John Martz

Joining Faces

Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones are featured in a New York Times article in which they explain that their love of letterforms began at an early age.

“I got the idea that somebody, somewhere, has the job of deciding what these letters look like,” Mr. Frere-Jones said. “It was like someone was designing water or designing air.”

I think most people’s passions are those that have been cultivated since childhood.  At least mine are.  I, too, at an early age was aware of type design, fascinated by the variety and shapes of letters.  But I also watched a lot of cartoons, so this could very well explain why my forays into type design evolved into something decidedly more frivolous than, say, Hoefler and Frere-Jones.

One of these days I, too, will create a serious, smartly-crafted, usable typeface.  But I cannot promise it won’t be named after bodily functions or luncheon meat.