What connotations does the name have for you? Some people think ‘Virus’ is the worst possible name for a foundry. I felt it wasn’t possible if they became a simple a-z released by somebody else. Full of layers of meaning, echoes of creative influences, vessels for ideologies that are prevalent or that you are interested in. It describes your emotional state of mind at that moment. I really wanted to be able to describe the whole range of emotional and intellectual reasons for releasing the fonts - releasing a typeface is like when a band releases an album. I could have released them through another foundry, but I thought it better to do it through my own. Why go it alone?Įmigre think very carefully about the fonts they release and I had rather a lot of other fonts that needed to be published. You published several typefaces with Emigre, yet decided to set up your own foundry, Virus. That conflict of the typeface which is loaded with history and all of the atmospheres and assumptions of a layout that can only come from this time can be a very interesting thing to play with. I do often use more ‘nostalgic’ typefaces and try and lay them out in a contemporary way. Yes of course, there are times when my fonts will not be appropriate, and you can have all kinds of fun subverting other people’s typefaces, or you can simply enjoy the beauty of the drawing in another font. I remember using the letterforms then for other things like a letterhead, and thinking: “I can create a whole universe for myself, that is the way I want it to be.” That is still the attraction of letterforms for me today.ĭo you ever use fonts by others when doing graphic work, such as CD packaging or books or an identity for an event? I used to copy them painstakingly on all my school books. The first ones I noticed were for the music bands I liked, I wasn’t really conscious of it but in the band logo the letterforms absolutely represented the viewpoint and ideology of the band. Yes, because they created the tone of voice for everything in my life when I was young. Was it letterforms that got you interested in becoming a graphic designer in the first place? I also think it helps with the aesthetic fine-tuning of a job such as a corporate identity - you can design the logo and all of the parameters around it like the colors, etcetera - but the font gives a job a distinctive voice and for me is one of the most important pieces in the jigsaw. I do like the fact that we can go ‘deeper’ into a job by designing a proper font for the project and further the design solution behind it by doing so. In what way do these two activities complement each other? Do they conflict sometimes? Throughout your career, you have been working both as a graphic designer for high-profile clients and as a type designer.
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