Font Makers, Risk Takers at the TYPO International Design Conference 2013
Author:Lindsey ShookThis past week saw the TYPO International Design Talks come to San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Arts Center, where industry insiders and design gurus alike shared their wisdom with captivated attendees. The theme this year was “Contrast,” which inspired insight ranging from why typeface is like a chair, to subverting perceptions of everyday things, to the business behind the design industry (and how the rise of technology makes selling design an increasingly more complicated question).
The speakers were heads of studios, worked at design giants IDEO and Adobe, produced online type libraries such as FontShop and FontFont, and made their way into the Bay from areas as far flung as Germany, New Zealand, and Brooklyn. In short, the two days of illuminating talks featured what some of the best font makers and risk takers had to say about how they operate, ideas which ultimately and profoundly shape the modern design landscape.
