Interview with “i love typography” DOT COM John Boardley

October 11th, 2007 by Poise Daily Staff Member in Interviews

Q.You have a contagious enthusiasm about typography. What drew you to this subject initially?
A. Books. As a child I had a passion for books and for reading. It wasn’t a passion for reading per se, so much as a passion for seeing the letters grow into words and evolve into sentences. I was fascinated by the fact that every element, every letter form had actually been designed by someone. These letters were not anonymous or generic, but carefully crafted to serve the reader. I had no idea at that early age that this craft had a name. Good typography is contagious; its a contagion that leads or draws the eye — not cattle-prodding us, but beckoning us onward with an appetizing carrot. It’s like a darling child pulling at its mother’s apron strings.

Q. Were you surprised at the amount and speed of reaction the blog received?
A. Surprised. Surprisingly, to say I was surprised would be a gross understatement. I was gobsmacked, albeit pleasantly so. Perhaps the greatest surprise was that the site was attracting so many virgin typophiles. It’s nice to know that iLT popped so many cherries — typographically speaking, that is.

I’ve received hundreds of emails from university professors, students, designers, and even those who before coming to the site, had no idea what typography was. It’s sometimes quite a task to keep up with all the email and respond to all the comments, but it’s a real pleasure to meet with such an enthusiastic response. Its what inspires me to do better.

Q. For those who know little (or nothing) about the subject, what are some basics of typography?
A. Well, the answer to this question — so broad is its scope — could run into hundreds of pages. However, for brevity’s sake, these are some of the basic elements of typography:

4. Grid: using a grid to control typographic elements; even a poor design can often be improved a great deal, by simply aligning elements to a grid. It brings order and control to the page.

Q. The website design for I Love Typography is beautiful. Could you talk a little about its design process?
A. Thank you. Well, when designing anything, I begin with pen or pencil and paper. I carry around several notepads and lots of different coloured pens and pencils. The design for iLT was drawn in a few minutes, and the site created in one night. However, I did a lot of work to the site during the following month to iron some small glitches, and polish some of the formatting. Just about every day I change some small elemement. In fact, I felt very relaxed designing and creating iLT, because I never expected anyone to visit it. Initially it was intended as a personal project: I wanted to create a site that was comprised almost entirely of type — that was the challenge I set myself. Praise must also go to WordPress, the wonderful blogging engine behind the site, and to the numerous plugins that add some wonderful functionality.

Q. Video killed the radio star. Has the digital age helped or hindered typography?
A. I think its effect has been incredibly positive. It has opened up type design and typography to anyone with a computer. While the results are not always to my personal taste, any technology that makes things more accessible must be a good thing. However, the digital age (as you call it) has presented us with new challenges; for example our screens are landscape (wider than they are tall), and the resolution of even the best screens is still much, much lower than that of print. But all of these things are wonderful challenges.

Q. In the past, fonts were created by specialized typographers. Who designs fonts now?
A. Well, just about anyone can design a font these days. There are numerous applications to aid in the design of fonts. However, one doesn’t need any thing more than paper and pencil and a little imagination to get started. There are thousands of free fonts available now. I would suggest caution however. There are undoubtedly some good free fonts, but most of the better fonts come with a price tag. I would suggest doing a little research and buying a few typefaces to begin with. It’s so much better to own a few good fonts rather than 10,000 poor ones. The first analogy that comes to mind is the Super Store that offers 10,000 free toilet rolls — what can you do with 10,000 toilet rolls? Actually, it’s not such a great analogy, but perhaps you get the point.

Q. Font selection is an important consideration in an ad campaign. How can businesses use typography to their advantage?
A. Font selection is an important consideration, period. Choosing a font or typeface is the same whether your employing it for an advertising campaign, your grandmother’s birthday card or a book. The face should always respect the material; it should add value to your design. However, it must be remembered that choosing a typeface is just one small part of a much larger typographic picture.

Q. What are good resources, other than your blog, for people interested in learning more about typography?
A. If you are new to the topic, then I suggest buying Thinking With Type, by Ellen Lupton; It’s an excellent introduction to type. For those interested in the finer details — and for those who wish to own a book that is just about perfect as an example of good typography — then buy The Elements of Typographic Stlye, by Robert Bringhusrt; it’s often referred to as the “Bible of Typography”, and with good cause.

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