Speaker Nick Shinn

In 1890s America, magazines became a mass medium, creating a new paradigm­consumer culture. With full-page settings and extreme close-ups, Nick Shinn explains why US magazine designers, advertising art directors, and type designers caused 20th century typography to be dominated by traditional genres of serifed type harking back to the 18th century and before.
London-born, Toronto-based art director, type designer and cultural critic Nick Shinn is a design consultant (ShinnDesign), publishes his type designs ( Shinn Type), writes for a variety of design publicatios, and teaches at York University in Toronto. He has designed 16 typeface families, the most popular of which is Fontesque.