“Font Men”: I thought this video was a little interesting. The two type designers in the video, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones explained how to go about when designing new typefaces. They initially had the same idea regarding the process of creating them. You have to consider many elements such as size, spacing, width, and length. There are also other things to take in as well like italics, weights, small capitals and having each group work together in a dependable way. Frere-Jones mentioned that the field for working with typefaces was not as big in the early 1990’s compared to how it is now. I liked how both him and Hoefler described how they were either curious of where these different typefaces came from or wanting to develop their own style of font.
“Mikey Langley, Sign Painter”: This video should a different approach when combating typography. Unlike the last video with the two type designers, this one featured somebody painting variations of typefaces. The painter’s name was Mike Langley and throughout the video he talked about how he preferred doing on hands work over digital. As Langley was narrating his thoughts, he was shown painting the typefaces on a metallic looking truck. I thought it was interesting that he was able to perfectly painted the size and weight that he needed in order to develop the logo for “Vassilaros & Sons”. I would assume that it would be difficult perfecting the sizes of each letter or number on different parts of the vehicle, especially in the smaller spaces.
“Dan Rhatigan on Ryman Eco”: So what I got out this final video is that the printer, Dan Rhatigan cares more about the less use of ink while still establishing his font style. The style that Rhatigan uses is called Ryman Eco. Based on his description, this typeface design is supposed to minimize each letter’s surface area yet reduces the amount of ink being used. He further goes on about it saying that it gives out the illusion of fully filled letters. I thought this style was very nice, but abstract as well due the amount of lines require for each letter. There was one example he showed off of his computer show casing a lowercase g utilizing six lines to fit the size and length of the letter. Also, I noticed that there weren’t any small sizes with this particular typeface. In the video, Rhatigan stated that he still wants to find other ways to improve Ryman Eco. Hopefully, he can find ways to make it smaller as well for the negative eye in regards to reading if he decides to publish something. I still believe this typeface is good for title covers.
