Name: Matthew Carter
Profession: Type designer
Claim to fame: The typefaces he's designed are ubiquitous, including Georgia, one of the most common fonts on the Web, and Verdana, a standard font used by Microsoft Windows.
You probably haven't heard of Matthew Carter, but you likely read his work every day. He is responsible for fonts in the New York Times, the print in many phone books, and a famous Microsoft typeface called Verdana. Carter is a type designer. In his more than 50-year career, he has used almost every kind of design technology, from engraving the alphabet in steel to "pushing pixels" on a computer.
Does the alphabet ever bore you?
A lot of [nontype] designers want their bluer skies. There are only certain people content to continue struggling with these same constraints. You are drawn back to try to find some reorchestration of the alphabet that has something personal in it. Otherwise, why bother? You've got to have some arrogance to fancy that you can have valid interpretations over and over again.
How do you create something new?
I need grist for the mill. Some typefaces are based, to some degree, on historical models. I could find a book printed in a typeface that I like. If I'm traveling, I generally carry a camera. I've seen lettering on tombstones that is suggestive. It's a very eclectic business.
Do you have a personal style?
There are type designers who have a very strong personal style. It's like handwriting. I'm more of a chameleon. The consolation for people like me who don't have a strong style is that we can be better interpreters of others' work.
Are you obsessed with details?
You can get all the finicky details right and still have a bad typeface, in the same way that there is more to good architecture than beautiful doorknobs.
What's your opinion of graffiti?
I have seen tag graffiti that I think is wonderful, and I've photographed it. But I've also seen a lot of crap.
Do you get much recognition?
People don't necessarily know that people actually design fonts. If you were born with a huge ego, you'd get into a more glamorous profession, like fashion. But people do certainly know what fonts are. The fact that computers are now universal means everyone has access to fonts and people are exercising their aesthetic taste. They can say, "Oh, I like my memos or my menus to be in this typeface."
Do you ever disagree with the use of your typefaces?
I don't cringe if I see my typeface on a packet of frozen peas or whatever. I'm not a type snob. Type designers can only learn by seeing their work in use. We make these designs but they're hostages to fortune.
Tags:
arrogance,
bluer skies,
chameleon,
consolation,
design technology,
doorknobs,
finicky details,
fonts,
good architecture,
grist for the mill,
handwriting,
interpreters,
lettering,
Matthew Carter,
on the job,
personal style,
phone books,
tombstones,
type designers,
typeface,
typefaces,
Verdana
