Five Questions for a Type Designer

His latest family took four years and one very stubborn lowercase g. We asked him five questions and he answered each with a sketch.

Deadlines help, but only when they are real. A deadline that everyone knows will slip is just a date on a calendar.

Reading work aloud is the cheapest editing tool there is. Your ear catches rhythm problems that your eye skips over, especially in long sentences.

The part nobody mentions

We try to write for one specific reader. When a paragraph confuses that imaginary person, it usually confuses everyone else too.

• One idea per paragraph
• One job per sentence
• Concrete nouns over abstract ones
• Verbs that move

Omit needless words.

William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

Reading work aloud is the cheapest editing tool there is. Your ear catches rhythm problems that your eye skips over, especially in long sentences.

Constraints are underrated. A fixed word count, a single typeface, or a two-colour palette forces decisions that an open brief lets you postpone forever.