Even though we think we have seen everything, Mike was delighted to find out Roger Black is still stirring things up at various graphic design venues including the following exchange about the future of typography in Asian and Middle East cultures:
In the following interview, Roger says that at TypeCon, he expects more friction.
Michael Dooley: TypeCon has lined up presentations about Farsi typography, Indian scripts, and Arabic calligraphy. What are your business concerns about font developments in non-English speaking societies?
Roger Black: Clearly Font Bureau and other Latin-based foundries have an opportunity in Asia. But we don’t have the culture, or even the language skills necessary. The 20th century typesetter companies made big inroads into the East, but I’m not sure that the fonts were ever that good; they were just the only ones available for machine composition.
New tools allow the distribution of design to each culture. Font Bureau can someday distribute the work of Indian or Chinese type designers. In a global, diverse, pluralistic world, we may have to.
Dooley: And what e-publishing type challenges is Font Bureau currently dealing with?
Black: In time for TypeCon, Font Bureau is announcing Webtype.com, which features six screen text families that follow David Berlow’s ideas about the forms needed for maximum readability on the screen. They’re called Reading Edge fonts. Not because they’re hinted for the screen, although of course they are, for those occasions where hints are utilized by the OS. But because of the actual design of the glyphs. Very tall x-heights, very open apertures. And careful spacing that fits the raster at text sizes.David, single-handedly, is putting an end to the concept that fonts on screen follow WYSIWIG positioning. Reading Edge Fonts fit the grid. The difference is obvious on the screen. Suddenly web designers, confined for more than a decade to a choice of Georgia or Verdana, have three times the possibilities.
Dooley: Your ICON panel caused a stir among illustrators, and publication designers are currently raising a ruckus over Ready-Media. Do you anticipate any sort of controversies to occur at TypeCon?
Black: Sure. Type designers are a scrappy lot.
I’ll always remember the tussle in the dust between Ed Benguiat and Jim Parkinson at the ATypI in Barcelona. On one side there are typographers who will never be reconciled to desktop publishing. On the other, there are type designers who are so far ahead technologically that most of us will never catch up.
At the ICON conference, I suggested that this was a great time for illustrators because the explosion of imagery in the digital world has created a craving for handmade art. At TypeCon, I’m suggesting that the flood of web pages has created a desire for commercial branding that web fonts can help address. The direction of le monde typographique is more exciting.
The way we are going, there will soon be the ability for individuals to adopt specific fonts for their e-mail messages. This turns the font business from wholesale to retail. The potential for type designers and typographers is enormous.
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