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Myriad Pro
Typrography I

Designed by
Myriad Pro
Type design has lost its urgency, and has regained its soul.
 a a
a
a a a a
a
Condensed Regular Semi-bold Bold

Italic
 b Condensed

Bold Condensed
b
b Regular

Semi-bold
b
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 Centered
While making marks on paper,
the internal non-linguistic dialog
between retina and cortex may
go something like this: How thick?
How black? How thin? Thinner?
Thicker!
Blacker! Whiter! Grayer?
Closer? Farther!
Tighter? Tootight!

Bigger!
Smaller!

115/18
 “Where do you begin? How do you get an idea or a Flush Right
concept for a typeface?” My answer is twofold.
Typefaces are not conceptual, they are formal (1).
Second, I tell them to study examples such as Zuzana Lickos’
Mrs. Eaves, which is an excellent example of an historical
revival; Christian Schwartz Los Feliz, which is an excellent
example of vernacular reinterpretation; and Frank Hines
Remedy, which is based on pure formal extrapolation.
First, one should never use the term “concept” in Well, back the f@*k up. I’m
same sentence as the word “typeface.” suggesting that one develops
But as they say, “God (or the Devil, or possibly both) a feel not magically, or
is in the details.” Quite possibly the biggest challenge facing through attendance at the
type designers who are just starting out is that most cannot finest schools, but through
see, nor can they draw rigorous application, and
through working damn hard at
acquiring a set of very concrete
skills, then forgetting them
Manipulative skills, first person,
hand/eye-coordinated, flesh-
Flush Left based skills
 12/16 When an individual sets out
upon the arduous journey
of designing a typeface, I
suggest that the generative
formal impulse can be
located in one of three
areas: historical revival,
vernacular interpretation,
or exclusively formal

When one is giving birth to a font extrapolation.

not spawned directly from an
existing model, what is needed
most is the establishment of a
biological discourse between
looking and drawing — between
retina and cortex.
16/12

the mind must be quieted. The hand and retina must m ve o

8/10
 Students

to be who begin
drawing
typefaces
successful 60/72
must first
learn to
look at
typefaces.
30/36

e in symbiotic lock step as they both trace the physical line.

14/14
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 e Regular

e
Walter Gropius was famous for his
exhortation to his students in Weimar
to “start from zero.” It’s when you Condensed
invent the way a stroke terminates,

e
or when you devise a new armature,
that you can benefit most from
traditional techniques. It’s when you Italics

e
begin with the blank page of purely
formal extrapolation that the old
skool skills are most important. The Semi-Bold

e
geezers passed these methodologies
down in a master/apprentice
environment. Some of the skills, and I
stress some of them, were not simply Bold

about reinforcing a professional caste

system. Some of these skills are worth
re- examining.
Bold Flushed Right
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