I’ve been getting more and more interested in typeface design over the past year.  A carpenter needs to know how trees grow and a chef should know something about the origin of the food that ends up on the plate.  In the same way, a designer who works with text and letterforms every day should have a solid understanding of how those letterforms are constructed.

I like the idea of designing a custom typeface that could serve as the unique voice for an organization. There was a time when an author could be identified by the handwriting on the manuscript, but fonts have largely taken on that role. There’s a good chance that I would recognize and associate a font with a brand more quickly than I would recognize the handwriting of a close friend. (I don’t exchange much handwritten correspondence these days.)

Until now I’ve been exploring type design on my own by sketching, researching and trying to build a few different typefaces, but next week I’ll be attending the Crafting Type workshop in Boston with to explore it in a more guided, systematic way.  I’m looking forward to it, and to the new creative directions that will come from this trip.

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