I love that we live in an era where we get to experience a secret renaissance in our industry. The type design renaissance. What’s so secret about it? Tell your friends, kids, or even (in many cases) design industry co-workers, about a great new typeface (especially if it is subdued) and see if they get your excitement about it. And yet, it affects their perception of brands, companies, and organizations everyday. They don’t realize that Helvetica has been replaced.
One of my best days ever™ was having a couple of beers with Jonathan Hoefler after the HOW Design Conference in Miami. He may not remember it, but I’ll never forget it.
This is What I wanted to sound like: You know, the bowls in Acropolis Black Italic are a little slim. Do you think you could open them up a shave?
What I actually sounded like: You know that typeface Meta? Isn’t it awesome? That Erik Spiekerman. What a character. He wears glasses you know.
Hero worship got the best of me that day.
Regardless whether anyone outside the industry even notices though, the Typography renaissance is on! Handmade type, cool modern calligraphy, amazing fonts coming out every day with richer and richer character sets, and REAL font libraries available for use on websites. Remember when Gotham came out, becoming the new (or Neue) Helvetica? How about when Sudtipos, Rob Lueschke, et al hit the scene and blew up the market for script faces? When I started it was after the Herb Lubalin era and David Carson was starting to offend and excite us in equal parts. Today there is so much more going on, in a beautiful type of way…
Scott Coventry
Exciting and interesting new faces like Encorpada Black by Eduilson Coan. It feels new but has a strong connection to the past.
Type is being found everywhere as artists discover the beauty of typography in many forms and look to make a statement. And it’s all good for advertisers too.
