I hope that my American readers had (or are having) a wonderful Thanksgiving. The winner of the Ugmonk t-shirt give-away is at the end of this post, in addition to a special offer for iLT readers. Lots of type goodness today, so let’s get started with …

some lovely letterpress, and a pretty web site. Wilkintie:

Birthday cakes with a typographic twist, from Suck UK:

Via deathbykerning.

Art of Music from Museum Studio:

Thanks, Blake.

A great screen-printed calendar. Unfortunately it’s sold out. However, perhaps if they receive enough requests, they’ll consider another print run:

Thanks for the heads up from inspirationbit on twitter.

Posters from Jean Widmer, via Aisle One:

Kyle Bean:

Thanks, Lauren.

Another fantastic illustration from Kevin Cornell for A List Apart:

The End, a collection of film end titles:

Some humour from Hamish:

Also available in 1920 × 1200 and 1024 × 640 for your desktop.

From TypeSites, a review of the beautiful Good:

Some great type and lettering photos from Depression Press:

Nice work from Studio Punkat:

But sadly one of the most annoyingly frustrating web sites you are ever likely to visit. Fortunately, there’s a Studio Punkat Flickr page.

A great little (out of copyright) book found on archive.org:

You can literally flip through the book on issuu.

Nice cover from Danny Goldberg:

Again, nice work, but when will designers start creating accessible sites‽ Sorry, Danny.

New fonts

New styles of Whitman & Whitman Display:

Several new types from Sudtipos:
First is Angelus

Lynda

and Paz:

A good collection (aggregation) of type-related RSS feeds from Alltop:

Type links

Helvetica and the New York City Subway
Quantum of Solace location cards [via]
“T” towel
Behind the Obama logo
sIFR revision 436 (download)
Paris Métro Style
Letter Love-Silk Batik Scarf
Font Meta Karaoke
Font of the year

An interesting experimental type from Manolo Guerrero. Optica normal:

Manolo’s site is written in Spanish, but here’s a link to an English version (via Google translate)

Ugmonk t-shirt winner

Thanks to all who took part. I will pass on your recommendations to Jeff at Ugmonk. So, the winner is Alain Boisvert who wrote that he’d like to see an ë emblazoned across an Ugmonk t-shirt. Alain, I’ll pass on your mail address to Jeff, so you should be hearing something soon.

And here’s one of the latest offerings from Ugmonk:

For iLT readers there’s a special deal: 12% discount for any Ugmonk t-shirt; just enter the code ILTGIVE at checkout. This code is good from Wednesday, November 26 through Wednesday, December 10. Happy shopping.

I’m hoping that I can spend more time on iLT in December. I have many articles to finish writing, including Part 5 of the Type History series, The coming of the sans; the lengthy Why type matters; and a list of 100 of my favourite typefaces; and lots, lots more.

And finally …

I wonder whether anyone can name the typeface used for this article’s masthead? Vague hint: it hasn’t been released yet.

Those posters from Joseph Mueller (including casanova) will arrive any day now, so I’ll be giving some of those away to previous commeters. I had something of a Spring Clean (in November), and found a number of posters that I just don’t have the wall space for. I’d love to hang on to them, but I’d rather they grace your walls, than sit in their tubes indefinitely. The first one I’m — reluctantly — giving away is Coudal’s Field Notes screen-printed poster (18″ × 24″):

Who wants it? Quick, before I change my mind :)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s the week in Type. Have a fantastic weekend!

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Just discovered this wonderful little gem from a post on TYPO-L (ATypI). It’s from a series of films produced by Holmes (Burton) Films, Inc. Enjoy!

Thus press work is particularly fitted for young men who like to work with machines…. Work conditions are generally satisfactory, as are housing, hygiene, and hours.

Fancy a change of career?

Via archive.org

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Just a quick one: not sure how I missed this the first time around, but the entire FontFont catalogue can be viewed online over at issuu. You can flip through the 2009 catalogue, zoom in for higher resolution, and even download it (though you’ll need to sign up).

In addition to that, this page, has a list of every single FontFont PDF specimen — brilliant! There are still some foundries that do not offer PDF specimens. I’d never, ever purchase a typeface without first seeing it — un-metaphorically — on paper.

And a pretty cool little movie for FF Trixie:

And then there’s the Trixie microsite:

Trixie isn’t new, but it’s now available in all its OpenType glory. And, if you’re not all trixied out by now, there’s a desktop wallpaper. Enjoy!

Thanks to Christoph Koeberlin for the masthead, which is set in Trixie HD OT Light.

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First, thanks to everyone who took part in the My favourite letters competition. Some great entries, and two great prizes for the winners. See the end of the post to discover who the lucky ones are. If you didn’t win, then rest assured there will be many more give-aways and prizes in future, so stay tuned.

Let’s start with something different, a typography-inspired WordPress theme from hellyeahdude:

And it’s free. And while we’re on WordPress, I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about the WP-hyphenate plugin. I haven’t yet had a chance to test it, but will do. Hyphenation—depending on the measure (line length)—isn’t always the solution to ugly rags, but I’d like to hear what you think of it. You can download the WP-hyphenate plugin from King-Desk.

Like this work from ramp creative for CWS Capital Partners. Bringing the sex back into annual reports (was it ever there?):

This is something I’ve been meaning to do for ages—collect all the posters I’ve featured on iLT, and archive & index them. Behance has already done it, and very nicely too, with Typography served:

Some interesting type on these—of all things—poison labels:

Via.

A great little interview with František Štorm on Ralf Herrmann’s OpenType blog:

Who can name the typefaces in the illustration above?

A lovely collection of postage stamps designed by type designers:

Via Zeldman.

A great letterpress Flickr set from The arm:

They’re in NYC, so if you’re close by, why not drop in. Map here.

Really like the look of this display face, Akimoto:

Its designer, Ossi Gustafsson, tells me its release is imminent. Will let you know here.

I think I want one of these t-shirts from ugmonk:

In fact, thanks to Jeff Sheldon, the guy behind ugmonk, we have one t-shirt of your choice to give away. Just tell me which letter you’d like to see make an appearance on an ugmonk t-shirt. Rather than clutter up the comments, please send your idea to jboardley{å†)gmail(dot)com. Please put ugmonk in the subject line. I’ll announce a winner on next week’s twiT.

This wonderful design for a commenorative 5-Euro coin. Designed by Stani Michiels:

Thanks to proud Dutchman, Albert Visser for the heads up.

To see the reverse side, and for more information see Unzipped.

The Dutch government has just introduced new corporate typeface familes, Rijksoverheid Serif and Rijksoverheid Sans:

Read more about it over at Sander Baumann’s designworkplan.

An interview with Austrian artist BUSK on LetterCult:

Give-away idea

I have an idea: each month I’d like to select someone at random from those who subscribe to iLT, and give something back. The lucky winner each month will receive an Amazon voucher, a book, a font, a t-shirt, a poster, or something else. So, I’m looking for someone who can write a WordPress plugin that will add, say, a random number to the RSS feed. Each month, I select one number, and the winner gets the stash. How can I make this work. Ideas, please.

Type links

Real type on the web
2 Colors Design
New type: Late November from P22
Re-branding Polaroid
Irish Typewriter Keyboards
Font sightings—the next generation
Web fonts: the death of type foundries?

New fonts

Soft Serve from Haley Fiege and James Arboghast of Sentinel Type:

FF Mister K looks absolutely fantastic:

There’s quite a lot to be said about this great new Kafka-handwriting-inspired type, but rather than repeat it all here, simply head on over to the FontFeed for more about the incredible new type from Julia Sysmäläinen.

There’s a new addition to the Mrs Eaves family, in the form of Mrs Eaves bold italic:

A beautiful cover idea from Pentagram. Designed by Angus Hyland and Fabian Herrmann:

Love the manila bellyband! Via Ace Jet 170.

Some more yellow and black in the form of this poster from Vgrafiks Design for Amnesty International:

Events

Really wish I could have dropped in on the Letters & Ligatures exhibition held by House Industries. For coverage see nerdski’s blog.

Robert has also uploaded a bucket-full of photos from the exhibition, including several of a 6ft ampersand!

And yet more info and pic’s at House Industries. Wish they’d go on the road with this.

I featured Paul Grabowski’s stunning poster for the 54th Type Directors Show. Heather Mcleay has done something similar with Times New Roman:

iLT was featured in Creative Arts design annual #49:

I don’t have my copy yet, so thanks to Lauren for sending me a few pic’s. More on creativecurio.

And the winners are…

Some great submissions for the My favourite letters competition. Stephen Coles of FontShop chose the winner of the FontBook: Hamish’s w from Museo:

It’s one of my favourites too. Stephen had this to say about Hamish’s entry,

Love the way it plays on the trademark feature of Museo: its pipe-curve serifs.

The second winner, who gets a copy of Made with FontFont, is Anne-Sophie Fradier (mitternachts on Flickr) with the letter R from Duc de Berry:

Congratulations to Hamish and Anne-Sophie, and a huge thank you again to Stephen and FontShop for these wonderful prizes. Be sure to subscribe to FontShop’s very cool FontFeed.

Space doesn’t permit listing all the others worthy of honourable mention, but here are two:

You’ve got to love Buffet Script!
The My favourite letters pool is still open, so feel free to continue submitting your favourite letters.

I’m only about a third of the way through my list of things to post here, but it’s getting late. If I have time mid-week, then I’ll post more then. Hope you enjoyed the week in type. Have a great week!

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Last week I featured Seb’s Mightier poster, one of which I purchased. The print quality really is quite exceptional. I don’t even have mine framed, yet I’m itching to buy another. Here are the latest from Seb Lester:

The beautifully ironic Keep it simple:

Some very Sexy type:

And last, but not least, Indelicate:

Not sure which one I’ll buy next. Do you have a favourite?

This is not a poster, but one of Seb Lester’s experiments in 3D type. I like it:

Other news

For more print loveliness, be sure to check out FontShop’s latest edition of the FontBooklet:

Oh, and did I mention, it’s free. See the FontFeed for details.

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Welcome to The week in type*, the new name for Sunday Type. I know many of you have gotten used to the name, but for those new to the site, the former nomenclature could be a tad confusing. Thanks to the more than 100 of you who commented on the previous post, and for your votes on the Wordpress showcase. Makes me all the more determined to really step things up. The book winners are at the end of this post. Let’s begin with some love,

from Joseph Mueller. I may have one of these to give away. Anyone interested?

New fonts

Neil Summerour has been pretty busy with the recent release of his latest sans, Akagi:

Available in twenty weights. It’s also Neil’s birthday today, though his age is a closely guarded secret.

And a lovely custom sans typeface from Kris Sowersby for the Bank of New Zealand. Serrano:

You might also be interested in this lengthy Serrano Typophile thread.

Though you’ll have to wait until October 2013 to license it for yourself.

Free fonts

A few weeks ago I mentioned SMeltery’s free font Geronto Bis. Well, Jack Usine (aka Jules the Vernacular) has updated his 2004 release Megalopolis. Now in OpenType, and with exteneded language support, download the freeware font Megalopolis Extra:

As always, remember to read the license before downloading. Also used to set today’s masthead.
Via Le typographe.

We’ve had Helvetica the documentary; now, from kartemquin films we have TypeFace, the movie:

For info about screenings see the Kartemquin web site. Thanks to Peter van Impelen for the link.

Lots of inspiration to be found in this type sketchbook Flickr pool:

For those of you who like type with an added dimension—the third—you might enjoy this list:

A brief, though excellent little article, Making geometric type work:

Attempting to apply exactly the same set of rules to each letter is similar to handing out the same size clothes to a random selection of adults. Some will have excess baggy sleeves, others will be skin tight, and some will barely squeeze over their heads.

Via Dan Reynolds’ typeoff.

A collection of ornamental type & lettering:

Lots more on the BiblioOdyssey web site. Thanks Jeffrey.

Those who read Portuguese might like Anatomia tipográfica:

And don’t forget there are already six iLT articles in Portuguese too.

Posters

I may have some Jawa and Midwich to give away, so keep your eyes peeled.

A type a day, for 365 days, from this calendar:

See typografie.de (German only) for more information.

For fans of type and Hitchcock, here’s a new t-shirt from Pampling:

Thanks, Yuki.

The rather clever Decode clock from Arthur Yung and Clement Cheung:

Thanks, Anton.

Print

Some good news about Slanted:

I loved the magazine, but hated the printing. Well, now Slanted is printed in offset, to match the quality of its content. Issue 6 is now out. In future, Slanted will be published quarterly. There’s more information about subscriptions here.

Please, Slanted, have an optional English-language order/subscriptions page! Anyway, Slanted is great. Buy it!

Letterpress

Typoretum has just launched its letterpress Christmas cards:

Clever little star thing from the letter overlaps. Hurry while stocks last:

Roundup links

Display Type & the Raster Wars—Jon Tan
Typography Kicks Ass
WDE2009 dream speakers
Type Battle 28—Defiant alphabet
Whose Garamond is it anyway?
Android supports the @font-face
Hermann Zapf turns 90 today
Type trends—Sean Ashcroft
Discount on Spanish Bringhurst
Typography as the only design element
Pop!Tech poster from Bantjes
TypeLadies.org
Obama big news in the NY Times
Image caption design—Smashing Magazine

An interesting piece from John D. Berry who suggests a new position in Obama’s government, Minister of Typography.
It brought to mind (though not completely related—that’s just how my mind works, I guess) Robert Kinross’ words in Unjusttifid texts,

Could tyography be a topic of regular and intelligent discussion in newspapers. If music, architecture, cookery and gardening have critics and columnists, then why not typography? **

Apologies for the hurried (dreadful) PhotoShop job. Send me a better one, if you can. Who would you vote for?

And the winners are …

In the previous post I offered two giveaways. The winners, chosen at random are Carolyn, who gets a copy of Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style, and Torbjørn Vik Lunde who’ll get a copy of James Felici’s The Complete Manual of Typography. Thanks to everyone who left comments on the post. Wonderful to read your kind words. I’ll do my best to offer many more prizes and give-aways in future. In fact, I have some posters on the way. As soon as they arrive, I’ll be itching to give them away to iLT readers.

And finally …

Don’t forget the My favourite letters competition. You have until November 13. Two winners receive a copy of the type compendium FontBook, and Made with FontFont, courtesy of FontShop.

I’m really very, very far behind on replying to emails. If you have emailed me, then don’t take my silence as a snub/unrequited love. I’ll do my best to respond to everyone, but sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Hope you enjoyed today’s post. I have another interview coming up, a post of some of my favourite typefaces, and an in-depth look at diacritics, plus lots, lots more.

Have a magnificent week.

* Thanks to Stephen who suggested “the week in type”.

** Unjustified texts—perspectives on typography, p.358, making reference to Erik Spiekermann’s Rhyme & reason (sadly out of print).

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Good luck to US voters. You might also want to vote for iLT:

Oh, and as I’m in a particularly good mood, and I’d like to say thank you for your support of iLT, there’s a copy of Felici’s The Complete Manual of Typography, and a copy of Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style up for grabs.* Just tell me—well everyone—why you would vote for iLT. I’ll pick the winner from the comments before the next post.

See you all for the next post, and some more inspiring type.

* Two winners; one book per winner. If you already have the book, then choose another of approx equal value.

Thanks to Douglas for nominating iLT.
See also the FontFeed’s gentle reminder.

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As a way of reducing the length of Sunday Type, I’ve decided to move the general links—bits and pieces—to a separate page. I don’t think I’ll show these posts on the home page, but by slicing Sunday Type in two (from time to time), I hope that it will be a little easier to digest. I’m also looking at ways to better tag the content within Sunday Type; so that, for example, if you just want to see typographic posters, then a little WP wizardry will dig out and display only poster-related content from all the Sunday Type posts, and serve them up as a single custom post. Not sure that that will make any sense. Anyway, here we go (competition details at the end!):

These are the links for Sunday Type: tomate type:

Notes on the Frankfurt book fair—the FontFeed:


Join H&FJ on FaceBook:

typographer.org on CrapFont [ed. typo!] FlipFont

Type Camp Galiano 2008 photos

Tokyo Design Week (Oct 30–Nov 3)

Handmade Font

Emigre free book offer (via)

Alternatives to your favourite sans serifs

A map of ‘Pompey’

Erik Nitsche Flickr

More type cushions:

Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase

Carolyn Fraser’s letterpress workshop

Tugboat press [blog | etsy | flickr]

Alphabet travelling exhibition (via)

Type sketches from Paul D. Hunt [blog | flickr | typophile]

Green Chair press

The competition

Thanks to the generosity of the folk at FontShop I have two wonderful competition prizes. But before I tell you about them, here’s what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning them:

Simply submit your favourite letter(s) to the My Favourite Letters Flickr pool. Multiple submissions welcomed. Existing entries will be included.

The first-place winning entry will receive a copy of the FontBook; the second-place winning entry gets a copy of Made with FontFont. They’re both fantastic books that will make you happier, more successful, and the envy of all your friends, work colleagues, and perhaps even your neighbours.

The first-place winning entry will also be screen-printed by my own hands in a limted edition of 50 signed by me (that adds about three cents to the value).

I’ll choose and announce the winners (or perhaps ask Stephen Coles of FontShop / FontFeed / Typographica / Typophile to choose one) on November 13. If I can get more prizes, then I’ll make this a regular feature. Visit the My Favourite Letters pool on Flickr to get started.

Related:
FontBook—the movie
FontBook at FontShop with some PDF sample pages
Made with FontFont on FontShop—also with PDF sample pages
Sunday Type: tomate type

Thanks also to Vivien over at inspirationbit for the competition theme idea.

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If you missed the interview with Ludwig Übele, then be sure to check it out. For excerpts of all the interviews on iLT, then simply click right … here. Until I can wrap my work schedule around iLT, then Sunday Type will still be published once weekly, but that could be any day. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I actually posted Sunday Type on a Sunday. Well, that’s quite enough preamble; on with the show.

First up is something new from one of my favourite young designers, Gemma O’Brien:

Quote of the week

Short explanation: Because wearing no underwear is preferable to wearing it on the outside, over the trousers.

And that in an article on the current state of diacritics in Romanian.

New type, fresh fonts

Lots of new releases this week, but my pick is Tomate, a gorgeously voluptuous brush script from ReType in the Netherlands.

Designed by Ramiro Espinoza; aimed at packaging. I’d start eating breakfast cereal if it came adorned with Tomate. Also used for today’s masthead, of course.

Web Fonts

Don’t quite understand what’s going on with web fonts and font-face, and wondering what WEFT and EOT is. Then read for and against standardizing font embedding.

via Jon Tan.

Another type in motion video:
Click here to view the embedded video.
Thanks, Miguel.

2009 is fast approaching (can’t believe it), and the FieldNotes calendars are now in stock. They’re much sought-after, so hurry while stocks last

Fraktur mon Amour

I mentioned the first edition of Fraktur Mon Amour by Judith Schalansky a little while back. Owing to demand, Princeton Architectural Press (a publisher of some mighty fine titles), has produced an expanded second edition. I received mine in the post this morning. I’ve never been a huge fan of Fraktur / Blackletter, but after a few minutes swimming through the delights of this gorgeous book, you might say I’m a new convert.

Something that occurred to me while flipping through its pages was the potential for these types to be used in design—not necessarily as text—but as ornamentation, for patterns. So taking the cap R from Manfred Klein’s Ornamental Initials (page 434–5), duplicating and rotating, we can easily create some rather lovely patterns. Mine was assembled in something of a hurry, but I’m sure you get the idea—and see the potential:

Fraktur Mon Amour comes with a CD of 137 fonts. This is definitely my book recommendation of the month.

Some incredible light-type images from Julien Breton. Beautifully controlled:

In addition to work on his web site Kaalam, Julien has a wonderful Flickr set.
Thanks to David Březina for the link.

The my favouroite Letters flickr pool now has more than 200 members, and over one-hundred submissions. Be sure to share your favourite letters. Perhaps there’s a smart coder out there who could turn these submissions into words? This is sitting on my desktop right now:

Designed by Hamish (same guy who created the WordPress typogrify plugin). You can download and use as your desktop wallpaper!

And while on the subject of Jos Buivenga’s Museo, here’s a moving type that makes good use of Museo’s bendy serifs:

Remember that three weights of Museo are free.

We hear a lot about Penguin book covers, but Faber & Faber has some wonderful covers too:

Check out the Faber Flickr page.

Like this poster from Béla Frank, aka Fabergraph, the minimalist:

Type Republic has launched a gorgeous new web site to compliment their fine types:

And get ready for the titling version of Carmen, Carmen Fiesta—coming soon!

Looking for a fresh new Baskerville? look no further than StormType’s Baskerville 10 Pro:

More posters

There have been some great Obama posters. Here are a couple of my favourites:

and from Jonathan Hoefler:

You can read more on the FontFeed’s Artists for Obama.

Win a book!

FontShop has generously donated not only a copy of Made with FontFont, but a copy of the type book, FontBook.

I’m not one to exaggerate, but you could well think of your life in terms of BFB (Before FontBook) and AFB (After FontBook). Once you get your sticky mitts on a copy, you won’t want to let go. I even have friends, with zero interest in type, who still spend ages leafing through it, the silence punctuated with the likes of “ooh, I like that one!”. I’ll stop rambling now, but you can read my review of Made with FontFont for more on that title.

I will post the competition details in the next post (the links one; explanation below). So, I need creative competition ideas. I was thinking of a poster of some kind (need a theme), that could later be screen-printed. Ideas in the comments below, please.

When I feel that Sunday Type is a little too big to publish as a single article, I’ll be splitting it in two. The Sunday Links part will have its own page. I’ll publish that one tomorrow (it will appear in your feed reader, but not on the home page). Let me know what you think of this idea.

Have a great week (what’s left of it).

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After studying graphic design in Germany and Finland, Ludwig Übele worked for a number of years in the industry until he decided to concentrate on type design, and set off for the Netherlands. Since graduating from KABK’s TypeMedia course in 2007, Ludwig works freelance as a professional type designer—designing type for both text and display—and works on brand development.

What did you do before The Hague? What’s your background?

Originally I studied graphic design in Germany. Already my main focus was on type related courses. I had very good teachers in typography and calligraphy, who inspired me to go further with type. After I graduated from graphic design, I worked for several years in that field. It was a good experience, but in the long run not really satisfying. Whenever I had a job which was related to type design I was much more enthusiastic. This was the time when I decided to do the Type and Media course in The Hague, to find out if I could concentrate on the design of typefaces. 

Why and how did you get started in type design?

I did my first type designs while studying graphic design. But I owe my introduction to type design to Hubert Jocham, who is an excellent type designer and friend of mine since I was fourteen. We are from the same hometown and I often visited him in his studio where he would always show me his new type designs. I think I was fascinated that someone actually makes something as basic as type. An instrument which everybody uses every day and yet nobody recognizes. And it’s that that still fascinates me. Type is a highly fundamental element of our culture. I find it extremely interesting to design a typeface that creates its very own impression or pattern on text.

Augustin is one of my earliest typefaces. The letterforms are based on classic proportions. I looked a lot at early types of the Italian Renaissance.

You’ve already designed several typefaces. Can you describe the process? Do you start from a specific letter? And how long does it take to create a typeface?

I try to start with a general idea, such as a certain ductus of the stroke or a certain kind of construction. Very often I just sketch all over the place, and when I see an interesting element, I try to apply it to the whole alphabet to figure out if it is strong enough to serve as a general theme. I don’t have a specific letter I start with. It’s not very useful to start with a single letter. It’s better to start immediately with a whole word. It gives you more freedom and prevents you from working too detailed too early on.

How long it takes depends very much on the kind of typeface you are working on. A headline font can be done in a single weekend; a text face with several weights and styles can take a whole year. 

What do you like most and least about designing type? How do you usually start designing a typeface?

The nicest part is to start: sketching randomly, finding an idea and a general construction or characteristic; drawing the first letters and making the first words. As I said before I don’t have a specific letter which I usually start with, but there are some key glyphs which show the basic forms: n, b, o, v for instance for lowercase, A, H, O for uppercase.

I try in the begining not to concentrate too much on single letters but work on the whole alphabet and balance the single letters in relation to each other. That way I can set text very early on, and see how the typeface looks in small printed text—that’s usually very different from what you see on screen. Once the basic letters are done, then the real work starts. Never-ending corrections on details, and expanding the character set. This can be painful when the family is extensive and contains endless number of characters and styles. It is very tempting to add lots of characters and features to the first font, but exhausting to implement it through the rest of the family. 

Your typeface Marat has received the Certificate of Excellence in Type Design. How was it started and what inspired you?

I started Marat at my Type and Media postgraduate course at the KABK in The Hague 2006/2007. My concept was very simple. I wanted to design a nice and useable typeface. Not necessarily for books but for magazines, brochures or for corporate use. In contrast to books, magazines have more varied content (from straight, linear text to very fragmented information), with different weights, styles and sizes all appearing on the same page. Marat should meet these (conflicting) requirements: open and legible for small text, compact for tight headlines and narrow columns. Another inspiration was an experiment with Erik van Blokland’s Superpolator. I moved a so-called ink trap gradually from left to right and from top to bottom.

I based the construction of Marat on one of the interpolation results.

Do you visit type-related sites and communities like Typophile.com? If so, do you find them useful? Do you communicate with people in the industry?

Yes, there are some type blogs which I visit regularly. And I find it absolutely helpful in keeping me up-to-date, and for finding solutions to specific technical or linguistic problems, or for historical research. Work in progress I usually discuss with type-designer friends.

Who is your favorite contemporary type designer and typeface?

I don’t have one favorite, neither a designer nor a typeface. But there are some which I admire. Matthew Carter for instance or Gerard Unger. Bram de Does’ Trinité and Lexicon are two of the nicest typefaces ever made. I like the work of Roger Excoffon (although he is not contemporary). František Štorm does amazing stuff. I also like the types of Alejandro Lo Celso (Pampatype). The sans serifs of Georg Salden* are excellent (Polo, Planet, Axiom).

Is it possible to become a professional type designer without a KABK or Reading background?

Many people who are now professional type designers didn’t study at KABK or Reading and many who studied there don’t do type design anymore. But since designing typefaces is a very complex undertaking, it is of course a great chance to spend time exclusively and very intensely on this subject and meet and discuss with many of the best type designers around. I only can recommend these type courses. For me it was essential in making the move to professional type design.

What are your favorite books on type design?

Honestly, I’ve hardly ever seen good books on type design. Most books teach the basics, but remain on the surface and don’t have their own view on type design. I like Gerard Unger’s “While You’re Reading”. Also Walter Kaech’s “Rhythm and proportion in lettering” (Rhythmus und Proportion in der Schrift) seems very interesting, but I couldn’t get hold of my own copy yet. Gerrit Noordzij’s writings are also compelling. There are some excellent books on existing typefaces. In particular I like the collection of Max Caflisch’s articles from the Swiss magazine Typographische Mitteilungen (“Schriftanalysen”). 

What plans do you have? Are you working on a new typeface?

From the very beginning of its development, Marat was planed as serif and sans serif. Actually it started out as a as sans serif. So I’m woking on Marat Sans. I have just finished expanding and updating Walhalla, an Uncial face I created some years ago. And then I have some ideas and sketches for new faces. We’ll see where it goes …

Notes

Ludwig’s typefaces can be found here; and the letter a from Marat can be found on my front door.
* An interview with Georg Salden on Type Radio.

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