Typophile - What's your motivation to start designing a new typeface? - Comments

Graffiti... [Eduardo

Hiroshige — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:27:17 -0700

Graffiti...

[Eduardo Recife’s Downcome and Times New Roman]

_________
Hiro

Having a good name you don't

ill sans — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:56:12 -0700

Having a good name you don’t want to let go to waste, but no font to give it to could be a good motivation ;-)

To me, the motivation the

Randy — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:22:19 -0700

To me, the motivation the start and the stumbling block to finish a typeface are one and the same: the micro/macro nature of type design. There’s nothing like exporting your little collection of micro creations and feasting your eyes on a big fat macro paragraph of text for the first time. Exporting for the 1000th time to compare some rediculous detail is no where near as intoxicating as: [cue caveman voice] “I have make font from nothing!”

There’s loads of other reasons, but for me, this was the hook.

Ontological. Many mysteries

Nick Shinn — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:17:45 -0700

Ontological.
Many mysteries rub shoulders in the shape of speech.
I guess that would come under “problem solving”!

We humans are social

William Berkson — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:07:09 -0700

We humans are social animals, and we all desire the positive regard of others. This factor of ’ego’ or pride is an important motivator, and can take positive and negative forms.

The positive form of pride is that the person is aware of his or her gifts, and wants to use them to benefit others, and enjoy the process of doing the work. And they will enjoy the honor that comes from their contribution.

Einstein put it beautifully when he wrote: “The most important motive for work in the school and in life is the pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.”

The negative form of pride is arrogance, when one tries to build one’s self up by not listening to others, tearing them down and dominating them.

Added:

Tom, I think you are confusing criticism of one’s own work and running one’s self down as a person. On the latter many are their own worst enemies, yes, and that is no good.

But on criticism of one’s own work, that it is rarely the case. First of all most people will be totally indifferent to your work, which is the worst criticism. Second, those with greater or even equal experience and expertise will see things you don’t.

I completely agree with Kris on the benefit of an outside editor, particularly when you are starting out. I certainly have followed that principle, and have recommended it to others. And I am delighted to see that with that with that additional input Kris is going ’from strength to strength’ as a type designer.

> It’s not possible to be

ill sans — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:56:04 -0700

> It’s not possible to be an “ideal” self-critic

Maybe... All I know is that I’m the hardest one to please when it comes to my designs, but maybe that’s because I’m just hanging with the wrong crowd? ;-p
I have to admit though that I can never immediately judge my own work. Time is the final judge & if something survives its test (which at least takes more than a few months if not years in my case), I think it’s pretty safe to say you’ve done a good job. Usually I’m displeased with something after a while, but that’s because people evolve. And even in all my malcontent with a certain design, I can still tell if it’s the best I could do at the time.
Even my therapist (yes, I’m a mental case, didn’t you notice? ;-p ) says I should try to be a little less hard on myself. She’s obviously speaking in general terms, but I for one know it applies best to my work. I consider my work as something holy (yes, I am aware of how corny that sounds) & in that view I try my hardest to be a good “believer” & I consider self-flagellation part of that ;-)

You make some good points,

hrant — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:37:35 -0700

You make some good points, but I have to disagree about the “you can take everything into account which is something an outsider can’t do” bit: humans have trouble seeing clearly when it’s something very close to them. It’s not possible to be an “ideal” self-critic; an outsider can’t be an ideal one either... Which is why you need both!

hhp

> Generally true, but not

ill sans — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:25:21 -0700

> Generally true, but not always. Think of Evert Bloemsma.
He was extremely modest, but intent on spreading his ideas,
via both discussion and design - just not as forcefully as some… :-)

Well, to give you another paradox, I strongly believe modesty & pride can go hand in hand. It’s a question of being able to objectively judge yourself which -I know- sounds like a complete contradiction. I can only speak for myself when I say I’m probably my best (or worse, depends on how you interprete it) criticist & I’m sure there are more people out there like me. Being your own judge has the adventage that you can take everything into account which is something an outsider can’t do. You know where you’re coming from, where you wanted to go (and your limits as to how far you can go at a certain point) & where you ended up & how you got there. So even a modest person can be openly proud when he has achieved something in his own best potential. This obviously often gets confused with arrogance, but for that I refer to a previous post of mine in this thread ;-)

Because I believe in

Cesar Puertas — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:54:44 -0700

Because I believe in self-teaching. There’s nothing like learning to make a typeface by actually making a new typeface! Another reason could be the feeling of self-challenge. At least in my country (Colombia) people feel very scared about designing and drawing type. It’s like the calculus of graphic design. I’ve always loved challenges and the feeling of doing something difficult is —for me—, very motivating.

César Puertas
diseñador (tipo)gráfico

Now, the motivations behind

Ricardo Cordoba — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:48:28 -0700

Now, the motivations behind finishing a face: that’s what I want to understand.

:-D Nice, Christian!

> who here doesn’t like to

hrant — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:42:39 -0700

> who here doesn’t like to see their own letters on screen when typing?

This is actually a very interesting paradox, and one that some desginers never experience; some of them have even reacted a bit violently when I’ve suggested it myself: when you use a font, in a way you’re violating it. Not because of some virginity envy, but because a font is really an abstract thing that’s qualitatively greater than any instance of its usage.

On the other hand, even though I do occasionally feel the above, I do also generally feel very good when I hit some keystrokes in a new font! And that’s in fact the norm with type designers as far as I can tell.

> The modest don’t broadcast their ideas & designs.

Generally true, but not always. Think of Evert Bloemsma.
He was extremely modest, but intent on spreading his ideas,
via both discussion and design - just not as forcefully as some... :-)

hhp

I guess I just like drawing

Quincunx — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:33:51 -0700

I guess I just like drawing letters. I enjoy doing it, and I always have. Doesn’t matter if it’s built-up letters like in custom lettering, a typeface, just plain writing something by hand or even something close to calligraphy.

Since I never finished any of my attempts to design a typeface, I don’t do it to get famous or that I want other people to use my fonts. Maybe in the future, when I have gained more experience in designing type, I might. But it’s not my main motivation; it’s more the drawing and next to that the digitizing of letters I like the most.

> Now, the motivations

ill sans — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:48:01 -0700

> Now, the motivations behind finishing a face: that’s what I want to understand.

Me too... Without the help I -as well as 90% of the type designers out there apparantly- should get, I usually can’t be bothered after having drawn it. The whole kerning part is so dreadful to me that I just can’t get past the drawing point. But -as always- the most effective solutions are also the most simple ones. My solution to my problem: limiting myself to monospaced & connected script typefaces.

As for vanity: who here doesn’t like to see their own letters on screen when typing?

Last but not least: arrogance: it’s just an extent of vanity.
None of us who would be here sharing our ideas if we weren’t. The modest don’t broadcast their ideas & designs.

Ha ha, “cuz i wanted

Alessandro Segalini — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:11:52 -0700

Ha ha, “cuz i wanted something” is great.

When I was in design school,

Christian Robertson — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:37:52 -0700

When I was in design school, I noticed that designers took great pride in memorizing the names of types and type designers. I thought, what better way to become a famous designer than to design type!

As for motivation to design a new face — a new idea is enough for me. You can’t think about type too much without coming up with new ideas. When you have a new idea, you can’t help but draw it.

Now, the motivations behind finishing a face: that’s what I want to understand.

What's your motivation to start designing a new typeface?

Bald Condensed — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:20:28 -0700

I’ve started a series of articles on Unzipped about type design. These are intended to be an introduction, to explain to novices what type design is. In the first episode, I dwell a little on the motivation of designers to start on a new typeface.

Peter Bilak reacted in an e-mail, and this comment had me particularly intrigued:

“(...) to explore other motivations for designing type. I am sure there is more than craft/technology versus art. (...) I am wondering myself what are the motivations to create type, besides the two obvious ones: problem solving, and urge to express oneself artistically. I used peculiarities of language as inspiration for making Eureka and Greta. A new Typotheque project embraces entire typographic history as a single source of inspiration, so the result is poly-historical. But again, these are personal stands, and I am wondering what else can serve as inspiration; these are the issues I discuss with my students when they are starting their type projects.”

So I thought it would be interesting to post his question here and listen what other motivations might be a reason to start on a new type design.