word, and so leaves the possibility of a widow.

e.g.
“…long-term
effects.”

Any ideas? Wonderful plugin though.

Johno
I’ll talk to one of my teachers about writing a lil’ something.
Oh and where did you get those paper mache letters, did you make them?

I love this site! Great work!

Thanks Johno, maybe I will visit someday :)

As for the plugin, thanks for pointing that out. I’ll look into it right away.

Hmm, I can’t seem to recreate the problem, John. Do you have an example somewhere?

Hamish
Actually, the only example I can find so far is in the Thinking With Type Book Review article, around paragraph 7. It ends,

…Dumb Quotes arcade-style
game.

I wonder if it has something to do with the href?

Only now I read the last paragraph about quantum mechanics and string theory, I’m not a typographer or graph designer but a physicist and my research interest is QFT (Quantum Field Theory), if someone are interested the site of ‘t Hooft have a lot of good resources:
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html

^_^

John, You are great!

Kazuo
Always good to have a Physicist on-board. That link is a good one, and a nice introduction for non-scientists. Thank you.

Carman
Thank you, but you must be confusing me with another John. I know I mentioned Johnny Depp in the article, but this John — the one typing this — is exceptionally un-great. Hope all is well in HK.

John, nice living room! Do you have any photos from Japan you can share with us?

Hello John,

Me and a couple of my friends have been going through your site and we must admit it’s really an eye-opening experience to see that so much goes into something like typography. It used to be one of those things we all took for granted, save for a few seconds just before we finalized the ideal “formal” font for a seminar report or a thesis.

Now though, we’ve started an on campus monthly newspaper and so we look at fonts for headers and sidebars and captions. We’ve come to learn about ‘screen fonts’ and ‘print fonts’ and all those little things you never thought you’d know about.

Anyway I’m just writing to say that I can hardly believe that a site as beautiful and organized as this is only three months old. But then again, so is our newspaper. So a pat on the back to you. We are in awe.

Also, I should tell you that we’re from a college in India called the Indian Institute of Technology. And basically we’re just writing in to say that you’re getting popular in this part of the world as well, despite the Snake-Charmers and Elephants. (a not so subtle jab at the Indian archetype!)

Cheers and keep em coming.

Sahil
Welcome to iLT. Thanks for your kind words. Send me a copy of your newspaper/newsletter. My mail address is jboardley {aaaat} gmail.com.

I’m pleased iLT is going down well in India; I’m honoured. Take care.

Lovely typography, but I spotted the book shelf!
Hope you are well, I’m with Jo -isn’t it amazing that you know each other!
Did you know that Sylvie is expecting a baby.
Hope to meet up soon,
Andy

Andy
How great to see you here. Wonderful. Yes your bookcase is in Japan!
It’s a small world indeed. Say hi to Jo for me.
That’s good news for Sylvie. See you soon, Andy. I’m still a huge fan of your work and I’ve learned a great deal from you.

Type for Kids…haven’t read that one yet, maybe I’ll “surprise” myself this Christmas. Your blog is great…I can only hope I get insanely rich one day to be able to buy all these amazing fonts…they’ll be all miiine, all miiiiine *evil laugh*

Fantastic site your have here! Finlay someone that’s letting the masses know how important typography is! I am studying design in Norway, part of the course is typography and i absolutely love it! Keep on the fantastic work!

Gia
Thank you. On Sunday, there’s a special Christmas Sunday Type article that will list some more type-related gifts; some expensive and not so expensive ones.

Remi
Welcome to iLT. Do you know any good Norwegian typography sites? Good luck with your studies.

Hi Johno,

I am currently persuing a degree course in graphic design in Malaysia.I am earger to learn about typography. I must say that this website is awesome. Interesting content and i can see the effort you’ve put into this site. Keep up the good work =)

chermaine
Thanks for kind words, and good luck with your degree. I hope you’ll share you love of type with others :)

Very good website! Thx!

Great site, and great shirt (“antislip” in the first photo). I have the same one; my brother bought it for me while he was in Japan.

Anyway, definitely adding you to my RSS feeds.

I love this website, so much good info out there. How did you do that :) at the end of the page?

Ryan
Well spotted. We are t-shirt brothers. I bought mine in uniqlo; I guess that’s where your brother bought yours :)

Becca
Thank you! How did I do what? Lulu is lovely, BTW.

I’ve always been a stickler with fonts, from my days in middle school (Times New Roman is for conformists!) to my obsession for Georgia, and now my love affair for Calibri, Cambria, and the other new Vista fonts. To know that there’s some people with a much more developed and sophisticated sense of typography is so refreshing to hear! Your site has been a joy to not only read, but just to look at - not just the lovely fonts but also the great color scheme, layout, and intelligent ad placement!

Are you still active in the web design business? I would love to see examples of your other work.

Hello John,

A superb website with not just a great layout and design but very carefully written content. You are doing a great job and can probably get a book published on fonts.

I am also interested in Typography and will email you with questions I have in mind. :)

Keep up the Good Work.

Regards
Mutahir

Hey,
Brazilian reader number 1 is back and glad to confirm rumors about a real person being behind this website… world seems safer now, I guess. :)
You have been making a wonderful job, man. (It’s funny to feel glad about someone you dont know…)
Anyway, Ill keep dropping by every now and then.
sayonara!

Hello,

Here is what I started typing in the mail message section before checking this one :

“Thanks for this excellent blog, full of interesting info and interviews.
Here is a suggestion: I would like to know more about Japanese type design. Both on the artistic and technical side. From the complexity of designing a kanji type (do they design 3000 signs ? or are fonts mainly hiragana and katakana ?), to the similarities and differences of type use and design…”

Ok, now I see you are living in Japan! Well, I look forward to reading what you will share with us about that subject.
よろしくお願いします。

Sophie
I am planning a post on that topic; it’s in draft right now, and is tentatively entitled Spare a thought for Japanese type designers. There are Hiragana and Katakana fonts. However, good Japanese-language typefaces have in excess of 10,000 characters.

Thanks for stopping by and contributing, and keep your eyes peeled for that Japanese fonts article.

In the meantime, you might enjoy this interview: Akira Kobayashi: transcending typo boundaries.

dear sir/ madam
i am typographer from india /delhi. i have design aprox 200 nonletin font

regards

Karambir
Do you have a link to those fonts?

John,

Given the great success you’ve already had, you certainly don’t need accolades from me. Nevertheless …

I received a blogging “Excellence” nod from Mark Long of TSTC’s Publishing Blog.

Although these “Excellent Blog” awards are informal, it was still nice for me to get some recognition.They work in a “pay-it-forward” kind of way.

Then it becomes my turn to name ten excellent blogs. For me, that was easy. I mean, the very reason I have a blogroll on my own blog is to gain fast access to blogs that I regard as excellent reading and that I want to keep up with on a regular basis. Naturally, one of the blogs I named was I love typography.

Now, John should you choose to accept the assignment, it’s your turn.

Steve

John,
I have always had an interest in typography but never really had anywhere to turn to in order to get any information that I was extremely interested in. You state that your site does little to elicit the feelings of wow but I think this may be the reason I like it so much.

I don’t have to come here and listen to someone’s life story to read up on some information, it is just straight to the point. Obviously I am not completely heartless because I did go to the about section and read up on you.

Anyway, your site has given me enough information and confidence to start messing around with some amateur typography posters and the like. I will readily admit that I am not that great yet, but your site gives me a starting point and a frame of reference to get started on, and I thank you for that.

dear john

i read your article ‘ariel vs helvetica. i feel that some of the letters you have used to show the difference are wrong. i’m sure the ‘helvetica J’ (red) is not the one which you have shown. please confirm whether it is correct or not. otherwise the article is very helpful.
regards,
ramya.

Thank you for such a great website! I didn’t know that you’re in Japan! I’m from Tokyo, living in Minneapolis. I’m an identity consultant/designer, but do some translation work here and there. I take it you have a lot of Jp-Eng/Eng-Jp help, but maybe I could give you a hand some time.

よろしくお願いします！

Hello everybody, my name is Damion, and I’m glad to join your conmunity,
and wish to assit as far as possible.

Your Blog is my daily read, well when you do write. I must give you thanks for keeping up the task of writing; it shows that you are dedicated. Though I am not a Type Designer, I am fascinated by a person’s penmanship which I believe is a true art.

One thing I try to better whenever I get the chance is my Penmanship, it has evolved through the years and maybe one day I would like to see it as a Font Family. But from reading your posts I noticed that it would be a lengthy task to achieve that. But who knows, I could hire someone.

You live in Japan you say, I dream of living in Japan. I love their Art of Calligraphy as much as I love writing. Do you have samples of Japanese Calligraphy? Well I am glad there is someone out there who loves Typography as much as you. Keep up the good work.

Cheers from Belize.

Hi John.

I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your website and all the effort you put into it. I recently started up a Swedish typography/graphic design blog and I just made a post about yours.

As well, I wanted to ask you if you know of any books you could recommend to an ambitious young graphic design student.

Thank you and keep up the good work.

Regards,
Magnus
Gothenburg, Sweden.

Hi John, great site. I’ve spent the morning sifting through it instead of working. I’m a graphic designer from just over the hills in Ehime, so it was surprising to read you’re in Kagawa.

I’m heading to Design Festa in Tokyo in May, but I was wondering if you know if any other upcoming design events here in Japan?

Cheers,

Chris

Chris
Small world. I don’t know of any upcoming type-related events in Japan. You’ve just missed Christin Schwartz in Tokyo. Feel free to drop me an email any time: jboardley{AT}gmail.com

Keep up the good work! <:3

Quakeulf
Thanks. Great image in your websight’s header. Is it your work?

I would love to see an outline of trends in typography throughout the 20th Century!

Months ago, maybe as far back as Thanksgiving or so, I received a phone call from someone—believe it or not, I was so busy at the time that I did not take care to get the guy’s name—who identified himself as a Paris-based freelance writer preparing an article on trends in typography for PRINT magazine. I don’t remember where he said he became aware of me, but I was one of a number of people he said he was interviewing over the phone.

This writer said it would be months before the article came out. But I keep checking the latest issues of PRINT to see whether the article is in it yet—so far, no dice—and whether I’m quoted at all.

But judging from the impression I retain of this interview—tho’ I cannot recall anything that he specifically asked or that I answered—it may be the kind of article that touches on the current end of typographical trends.

Yes, it’s all my work on my own homepage. I know the site design itself is a bit lacking as of now, but I don’t have much time to make a better design, but I wish!

Thank you for your comment, the same to you! This site is wonderful, I check it every day.

Hi Johno,

Since this site was launch I was very amazed of the content and also the design. I just want to say please keep up the good work. Cheers!

Hi!

johno, I’m leaving a comment to let you know I’ve just sent you an email about translations (same email address as the one I’m using to leave the comment) so that you know what to search (I’m guessing you are getting a lot of email messages)

I love iLT :)

nice work

Did I tell how much I love this site? I guess I didn’t, but I love this site! I check by every day! XD

I probably also look more at typefaces than butts, but my current job is very demanding and also very type-related.

I just read in your newsletter that you are thinking of a new name for Sunday Type. I agree, it is difficult when you have it day specific, life does not always allow things on specific days.

You asked for any suggestions…I thought of a few, how about:

MATTERS OF TYPE
IN TYPE TODAY

maybe not what you had in mind… but maybe they are

Actually.. come to think of it… with your lovely logo and heart icon… as cliche as it might be quirky: I just thought of:

MATTERS OF THE TYPE (matters of the heart; corny?)

(maybe I’m getting carried away)
Lorinda

hello there, I love this site. i am a GD student in San Francisco. I’m taking a typography class right now and we have to do some research for font movements. I’m chose the digital movement in the 80’s. I’m having a little bit of trouble researching. Can anyone help out there???

I am always truly truly amazed at ALL of the content when I visit these pages. Really I have no words….

Have you ever checked out MMR? Print based publication focusing on underground music. The rag is based out of San Francisco. I was thumbing through it today and thought of you. Perhaps you may find some examples of type that interest you within it’s pages? If you have trouble finding a copy I can hand some over to you.

All the best!

just thought you would be interesting in the current free image from iStock:

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=5714488

cheers - sye :)

Hello,

hope you are all well.
We have just put up this website to regroup different ecological movements in France.

http://www.ecoloclic.org/

I was wondering if you would have any suggestions so as to make the typography more compelling, easier to read and esthetically pleasing.

You website is incredibly beautiful and interesting and allows the reader to enjoy reading for a long time, so I thought I’d ask you.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Cheers,

Charlotte

Nice Job John. Your Book is great and will help companies like we have. Great benefit and examples and also gives good ideas. Looking for another version in future

Hello - first of all I want to thank you for your great and very interesting work! I love type and typography and am always happy to receive your mail.

Hi - I started subscribing to your ILT newsletter a few months ago, right before summer started. I was interested in learning more about typography. Around the same time, I also signed up for a typography class this summer at my art school, where we covered the history of type and font development. Simultaneously, I was reading your blog entries on the history of type, and everything you wrote corresponded directly to the what I was learning in my class. I was impressed at how much you knew about it, and took the articles in to share with the teacher/class.

Since subscribing, I love getting the newsletter with all of the neat font samples and images you collect from readers and elsewhere. I find that more and more I see something familiar - a new font, etc. that I have heard of somewhere else. Today’s font, Sloop, for example is very much like Bickham Script Pro, also designed by Richard Lipton, which is one of my favorites, and looks very similar, in fact.

I find I can relate to typography so much more since my class, and also subscribing to your newsletter. Your website is really cool, and it makes typography very accessible, both visually and through your informative articles. You have a great talent for writing about it, too.

It is always a pleasure to read your great posts.

Your blog provides me with some great overview on what’s going on in the typographic world.

Thanks a lot and keep up the good work.

Hi John,

I’d just wanted to say iLoveTypography. Is there a “free-font-sample-section” on this site? I hope you can send some free font samples with your newsletter! Thanks, and please, keep up the good work!

Cheers, BUREAUB

hi john!

i take communication design for my university (in Sydney), and just started to learn about it last year. When my typo teacher introduced me to typography, day after day I started to feel interested with typography. I want to improve my typography and learn more about it.. i keep on looking for a good website about typo..and Tonight.. finallyyy i just found a great website about typography.. i’m thrilled by this website.. thank you soo much for making this website..

btw, that little girl in the photo is sooo cute.. and i didn’t know that there is a book called Type For Kids…. i wish i have that book when i was in kindergarten.. i bet thats a really good book to read.. ^^

japan is a great place to visit… I wanna go there someday.. :)

keep up the great work john.. i support you! ^^

love typography..=)

i just love your site. Its magically put together - so interesting… always find something here that inspires me! thank you.

I love this site. Unfortunately, I just got into typography only recently. I have a lot to learn and I’m happy to have found something like this on the net. This site inspires me more every time. Keep it up!

Please make an application for Facebook!! Either something like “the font game” or maybe a daily “rate a font” or “Font Compatibility Test” like the application called “Movie Compatibility Test”

There is nothing on Facebook for us Typoholics!

Challenge for all you typophiles out there. I’m trying to find a typographic term. Maybe you can help? It’s the swooshy stroke that falls below a word, common in baseball typograms.

See this link for an example:

http://www.teesforall.com/images/Counting_Crows_Baseball_Logo_Blue_Shirt.jpg

In that link, the word “crow” is reversed out of that shape. What is that shape called?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi John,
Just wondering if you ever finished your “Type for Kids” article. I looked, but couldn’t find it. I have to to a 1 hour art program for my son’s 2nd grade class and I thought it would be great to introduce them to the idea of letters as art. I thought about having them each design a letter and then I could make a font for them with SigMaker. The problem is that I’m not a type designer (I’m a book designer), so I’m still trying to figure out what to include in a short discussion. I thought I would show them all kinds of different fonts—talk about what they could be used for and how they make you feel—and then show them how “letter art” is all around them in the classroom. I don’t know if I should include any technical terms. I just want to get them thinking about type in a way they probably haven’t before. I want them to be psyched to make letters! (The resulting font will probably be totally weird and unusable, but they’re kids, they like weird stuff, right?)
Thanks.

I hope I didn’t offend you with my “only weird font nerds…” comment.

I am a self-proclaimed font nerd, at least around people who just don’t understand. My boyfriend especially makes fun of me for hating certain fonts, or falling in love with others. : )

I even have a favorite letter (g) and number (7) that I have to check out in every font before really deciding if I love it or not.

Some see it as a normal obsession - others call me crazy.

I love this site. And your last post about found type… I just adore it.

You make a great job with this site. I’m waiting all the week to see the next mail. Congratulations, and please, never stop with it. =)

En español me expreso mejor, =) Te felicito enormemente por tu trabajo en este sitio. Es un placer recibir cada semana el mail con nuevas imágenes y contenido. Espero que siga creciendo más y más.
Alicia.

Hi John, nice work!
Thanks a lot, and please, keep up the good work!

Regards Raquel

amazing job on the site. im currently taking my first typography class and i have do a magazine re-design. im doing a re-design of print and the article inside is about this site!

…my new favorite site. Good work.

I wish people will learn one of these days that life is in the smallest details, when time freezes and you can realize what is important and what is not. Typography and this blog makes me feel like that. Great job. Thank you

Couldn’t find a mail link so I’m writing you here: give Z-Rox a try http://www.kongregate.com/games/EvilDog/z-rox

It’s a mono-dimensional game about typographical characters.

I am loving your site and will spend hours here. Great work man.

This is one of the most beautiful blogs I have ever seen. Congratulations on such a fabulous job.

Congratulations for your good work, keep it up! I’ve been surfing around and have been enjoying it a lot, tried to register to receive e-news but couldn’t find any link, I would love to know if that’s possible, see you soon!

This site is cool. Heck, I even scored an “11” on the Type Font Game!

Looks like a guy like me could use some serious type font help - and - thanks to your site - I know just where to find it.

Can’t resist a comment, but forgive me as I am an old comp.

Super site but like so many others now you do seem to like writing font instead of fount. As an ex-Brit John you really should know better…

Please keep up the good work you already have an amazing collection of articles and I suspect it will quickly grow.

I love your blog!