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Don’t design web fonts

Cyrus Highsmith David Jonathan Ross

Presentation given by Cyrus Highsmith & David Jonathan Ross to ATypI in Amsterdam on 11 October 2013

Here’s the trick to designing web fonts: don’t do it. The successful type series of the future will be the ones that can move between media. A web font is just one variation within a larger series that includes instances for different formats and sizes. The overall design is the key. Or is it? The challenges of drawing for the screen are also starting points for imaginative and inventive new designs. Type designers have always worked by making typefaces to do very specific things. Maybe web fonts are the best way forward. Font Bureau’s Cyrus Highsmith and David Jonathan Ross will illustrate their ideas about drawing new typefaces and trying to make them smarter than the devices that use them.

Speaker

Cyrus Highsmith

Speaker

David Jonathan Ross

David Jonathan Ross draws letters of all shapes and sizes for custom and retail typeface designs. A native of Los Angeles, he began drawing typefaces at Hampshire College and in 2007 joined the Font Bureau, where he honed his Bézier-wrangling skills. Now he publishes visually imaginative and technically advanced designs at his own foundry, including Fit, Bungee, Gimlet, and Input. You’ll find him in Western Massachusetts with his partner Emily and their two dogs, Sophie and Lily.