Behind the Scenes

Where do fonts come from? No one knows for sure but Font Bureau's Cyrus Highsmith has been looking into it. His findings are illustrated above.

As our tech gent once commented, this is the time of year when we hear from brides and the mothers of brides. That is to say, it’s wedding season and all of a sudden, script typefaces are just as important as the cake.

Sometimes, it helps having a friend who’s a type designer lend a hand, or in this case, a face. Dyana Weissman’s script-in-progress graces the invitations of her friends’ wedding.

Photo credit: Top photograph by Lydia Powers. Bottom two photographs by Allison and Chris Britton Photography.

The inspiration for Dyana’s typeface started with letters ...

For more than a decade, the Readability Series of typefaces has been part of Font Bureau’s commitment to the needs of our clients and a response to emerging trends and print technologies. Now, with another wave of technological change and evolving trends, not just in print media, but also online typography and mobile web use, it makes sense for the typefaces of the Readability Series to migrate to our Retail Library for the same licensing options and affordable price.

From Readability to Retail

The new Retail versions are not substantially changed from the original versions in the Readability Library ...

Many know Cyrus Highsmith as one of today’s most original type designers. He combines an energetic, illustrative approach with enthusiasm for typographic communication, leading to a diverse library of original designs. He has created exquisite scripts, industrial workhorse sans, and dynamic text serifs — all with equal ease and distinction. Highsmith considers himself a draftsman above all, and his work demonstrates a lifelong passion for drawing. In this video, he invites us into the world of his sketchbooks.

It’s been three years since we printed our Third Edition One-Line Type Specimens booklet and it was about time we did something similar again. So we made a supplement, which presents the very latest additions to Font Bureau’s retail library and also includes Webtype and Reading Edge web fonts prepared for the rigors of the web.

We went on press a couple of weeks ago, to the fine folks at Kirkwood Printing.

Meet Robert Brown, who could shepherd any print job even with his eyes closed.

And our stellar pressmen, Steve Toomajanian and Jim McLaughlin.

Harry with a ...

Every year for many years, probably ever since Font Bureau started, we’ve had offsites. They started out as a once-a-year weekend gathering to some non-Boston locale to determine which fonts we’d be releasing in the coming year. We still gather once a year, usually now to Martha’s Vineyard, but do more than just look at fonts. We still do look at a lot of fonts, though.

Several weeks ago, David Jonathan Ross and I spoke on a panel at the cherished Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. Following a screening of the documentary Helvetica, we talked about our experiences as typeface designers. The event was coordinated by GLIMPSE journal, a captivating, beautifully designed publication that examines the art and science of seeing.

We were privileged to share the stage with Dr. Matthew Schneps, Director of the Lab for Visual Learning at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who has been investigating the strengths that people with dyslexia have in processing visual information. His research about dyslexic readers being ...

Earlier this year, Fortune magazine launched a new redesign featuring a new logo drawn by Cyrus Highsmith.

Just recently, Fortune’s creative director John Korpics came back to us to commission a special version of that logo to add some depth to the cover of Fortune’s annual investment issue. He was looking to capture some of the complexity and dimensionality of old banknotes, but without straying from the logo’s strong, contemporary look.

Cyrus had started some 3D sketches while designing the original logo, so I had a great place to jump off from. That meant I was left ...

Draw a letter, any letter! And so you did. We thank all of you at TypeCon who stepped up to our exhibit table in Los Angeles and participated in our letter-drawing collage.

It’s rare for Font Bureau to have an intern, but for three weeks we were delighted to have Louise Paradis intern with us in our Boston studio. She hails from Montreal, worked in Los Angeles for a time, and is now a graduate student in art direction at ECAL, Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (University of Art and Design Lausanne) in Switzerland. I had a chance to talk with her before she left.

MLM: What led you to Font Bureau?
LP: Well, one project for a class of mine was by my professor François Rappo. He required us ...