Talk:
Uncharacteristic Characters
with Jonathan Hoefler
Jonathan Hoefler had never encountered a typeface in which the capital “I” needed to be taller than the “H.” But then this new project, which he’ll be introducing at Typographics, isn’t an ordinary typeface. It’s the most uncharacteristic project ever undertaken by Hoefler&Co during their twenty-eight year history, and it questions what makes a “serious typeface” serious.
Visually, the design is unlike anything H&Co has ever done before, celebrating styles of lettering far outside their usual haunts. At the same time, it’s the quintessential H&Co project, exploring the kinds of themes that have defined some of their most familiar typefaces including Gotham, Surveyor, Ringside. This new design, by H&Co’s Jonathan Hoefler and Jordan Bell, pokes at the perimeter of the “type family,” it meditates on the relationship between the formal and informal, and it identifies how the needs of authors, as well as designers, should help guide what a twenty-first century typeface needs to be.
This talk is scheduled for Friday, June 16, 2017, at 4:00pm as part of the main Typographics conference schedule. You must register for the Typographics conference to attend.
About Jonathan Hoefler
Jonathan Hoefler has been designing typefaces for nearly thirty years. Through his work at Hoefler&Co, the company he founded in 1989, his lifelong love of typography has found countless avenues: he has both designed typefaces and worked with his team of designers to create them, and has designed type specimens, mobile experiences, and websites, including the Cloud.typography webfont platform, the App.typography service, and the award-winning Discover.typography. He writes and illustrates the H&Co blog, and in 2016 created his first short film about typeface design.
Hoefler is the only person to have ever received both the Prix Charles Peignot, the prize for typographic excellence awarded by the Association Typographique Internationale, and the AIGA Medal, the design profession’s highest honor.
