It is not very often that I come across type that is so unusual, so strikingly different that I can’t place it. Hansje van Halem’s Wind is one of those rare examples, so I asked her if we could publish it
Typeface stories ·
8 December 2017
· English
Peter Biľak speaks to Irma Boom about how her design practice developed over the past decade.
Interviews ·
23 July 2012
· English
· 2942 words
Detailed look at the English edition of Letter Fountain, typographic reference book examining the form and anatomy of Latin alphabet.
Reviews ·
24 June 2011
· English
· 1218 words
Interview with the Dutch designer René Knip, specialising in three-dimensional typography and lettering. From the book 158 answers.
Interviews ·
9 May 2011
· English
· 2361 words
A real-life situation that forced a type designer to evaluate his profession. One small typographic detail (an incorrect version of the diacritic over the letter L) caused troubles with the authorities. With a happy end.
Essays ·
25 September 2010
· English
· 1466 words
Article written for the Centre national des arts plastique, discussing conventional distribution methods of digital typefaces and their alternatives. The text focuses primarily on the French typography scene.
Essays ·
21 December 2009
· English
· 1763 words
Third in the heavily subsidised series ‘Graphic design in the Netherlands’, Jan van Toorn, Critical Practice takes on the difficult task of exploring and striving to elucidate the work of Jan van Toorn (JvT), a designer who is not always clear about his intentions, who makes frequent use of inexplicable images and text, and whose work is often described with concepts such as ‘alienation’, ‘incomprehensibility’, ‘defamiliarisation’, ‘digressions’ and ‘intrusion’.
Reviews ·
16 July 2008
· English
· 896 words
An essay on the history and definition of type families, type design parameters, and the possibilities of creating larger type systems today.
Essays ·
31 January 2008
· English
· 2705 words
Graphic designer Willem Sandberg became the director of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 1945. From that time until 1962 he designed almost all the printed matter for the Stedelijk and transformed the museum, introducing new ideas into the stuffy world of museums of that time.
Reviews ·
11 May 2005
· English
· 1094 words
Rudy VanderLans talks with Peter Biľak about the Typotheque founder’s education, design practice and experience as an ex-pat Slovak living in the Netherlands. Dot Dot Dot is discussed, as well as the typefaces Biľak has produced and his current teaching practice.
Interviews ·
13 April 2005
· English
· 4079 words
Andy Crewdson discusses the origins of the Dutch designer’s recent family of types.
Typeface stories ·
24 February 2005
· English
· 1573 words
The introduction to a series of interviews and articles by and about Martin Majoor, the designer of Scala, Seria, Telefont and others.
Features ·
1 February 2005
· English
· 221 words
An epistemology of the word ‘experimental’ as it applies to design and type, contrasted with its scientific connotations. Examples of past and current design, type and reading/language, as well as scientific experiment, are taken into account.
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 2063 words
The abstract for Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997.
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 392 words
The introduction to Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part one).
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 1661 words
The introduction of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part three).
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 9537 words
The fifth chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997.
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 16066 words
The conclusion of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997.
Essays ·
23 January 2005
· English
· 2642 words
A brief look at Peter Bilak’s ‘synthetic’ approach to type design which examines both his earlier Eureka and more recent Fedra families.
Typeface stories ·
1 December 2004
· English
· 838 words
Type design as accumulated knowledge and continuity: a look at the role of type designers, history and technology, revivals and invention.
Essays ·
1 December 2004
· English
· 774 words
A review of Emigre Number 64, the Rant issue, where upon its pages designers do just that. Siegel talks about the old Legibility Wars of the 1990s, how design is being produced, thought of and critiqued today and in the 1990s, and he even provides an interesting background of the Dutch design environment as a foil for the maintream of the western design world.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 2127 words
Stuart Bailey discusses the curation of a retrospective of Dutch design, illustrating the fallibility of presentation methods which treat design work as museum or gallery pieces.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1080 words
This article by the designer of Scala and Seria is as much a typographic guide and history lesson as it is a personal account of his approach to type design.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 3195 words
The background of the design of Majoor’s font Seria.
Typeface stories ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1104 words
An essay about the design culture which is specific to the Netherlands.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1989 words
A refreshingly positive response to (and call for?) more, and more thoughtful culture and design publications in a time when the phrase “who needs another design mag?” is common. Max Bruinsma also briefly details the evolution of Dutch and other non-mainstream/design publications.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 2284 words
An exploded view of the digital screen, informed by analyses of architecture, designers’ roles, avant-garde Dutch design from the De Stijl period and geometry.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1802 words
A mid-90s account of the development and current state of Dutch design and type in the context of its cultural and political history.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1756 words
A mid-90s appraisal of Dutch graphic design’s unique qualities, with an overview of various studios, designers and significant movements from the 20th century.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 2672 words
Martin Majoor, known for his typefaces Scala and Seria, is interviewed by Peter Biľak. The origins of his type, book design and working methods are discussed.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1219 words
The globalisation and homogenisation of design, legibility and communication and the history of Emigre magazine are discussed in this interview with its founder, Rudy VanderLans.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 3323 words
The prolific founder of Werkplaats Typografie, Karel Martens focuses on the design of the Dutch architectural magazine OASE in his 1999 conversation with Peter Biľak.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1412 words
A discussion from the late 1990s with Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum about their work as type designers and programmers.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 2326 words
A mid-1990s discussion of the state of type design, graphic design in the Netherlands and emerging digital media.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1641 words
Irma Boom, one of the world’s foremost book designers, discusses her working methods, preferences, and the nature of free-range design.
Interviews ·
29 November 2001
· English
· 1590 words
