Matthieu Cortat

1982, Delémont, Swiss

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practise?
During my studies in Visual Communication at the Ecal in Lausanne, I was introduced to typeface design by François Rappo, as well as in workshops with Norm and Underware. It was there that I was lucky enough to meet Hans-Jurg Hunziker who convinced me to persevere along this path, and who spoke to me of the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique, in Nancy, where I pursued my education. Once my studies were finished, I moved to Lyon, carrying out both my work as a typeface designer and as a mediator, then scientific advisor in the Museum of Print and Graphic Communication (Musée de l’Imprimerie et de la Communication graphique) in Lyon.

Is there something specific about your approach to typeface design?
Thanks to my work in the Museum of Print and Graphic Communication, most of my typefaces are anchored in history. This doesn't make them revivals however, as I take a lot of liberties with regard to the models from which I begin my work. Let's say that I try, for each creation, to bring a contemporary feel to an atmosphere, a style drawn from the history of Typography. Sometimes it is a matter of revisiting a classic; other times of rediscovering a lost typeface; often it is a nod to a reference.

What influences you? Are there typeface designers whose work you appreciate in particular?
I don't really have any idols. I have a certain appetite for the British (Johnston, Gill and, slightly closer to home, Paul Barnes) and the French (Mandel, Mendoza, Jou) for questions of style. When it comes to questions of finishing and a certain rigour in development however, I am firmly on the side of the Swiss, Frutiger, Miedinger, the Optimo and Lineto foundries, for example. The American and Dutch typographers are somewhat a mystery to me. I would place myself nearer to typeface designers that are “sculptors” as opposed to “calligraphers”.

If you could only choose one typeface, which one would it be?
For what use exactly? Choosing a single typeface is like choosing a single food, a single garment. The choice of a typeface depends on the context. For a body text, let's say a book, I'd lean of course towards my last born, Helvetius, that will be soon available through 205tf.

In your opinion, what is the point of creating a new typeface when so many already exist?
Ask fashion designers why they launch collections every season? Or car manufacturers why they release new models every year? Or furniture creators? Architects? Musicians?

Is it really possible to create something new in the field of type design?
No. In the sense that, a letter must, at a moment or another, be even just slightly legible. The reader must then be in a position to recognise it. And to recognise it, it has to resemble something that already exists. So then, to create something completely new, one would have to create a new writing.

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
No, not really. It could be a question of historical models, intentionally badly scanned so that I can leave a lot of room for interpretation. Or, in the case of a commissioned typeface, a sketch provided by a graphic designer. More often than not, I scribble a few far from perfect sketches to clarify what I am looking for, and then design directly on a computer.

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with technology?
I've already spoken about my relationship with history. I'm up to my neck in it. I know too much to just naively create fonts and imagine that they are revolutionary; and not enough to not get excited when I come across a specimen that I've never seen before.

Why have you chosen to distribute your characters and typefaces with 205TF?
Beyond the shared infrastructure that allows a greater functionality that would be complicated to put in place for an isolated designer, there is the choice of the catalogue: few typefaces, but well chosen, with high standards, designs, spacings and kernings all being verified by a number of people.
While the “great foundries” have catalogues that seem to go on forever, and look like supermarkets, 205TF is a gourmet food store: a more refined choice, and filled with quality.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
Let's not put that much weight on the shoulders of typography.

You teach at the ecal. Why does this role of transmission seem important to you?
What typeface designer doesn't want to see the general level of publications (on paper or screen) improved? And for that, people need to be trained, they need to have their minds opened and their vision educated. This requires time, patience and energy. Like all things that are worth doing.

What type design project are you currently working on?
I have never really been satisfied with the Gill and its different digital adaptations: too thin, too marked by their era; and, in general, by the humanistic lineals that are often too mannered. So I am working on a character in this style, with a very strong “bold” and sober italics.

Roxane Gataud

1991, France

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practice?
I passed my baccalaureate in Applied Arts in 2008 before studying Graphic Design at the École Estienne. It was later while I was studying at the École supérieure des Arts appliqués de Bourgogne (ESAAB), in Nevers that something clicked for me with typeface design. Up until that point I took real pleasure in using typefaces but had never felt the need to design one myself. For my degree I knew exactly what kind of typeface I wanted to work with, but it was impossible to find something that suited me in the meagre library of typefaces in my possession at the time. This drove me to study typeface design! So I joined the “Typographie & Langage” post graduate programme in the École supérieure d'Art et Design (Ésad) in Amiens, where I had previously graduated with honours, in February of 2014. I designed the Bely, my first original typeface that is currently distributed by TypeTogether.

Since then I have lived and worked in Paris as an independent Type Designer. In 2016 I received the Catalyst Award, given by the American association SOTA, that each year awards a young designer with a promising future for their accomplishments in the field of Typography. I have worked with different international and French foundries and I am currently actively working with 205TF. When I am not helping other designers, I work on my own creations.

Is there something specific about your approach to typeface design?
I became interested in Typography as the result of a graphic design need. The question of the use of the characters that I design is thus fundamental in my practice. I leave a lot of room for formal experimentation and experimentation. This is often the pretext for the development of a new project. In reality, I've only been designing typefaces for a short time and still consider myself a beginner. The multitude of styles that I haven't explored yet are like new playgrounds to me. I still haven't found one particular approach!

What influences you? Are there typeface designers whose work you appreciate in particular?
There are so many things that inspire me and that influence my work. I was lucky enough to collaborate with different designers, and each of their unique practices have enriched my practice and allowed me to develop my own way of working. A lecture, an exchange or even a type specimen from the beginning of the century can be of great inspiration to me. I nonetheless admit to being very sensitive to the typographic creations of designers that also have a Graphic Design practice, such as Gareth Hague or Radim Pesko, to name only two.

If you could only choose one typeface, which one would it be?
That's such a difficult question! Probably the Times, so that I could continue to read books without destroying my retina.

Is it really possible to create something new in the field of type design?
There's so much left to explore! There's a lot of room to invent new forms and new families.

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
A lot of my work is based on intuition. I quickly draw my ideas on paper. Sketches are for me a way of quickly creating the basis for a new idea. Nevertheless, my sketches are not at all refined! It's more a matter of structures and diagrams. I move on quickly from vectorial drawings and try to make all of this “work”. Then there is a lot of back and forth between screen and paper. The documenting stage comes before or after, depending on the projects.

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with technology?
The two are inseparable. Good knowledge of both domains seems important to me in the understanding and production of contemporary characters.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
If only...

What type design project are you currently working on?
I really have too many ongoing projects. Hopefully I'll be able to find enough time to push these experiments towards more defined families of characters and characters that will be available shortly!

Damien Gautier

1971, Beaune, France

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practise?
I fell into typography when I was already grown up, having finished some training in the field of science, a little by accident, by love... I studied in the typeface creation studio in the Estienne school, run by Franck Jalleau and Michel Derre among others.

What influences you? Are there typeface designers whose work you appreciate in particular?
I like to take characters that have been drawn or designed by non-specialists as a source of inspiration. I pay particular attention to vernacular typographic signs that we all come across daily but don't really take in on any conscious level. They are often awkward, but can sometimes display real ingenuity.
Gerard Unger's characters were a real revelation for me when I began. With the Swift I discovered a design driven by an approach that allowed one to achieve radical characters, rid of any useless frills. With his other characters, I realised that history and contemporary creation could go hand in hand

In your opinion, what is the point of creating a new typeface when so many already exist?
I'll answer your question with one of my own! What is the point of a designer creating another model of chair? It will have a seat, four legs and a back like every other chair before it, and yet it is hard for you to imagine having four chairs in your dining room that clash with the rest of your home.
It is exactly the same thing when it comes to typeface design. Sometimes you feel the need for a specific character that is perfectly adapted to your needs or desires! So you design and draw it!

Is it really possible to create something new in the field of type design?
I never think in those terms when I draw and design a character. I draw the character that I need in my role as a Graphic Designer. Then, I imagine that if I find it suitable (because I always use my typefaces before making them commercially available), it could also be of interest to other designers.

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
That depends. Sometimes I start work on a new typeface because I need it for a specific project. Its design is then driven by the use that will be made of it. I work constantly until I can make the first tests and then verify the result. I rework the design until I obtain a result that satisfies me. At other times, I feel the need to start a new project having discovered a typographic sign that inspires me and gives me a glimpse of a potentially interesting character.
At that moment, I draw my first signs. I look for a logic of forms and I am attentive to each sign. I often need time to do this and come back to the work at different moments. So, with that in mind, I am usually working on a number of characters at the same time. Sometimes I give up. However, once I am convinced by my design of the letter a, nothing can stop me!

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with technology?
History and technology are inseparable. Though the creation of a digital typeface is currently quite a technical endeavour, typeface design can not be done without a careful look at earlier forms. Typeface design is far from being the simple result of a technical process. It must be inspired!

Why have you chosen to distribute your characters and typefaces with 205TF?
Because I absolutely believe in the efficiency of a stringent distribution and prefer that my typefaces be part of a thoughtful selection rather than finding themselves lost among thousands of other typefaces.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
If we consider that typography is people speaking, exchanging and working together, then yes I dream that it can at the very least make the world a better place.

You teach at l'école des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. Why does this role of transmission seem important to you?
The apprenticeship of type design has brought me a lot in terms of my practise as a designer. I like the idea that the time dedicated to teaching can help students in their future practise by giving them a greater visual acuity with regard to the forms that they are handling. Also, teaching, allows one to move away from the commission/ project rhythm, and to step back from a pace that can sometimes be alienating, while discovering emerging personalities and universes in the process of becoming, and by helping them to structure their projects.

What type design project are you currently working on?
I really like long projects! So I have been working with the Plaak typeface, adding lower case letters to it. With its 24 styles I have my work cut out for me! I am also continuing my thinking on the numerous family of Maax. After the Maax, Maax Mono and Maax Rounded, soon the Maax Raw, a raw lineal in three styles.

Thomas Huot-Marchand

1977, Dôle, France

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practise?
I was a student at the School of Fine Arts of Besançon, where I discovered typography. I was self taught when it came to typeface design, using Fontographer, I threw myself into the design of Garaje, a typeface that I presented for my Fine Arts diploma. At that time it was a family of twenty or so fonts, that nourished my thinking around the geometrisation of the typographic sign, in vernacular inscriptions and in the European avant-gardes. Just after that I entered the ANRT, in 2001 – 2002, where I could dive fully into typeface design, by drawing and designing the lowercase M, a character for very small type sizes.

Is there something specific about your approach to typeface design?
A number of things are very important to me. To never move too far away from Graphic Design and to never lose sight of the way that typefaces are used: my activity as a designer provides me with a lot of pretexts to create characters, whether I am requested to do so or not. It is a way for me to appropriate the commission, and to add an element of typographic investigation to it.
As to the design itself, there are probably forms that we find from one character to another: nonetheless, I enjoy trying a new ways of designing for each character: not only another formal register, but testing another process. This is what stimulates me most.

What are your influences? The references and typeface designers whose work you particularly appreciate?
Graphic Designers have certainly marked me the most (like Experimental Jetset, Norm); when it comes to typeface designers, I admire the variety of drawings and designs of Carter or Frutiger, and the creations of Henrik Kuebel, for example.

If you had to choose only one typeface, which one would it be?
That's an extremely difficult question, and life would be incredibly sad with only one single typeface. If I had to give an answer I'd go with Akzidenz Grotesk Bold, old school.

In your opinion, what is the point of creating a new typeface when so many already exist?
Do we ask this question when speaking of painting or photography? There are indeed quite a few in existence, but I don't believe that any limit exists.

Is it really possible to create something new in the field of type design?
Of course, there are so many things to explore, everywhere: in history, technology, the writings of the world...

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
I try to avoid following the same recipe each time, and adapt my methodology to the character that I intend to develop.

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with technology?
I am nourished, like most of us, by historical forms, but I try not to dive too deeply into them as it can very quickly have a paralysing effect. To quote Carter, I try to look at history for what it can nourish in the present and not for nostalgic reasons. As for technology, I am very interested in it: excellent tools are available to us today, and we have a relatively unprecedented capacity to adapt those tools to our needs. I am not a beast when it comes to development, far from it, but the whole field interests me greatly. Here too, as with history, we have to be careful not to confuse the means with the ends.

Why have you chosen to distribute your characters and typefaces with 205TF?
I have always worked independently, and even if I had been in possession of a foundry since 2007, the distribution of my characters has never been of interest to me, and I have no time to take care of it anyway. My friendship with the people behind the project, and the format that 205TF proposes suits me perfectly, I didn't hesitate for a second.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
Absolutely.

You teach at l'ANRT (Atelier national de recherche typographique, Nancy). Why does this role of transmission seem important to you?
I have always been a full time teacher, and I find it very important for my own equilibrium. I like interacting with students, working with my colleagues, organising things and doing research. These different activities (type design, Graphic Design, teaching) complement and nourish one another and I find this very stimulating.

What type design project are you currently working on?
A custom typeface for a huge hotel in Las Vegas that was commissioned by an agency. Class, American style! Its a glyphic serif; I've never designed one before and it's been very pleasant so far.

Yoann Minet

1988, Tulle, France

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practice?
I designed a typeface for the first time in 2010, during an exchange with the University of Laval in Quebec. My timetable gave me the time to develop a project under the watchful eye of René Lemieux, Director of the Graphic Communication programme. Then, to quickly summarise my path, I studied at the École de communication visuelle of Bordeaux, then at the Typographic creation studio in the École Estienne; I worked at the Typography Cabinet with Ludovic Balland; in the Production Type foundry, founded by Jean-Baptiste Levée; then finally in 2015, I created a Graphic Design studio, Bureau Brut, with Julia Joffre and Camille Prandi. I also think that certain encounters have been very important in my training, I'm thinking of Hugo Anglade, Nicolas Oulès, Simon Masse and many others.

Is there something specific about your approach to typeface design?
I am not totally convinced that there is, because I don't have only one approach. Effectively, my approach varies according to the projects, the commissions, or just because I saw something in a street one morning. I think that the best way to renew one's practice is not to restrict oneself to a type of form or indeed to search for the perfect form. I consider that a drawing or design done at a particular moment represents that moment, and if I work on it again a month later I'll end up taking it in a different direction. This allows me to have an open mind with regard to my approach to typeface design.

What influences you? Are there typeface designers whose work you appreciate in particular?
The very first book that helped me to discover Typography was Fonts & Logo by Doyald Young. The author analyses the Sabon, a typeface that has remained one of my references for a very long time. The work of Roger Excoffon and the Olive foundry constantly comes to mind, I feel very close to his approach and his forms. But I also think that for me the most important influences come from encounters.

If you could only choose one typeface, which one would it be?
Such a choice seems impossible to me, a typeface in itself is not a big deal, it is the use that turns it into a finished object. But, if I absolutely had to choose, I would take the Vendôme from the Olive foundry because it continues to delight me, in its design, its details, its grey, its rhythm.

Is it really possible to create something new in the field of type design?
Typography is a game with rules and conventions. There is no absolute form, only canons established over time and the importance of their uses. As a designer I always try to position myself with regard to these conventions and these canons, to upset them, to go beyond them and to develop them.

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
One must really find the “right music”. Afterwards I draw without references, without models because I prefer to trust what I have in mind, the forms that I have remembered. I only document my work once the project has been started. This allows me to analyse and understand what is intuitive and what is referring to something else.

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with
technology?
I think that it is important to know the major events in the history of typography to be able to understand certain forms and certain movements, but I am not a specialist or historian. I am closer to the amateur, the observer. It is also important to master one's tool (drawing) to avoid being “dominated” by it.

Nonetheless, I pay very close attention so that history and technology don't become a vector for creation as such. The technical challenge can be stimulating and attractive but it shouldn't overpower the design itself. In other words I attempt to be as accurate as possible with regard to commissions or particular uses.

Why have you chosen to distribute your characters and typefaces with 205TF?
The quality of the publications made by bureau 205 can only be a sign of good things to come for 205TF. I am certain that my typefaces are in good hands. What's more, there is an important panel of creators that are embarking on this adventure, and so it is an honour for me to count myself among this gathering of French contemporary creators.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
In as much that music can't save the world but can make it less grim.

Alice Savoie

France

How did you get involved with typeface design? What led you to this practise?
After a Baccalaureate in Applied Arts in Tours, in the Centre region of France, followed by a BTS in visual communication at the Ésaa Duperré, my initiation to typography really began during the time of my DSAA in Typographical Creation at the École Estienne. There I learned the basics in typeface design with Franck Jalleau, Michel Derre, Margaret Gray... Previously I had been lucky enough to meet teachers who were passionate about typography, like Hervé Aracil at Duperré, who had already transmitted their enthusiasm for the subject to me.
I then continued my education in England, pursuing the Master Typeface Design curriculum at the University of Reading, graduating from there in 2007. I then worked as a Typeface Designer for the Monotype company for a number of years before beginning my independent activity in 2010. I also embarked on historical research with the goal of pursuing a doctorate in the History of Typography – also at the University of Reading – that I completed in 2014.

What influences you? Are there typeface designers whose work you appreciate in particular?
My influences are quite diverse. I like to draw on historical sources (with a particular preference for type specimens from French foundries at the end of the 19th century). I am instinctively attracted to typefaces that tell a story, that create a unique vibration and that don't leave the reader indifferent. Cyrus Highsmith, Laura Meseguer, Alejandro Lo Celso and Frantisek Storm are among the contemporary typeface designers that I admire for example. They have the common trait of developing a singular typographic writing, each one in a very different style but always with great formal mastery.

In your opinion, what is the point of creating a new typeface when so many already exist?
Typeface creators often use the analogy of the chair or the garment to justify the fact of designing new typefaces: there are already many models in existence, sometimes classic, sometimes fashionable, functional or ornamental, archetypal or unique... But as design objects, it is always necessary to renew existing forms so as to best respond to the needs and spirit of a time. Moving beyond this analogy it is important to signal/ highlight that typefaces are elementary / fundamental tools for communication and in this they have to respond to technical and cultural imperatives that are constantly evolving. It is therefore up to the type designer to well/ better understand these evolutions to be in a position to propose pertinent and functional typographical tools to his or her contemporaries.

How do you begin work on a new typeface? Do you have a particular process?
Generally the process is linked to the nature of the project. I deal with my typographic creations very differently according to whether it is a question of a third party commission or personal project. A lot of my personal projects have the common feature of finding their source either in historical forms, or in handwriting. I generally have a need to appropriate these forms and to bring them to maturity through drawing by hand, though digitization does arrive very early on in my process. They both nourish each other in parallel. I generally work on the development of “the DNA” of a typographic project by developing a restricted set of a few letters, I explore different leads before settling on the most convincing one to then extend my set of letters.

What is your relationship with the history of typography? What is your relationship with technology?
Having embarked on a PhD in the history of typography with a subject that takes a very close interest in the development of 20th century typesetting technologies, it is difficult for me to pretend that these themes are not at the heart of my preoccupations! Understanding where these forms and the typographical tools that we manipulate come from is for me an essential element in my type design practice. This has allowed me to develop a critical point of view regarding the design processes that we put into place. It is not a matter of a logic of “recycling” of typographical forms, but rather to put different eras into perspective so as to better understand the context in which we practice our trade today.

Do you think that typography can save the world?
Typography remains an essential tool for communication and the circulation of knowledge, and in this it seems that it has an important role to play in our societies. It may not save the world, but it can certainly allow the world to communicate more easily. Projects such as Noto, run by Google or “Missing Scripts” that we are developing at the ANRT in partnership with the Universities of Mainz and Berkeley are moving in that direction. This seems to me to be a great start!

You teach at Atelier national de recherche typographique and école des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. Why does this role of transmission seem important to you?
Art schools provide an extremely rich and stimulating environment. The students arrive with their personalities, their intuitions, their curiosity and their experiences, and it gives me great pleasure to exchange with them. I think that my idea of teaching becomes tangible more-so in the exchanges rather than in transmission as such, even though, of course, I do accompany the students, sometimes guiding them and sharing my experience and my skills with them, particularly in typeface design.
The ANRT is a particular case as we have been developing a number of research projects in typography in partnership with laboratories that operate in very different fields such as linguistics, computer sciences, egyptology.. These projects have a prospective dimension and lead us to answering questions that we haven't necessarily been faced with before now, and to developing specific ways of working. This research dimension implies that we are all constantly learning, whether speaking of our students or the teaching staff. It is a privileged work environment for the researcher and typeface designer that I am.

What type design project are you currently working on?
I am currently working on two typefaces that I hope to publish soon through 205.tf. At the same time I am collaborating with an American foundry in the creation of a Greek counterpart to one of their emblematic families. I am also delighted to be the most recent winner of a typeface commission by the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and the Imprimerie nationale. It is an ambitious project that we intend to publish in Autumn of 2017. So I have more than enough to keep me busy for the next few months!