Idn Vol 26 No 3 Typeface Design Issue

 In this issue:

Much More Than Mere Words

Perhaps the most romantic way of regarding typefaces is that they embody the unspoken messages in our words. And as such they affect us all, designers and non-designers alike. But a typeface in itself is not typography any more than an alphabet is a word, despite the intrinsic relationship of one to another. Words could not exist without an alphabet while an alphabet needs to form words to have a purpose.

When a type designer sets out to design a typeface, their first consideration should be to set its tone and style, possibly the biggest challenge in the entire field of visual creativity. A type designer needs to imagine all the possible scenarios and media that the typeface they are about to design might be applied to. This involves mixing different sizes and lower- and upper-case letters in the same design project.