Mark Porter

To my surprise, I’ve been asked to write a short column every couple of weeks for an Italian magazine called Internazionale (I write in English, they translate). It’s a culturally aware audience with an interest in design, but not much specialist knowledge. So the columns may be a little basic for readers of this blog, but hopefully the length (a haiku-like 200 words) will prevent anyone being bored. Here’s the first one…

Before the 1980s typography was an esoteric pursuit, of interest only to a small group of specialists.

That changed twenty-five years ago this month, when the launch of the Apple Macintosh personal computer brought publication design to the desk of the average citizen. Thanks to the Mac (and its influence on Microsoft Windows) everybody now has a favourite typeface.

Desktop publishing also gave rise to a new generation of digital typeface designers. The top type designers are now amongst the most influential figures in graphic design; but they would all agree that the essential characteristics of most of the typefaces we see around us were defined in the 600 years preceding personal computers. Most of the thousands of new fonts released in the last two decades are not brand-new creations but historical revivals.

The principal typefaces in the magazine you are reading are Miller and Champion Gothic. Miller, the serif font (the elegant, traditional one whose characters have little feet*), was designed by Matthew Carter who began his career by cutting metal type in the 1950s. It was released in 1997, but its origins lie in the “Scotch Romans” which emerged from the type foundries of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1820s. The sans serif font (the modern-looking one with lots of straight lines) is Champion Gothic, designed by Jonathan Hoefler. It first appeared in 1990 but is based on American woodtypes of the late nineteenth century.

So even the most contemporary design projects indulge in typographic time travel — yet another unexpected consequence of the personal computer revolution.

*”little feet” © Michael Bierut