A short and strong statement of position by a type designer. The book takes a wide view, taking in the business of present-day font production, and the technics and the ethics of type as software. As always, Smeijers’s arguments are informed by a strong historical sense. The book also shows his own work as a designer, and is published as a conclusion to the award to him of the Gerrit Noordzij Prize.
| availability | in print |
| published | 2003.11.13 |
| extent | 144 pp |
| dimensions | 220 × 140 mm |
| illustrations | b&w + colour pictures |
| binding | sewn paperback |
| ISBN | 0-907259-24-3 |
| ISBN13 | 978-0-907259-24-4 |
| £17.50 |
I am greatly reducing the number of viewpoints, but at Reading we are asked to approach type design from a functional perspective: ‘How do you want your typeface to work?’ (Gerry Leonidas), and a design perspective: ‘What do you want your typeface to do?’ (Gerard Unger). Upon meeting Fred Smeijers during a visit to the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Smeijers asked us to approach type design as philosophers: ‘What do you want your typeface to be?’ Upon further readings of Type now, it is clear that it is this philosophical attitude that underlines much of Smeijers’s book.
David Cabianca, Emigre, no. 67. 2004
