The new year has been set in motion. On a Wednesday evening, I found myself anticipating seeing my fellow type nerds at Cooper Union the following night. It was the first type directors club event of the 2012 (TDC Judges Night at the Rose Auditorium, Cooper Union).
One of the most memorable moments was towards the end of the night, when the audience was offered the opportunity to ask questions for the judges panel. Erik Spiekermann compared typography to music:
”We can live without music, but we can not live without typography. ” Indeed, many can argue this statement and become automatically defensive; however, if you look at it from an objective perspective, typography is essentially communication. We need typography in order to communicate, so in that regard music can not give you directions to the airport. If music were to give us directions to the airport, then we would probably have chaos.
Another question posed was something along the lines of monitoring the use of typography. At one point Erik mentioned that he would have loved to be a minister of typography in Germany and outlaw typefaces, but that can't be the case. Just like there is music we don't listen to there is typefaces that we choose to eliminate from out Extensis Suitcase menu (Ahem, Comic Sans).
It is interesting to compare typography to music. Due to the growth spurt of social media use, many individuals are familiar to typography and typeface design. Their curiosity is peaked when they see photos on instagram being hashtagged with: “Typography, Typeface, TypePorn, Lettering, etc. ” and of course even on twitter. We are no longer dealing within the confines of our nerdy type group in the Rose Auditorium of Cooper Union (In retrospect to Nick Sherman's question posed to the panel). It was either Matthew Carter or Roger Black whom had mentioned that they would like to see that type is appreciated finally in the mainstream of things. Due to the movie Helvetica Filmed|Directed by Gary Hustwit, typography is no longer a word to remain puzzled at least for the majority of the world.
Some awesome quotes:
When the panel was asked what their favorite typeface was …
Paul Shaw: “Frutiger. It looks great everywhere … even on screen … ”
Erik Spiekermann: “Frutiger is everything Helvetica wanted to be.”
Spiekermann: “It's like saying Arial is the best typeface for web meanwhile it was being compared to Times New Roman. If you have one pile of crap and another pile of crap then there really isn't much to choose from.”
On designing various weights for a typeface:
Spiekermann: “Do I need Fox news? Of course not.” Maybe you may one day need that Ultra Thin weight … Who really knows?!
“Kerning is overated.”—E. Spiekermann
In closure, I had tried to write down quotes that were most memorable and stood out. I have to agree with Erik, “Everyone nerds out”. (Like those who go to ComiCon for comics or the Arnold for fitness for example.) I really love and enjoy going to these events and laughing at all the bullshit we go through as designers trying to reach perfection in our work. Paul Shaw hit the nail on the head in reponse to nerding out that it is what makes us professionals in our field.
Take note of Pauls Awesome Yellow Sneakers
Images from: Type Directors Club (Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TypeDirectorsClub) Twitter: @typedirectors
Nerding Out On Typography
The new year has been set in motion. On a Wednesday evening, I found myself anticipating seeing my fellow type nerds at Cooper Union the following night. It was the first type directors club event of the 2012 (TDC Judges Night at the Rose Auditorium, Cooper Union).
One of the most memorable moments was towards the end of the night, when the audience was offered the opportunity to ask questions for the judges panel. Erik Spiekermann compared typography to music:
”We can live without music, but we can not live without typography. ” Indeed, many can argue this statement and become automatically defensive; however, if you look at it from an objective perspective, typography is essentially communication. We need typography in order to communicate, so in that regard music can not give you directions to the airport. If music were to give us directions to the airport, then we would probably have chaos.
Another question posed was something along the lines of monitoring the use of typography. At one point Erik mentioned that he would have loved to be a minister of typography in Germany and outlaw typefaces, but that can't be the case. Just like there is music we don't listen to there is typefaces that we choose to eliminate from out Extensis Suitcase menu (Ahem, Comic Sans).
It is interesting to compare typography to music. Due to the growth spurt of social media use, many individuals are familiar to typography and typeface design. Their curiosity is peaked when they see photos on instagram being hashtagged with: “Typography, Typeface, TypePorn, Lettering, etc. ” and of course even on twitter. We are no longer dealing within the confines of our nerdy type group in the Rose Auditorium of Cooper Union (In retrospect to Nick Sherman's question posed to the panel). It was either Matthew Carter or Roger Black whom had mentioned that they would like to see that type is appreciated finally in the mainstream of things. Due to the movie Helvetica Filmed|Directed by Gary Hustwit, typography is no longer a word to remain puzzled at least for the majority of the world.
Some awesome quotes:
When the panel was asked what their favorite typeface was …
Paul Shaw: “Frutiger. It looks great everywhere … even on screen … ”
Erik Spiekermann: “Frutiger is everything Helvetica wanted to be.”
Spiekermann: “It's like saying Arial is the best typeface for web meanwhile it was being compared to Times New Roman. If you have one pile of crap and another pile of crap then there really isn't much to choose from.”
On designing various weights for a typeface:
Spiekermann: “Do I need Fox news? Of course not.” Maybe you may one day need that Ultra Thin weight … Who really knows?!
“Kerning is overated.”—E. Spiekermann
In closure, I had tried to write down quotes that were most memorable and stood out. I have to agree with Erik, “Everyone nerds out”. (Like those who go to ComiCon for comics or the Arnold for fitness for example.) I really love and enjoy going to these events and laughing at all the bullshit we go through as designers trying to reach perfection in our work. Paul Shaw hit the nail on the head in reponse to nerding out that it is what makes us professionals in our field.
Take note of Pauls Awesome Yellow Sneakers
Images from: Type Directors Club (Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TypeDirectorsClub) Twitter: @typedirectors