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| ''There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kinds of fools'' (Eric Gill, An Essay on Typography, 1936 ed. 1988) Why do you think, the need and search for new typefaces will probably never stop? |
| RVDL: I understand the impulse to make a comment like that one by Gill. When you've had your fun and success with creating new work, as Gill has, and you were part of an exciting time within design, it becomes somewhat difficult to imagine anything worthwhile can be created after you. But the people that come after you have the same urges to design, the same needs to create their own icons. It happens in all art forms. In music, for instance, every generation creates its own version of the Beatles. It repeats itself endlessly. And like writing a great song, the process of designing a new typeface is a terrific experience. It's the perfect design ''problem'' to undertake. It has both tremendous restrictions, the skeleton of the roman alphabet, and unlimited interpretive possibilities. And it's something you can do entirely for yourself. |
| ''Type design, is only a craft, is merely a trade, whose tradition has to be deeply tracked, because it has to be faithfully betrayed.'' (Sergio Polano and Pierpaolo Vetta, Emigre 26, p.36) How do you think experimenting in type design will proceed? |
| RVDL: It seems to me that the most fruitful periods in type experimentation happen when technologies change. It seems that new technology is always driving experimentation. |
| What do you think about the works of the artists, whose work is empowered by typography, like Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Krüger... ? |
RVDL: Personally it has never affected me in any profound way other than to think why graphic designers weren't given the same attention and cultural acclaim, as many designers have produced personal works of similar if not greater refinement, poignancy and cultural significance.
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| Could you explain the impact of typefaces designed by Zuzana Licko on your page-layouts? |
| RVDL: To be able to use typefaces that have not been used before infuses your work with a certain level of uniqueness. But it also creates a problem, because there are no examples of how a new typeface ''behaves'' on the page. That's one function of Emigre magazine; it allows us a forum to road test our new typefaces. |
| What is your selection criteria for the ''Emigre Fonts'' regarding their quality? To which extent do you consider their marketability? |
| RVDL: I can not describe the selection criteria simply because it seems to change every time we see a font that appeals to us. I often hear people talk about the ''Emigre Style,'' but I've never heard anybody explain what exactly that is. When selecting fonts for commercial release, originality is important, of course, but originality manifests itself in so many different ways, and is a highly subjective term. Regarding marketability, since we pay designers advance fees for their work as well as quarterly royalties for the life of the typeface, there is an added pressure to recoup these investments. In addition, to successfully manufacture, promote, and distribute a typeface is a very costly undertaking, and requires uncountable hours of work. So, yes, we do take into consideration the marketability of a typeface, because we're concerned whether the typefaces will sell. But I should also point out that it's nearly impossible to gauge which fonts will do well and which won't. In that respect releasing fonts is a very risky undertaking. |
| Not only as a manufacturer of typefaces but also as a designer, what do you think about font piracy? What can be done to stop copyright violations? |
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RVDL: It would be nice if we can rely on the honor system, where people respect each other's intellectual property, but that has obviously proven to be a pipe dream. The only effective thing that can be done to stop copyright violations, it seems, is to take legal action. Adobe, Emigre and a handful of other small foundries have been very aggressive in taking legal action against font pirates, and with great success. |
| There's the famous quote ''You have two goblets before you. One is ...'' (!!!) Emigre has been a battleground for the endless debates on legibility and readability. For years it wasn't possible to drink wine without thinking about typography. You may be totally bored with the subject but could you summarize your personal position? |
RVDL: The Chrystal Goblet remark has to be put into context. Beatrice Warde, the author of the very famous article from which that sentence was taken, was talking specifically about book typography. This is rarely mentioned. Many people make the mistake to apply her notion regarding legibility to all graphic design which makes little sense. Stanley Morison, her partner at Monotype, did a better job at qualifying these same ideas regarding legibility in his seminal ''Principles of Typography'' which was published in 1930. He wrote ''...typographical eccentricity...is desirable, even essential in the typography of propaganda, whether for commerce, politics, or religion, because in such printing only the freshest survive inattention.'' In Emigre we discussed issues of legibility in similar broad terms. We related it to poster design, magazine design, etc. To find this perfect balance between making something legible but also attractive, appealing, and engaging to the user, is exactly the great challenge of design.
There's no single way to go about it in my mind. Many years ago designers figured out how to make things legible. But, as Philip Baines said so perfectly, ''We should not confuse legibility with communication.'' To make a design resonate with people, to get people to pay attention to a piece of graphic design, you need to do something extra which may impede on the traditional idea of legibility. But this does not always diminish overall legibility. |
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