Famous Quotes from Type Designers

[Nick Shinn]

Kylie? I thought it was Towa Tei.

[Nick Shinn]

>As a result, their designs tend to look too much like each other.

That's a bit bizarre, coming from Les. He would go on to reuse the same skeleton a lot, doing different serif treatments, etc. After all, that's a productive, profitable way to work.

But he was right in a sense, in that if his AD clients liked the way Flange set, they would also like a version of it with more substantial serifs, or more contrast.

[vinceconnare]

Kylie sang it. towa tei wrote it.

[vinceconnare]

Kylie sang it so she said it. Towa Tei wrote it

[vinceconnare]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4654077.stm

a quote from a polititian but worth a look it's got ligatures and long s's ....

[andi emery]

Will Burtin, in the Foreword to Ben Rosen's 1963 Type and Typography: The Designer's Type Book, says "Each typeface is a piece of history, like a chip in a mosaic that depicts the development of human communication. Each typeface is also a visual record of the person who created it — his skill as a designer, his philosophy as an artist, his feeling for... the details of each letter and the resulting impressions of an alphabet or a text line."

[tIPODgraphic]

"La gracia en tipografía surge espontáneamente cuando el tipógrafo pone un poco de amor en su trabajo. Quien no ame su trabajo no puede esperar que le guste a los demás."

-- Jan Tschichold

"¿Piensas en letras o las letras te hacen pensar?"

-- odafonts

[Eric_West]

Ok, I'm sure this issue is tired, i just remembered where i found the 'shagging sheep' comment.

http://www.spiekermann.com/iblog/C1109747452/index.html

This is where I got my info. Go fig.

Bonus Question.
Were you really told to “stop stealing sheep,” or is that a watered down version of what was said for letter-spacing all caps?
frederick goudy said that "men who would letterspace lower case would shag sheep', as that was (and is) considered a cardinal sin by typographers. Letterspacing caps, however, is done and should be done generously.

[timd]

Strange that this should appear beneath a suggestion to track out copy set in less than 12pt.
Tim

[Norbert Florendo]

In Erik's book Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works,
he admits to not knowing Goudy's exact wording, but that "it makes infinite sense" regardless of wording.

So let's not take Erik's versions as historically accurate, just rhetorical.

When Mr. Goudy made his statement, he obvioulsy knew it was a faux pas since apologized profusely by saying he says that about everything!

IMHO, the "blackletter" and "steal sheep" version seemed more likely since he was being presented an award (certificate with blackletter?) at a public forum.

Also, IMHO, "shag sheep" seems to be more of Welsh origin, and Goudy was American born and bred, so if he did ever used the term "shag," he more than likely got it from his father who probably told young Frederic to stop shagging sheep ;)

[Joe Pemberton]

In 1998 our class was visiting Jonathan Hoefler's studio. I can't say this is a quote, more of a paraphrase, but it made the right impact at the time! (I'll try not to mess it up...)

Student's Question: "What do you think of experimental typography?"

Jonathan's answer: "People think they can open Helvetica and just f*** with the points and call it experimental. That's not experimental."

[William Berkson]

At Typecon, Mario Feliciano said to me this lovely variation on Walter Tracy's quote:

"You want beautiful words, not beautiful letters."

[ben_archer]

Aha! I knew I had one somewhere... only snag is that it's not actually from a type designer.

"Typography fostered the modern idea of individuality, but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and integration."

Neil Postman, in 'Amusing Ourselves To Death' 1985, as quoted in the introduction to Lewis Blackwell's '20th century type (remix)'

[enne_son]

Tiffany, where is this going? is it still relevant to add things here? do the quotes have to be from practicing type designers? is the 'why' out yet? are you getting what you're looking for?

[Wadim Kahlkopf]

A bit away from this topic (I`m not font designer), but I found my own quote in my designmagazin published online for about 6 years funny.
I must have been drunk as I that wrote:

http://www.kahlkopf.com/files/typographie.gif

Translated from german:

Typografie is the true kickass, believe me. It makes you crazy and compliant again and again. It plays "cat and mouse" game with you.
It, the science for itself, inspires you with its ability to transplantation and transfusion the thoughts. It never leaves you in the pass...

[bieler]

Since there are several traditional ways to create emphasis with blackletter, including letterspacing, second color, substitution of a roman font, and, given the date of the award, 1936, my understanding is that Goudy's comment had to do with the growing anti-German sentiments of the time period.

Gerald

[bieler]

A further note regarding the possibility that Goudy's now infamous quote was at the time a slur on Germany made as a point for engaging his audience; this culled from The Book Collector's Packet of 1939. A boycott on "Nazi-made types" was undertaken in the U.S. by the Graphic Arts Forum, "a group of democratically minded graphic arts and advertising people." The banned typefaces included Bauer Bodoni, Bernhard Modern, Eve, Futura, Kabel, Neuland, Trafton, and Weiss.

Gerald

[Jem]

All typefaces are historical.
Jonathan Hoefler

[Eric_West]

Quoting Leslie Cabarga from his Logo Font and Lettering Bible

"...Matthew Carter's Big Caslon is so scrumptious, I want to lick it. "

pg. 201

[paul d hunt]

and from another Cabarga book, i think this one by Sumner Stone should become a classic:

"My ways are many. All mysterious. I have said too much already."
(Learn FontLab Fast, p. 9)

[eriks]

“Men who would letterspace blackletter would shag sheep” - Frederick Goudy

That is the correct quote. E. Ginger did the research for "Stop Stealing Sheep", and she actually spoke to an old lady who had been to the event and heard Goudy say the "s" word. Patrick Ames, then publisher for Adobe Press, loved the quote, suggested it as the title for the book and changed it, for obvious reasons. The book was intended for typographic novices, and those were obviously not deemed grown-up enough for real four letter words. I always thought the titel way too obscure, but I do have a collection of model and toy sheep (too small to shag), because lots of friends think it very funny to give me sheep as presents.

[eriks]

My favourite quote (for obvious reasons) is by Robin Kinross, in Baseline (I have it somewhere, but cannot be bothered to look for it – too many book shelves):

"Meta is the Helvetica of the 90s."

[eriks]

Robin Kinross, in Baseline

Oops, I meant Blueprint. Perhaps I shouldn’t quote from memory at 2am.

[Si_Daniels]

I updated the wiki to attribute the quote... http://typophile.com/wiki/FF%20Meta

You can click the 'edit' text if you want to fix errors in your posts - a useful feature.

[david h]

From all these experiences the most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together and that type design, in its restraint, should be only felt but not perceived by the reader.

—Adrian Frutiger