Type Design in the Museum: Acquiring the Immaterial

Craig Eliason explores how the peculiarities inherent to type design shed light on the purpose and practices of the design museum in the contemporary world.

Apr 2021

Sandoll Chilseong Shipyard

In 1952, toward the end of the Korean War, Chilseong Shipyard was established in Sokcho, South Korea. The humble family operation built ships and served as a local fishery for generations. In 2017, third-generation owner Choi Yoonseong and his partner Baek Eunjeong restored it as a cultural space to preserve the shipyard’s legacy for future generations,...

Mar 2021

Elfreth

I can count the number of times I’ve used a blackletter (unironically, anyway) on one hand. But something about Elfreth caught my attention and held onto it like a Brockhaus-Heuer Schraubstock.

Mar 2021

Tomasa

Anyone who is from or has lived in Spanish-speaking countries will be familiar with the concept of perreo. It’s a word that describes how we dance to rhythms like reggaeton or funk carioca. The way perreo flows through Tomasa is palpable.

Mar 2021

Carolina Laudon

Swedish typographer and type designer Carolina Laudon is the first woman president of the ATypI. Ksenya Samarskaya caught up with her after last year’s conference to discuss her role in, and vision for the organization.

Mar 2021

Elizabeth Carey Smith

“I hope that we can have more frank discussions about the problems of industry inclusiveness and the approach and sense of responsibility around design, specifically in the world of type. With that in mind, I had a candid conversation with Elizabeth Carey Smith, a design director in New York and a past president of the Type Directors Club.” —Agyei Archer

Jan 2021

Almost

Aside from being a delightful typeface family, Almost opens the door to the discovery of fifteenth-century printing types.

Jan 2021

Lava Devanagari, Kannada, and Telugu

Typotheque collaborated with Indian type designers for Devanagari, Kannada, and Telugu extensions of Lava. Knowing these scripts as natives gave the designers the confidence to stretch and play with the design within the constraints of an editorial brief. In my opinion, this confidence and familiarity are what bring all of the scripts into...

Jan 2021

LL Blankenhorn

Whenever I’m in Germany I’m struck by the prevalence of hand-lettered book covers. German publishers also seem particularly unafraid of omitting imagery from their covers, letting the title do all the selling of the book. This works especially well when the title is rendered by expressive lettering, and there are few examples as effective as Fritz Blankenhorn’s...

Jan 2021

Graphit

Graphit manages to convey a distinct voice by using elements from sources that might appear almost antithetical.

Jan 2021