Ted Talk: My life in typefaces
Speaker: Matthew Carter
View TED Video: Matthew Carter – My Life in Typefaces – TED VIDEO
What I liked:
- 18 spacing units to 1000 spacing units (before + today.)
- The meeting of technology and design.
- Just as the meaning behind the words you choose is important so is the type face (i.e. the font you pick.)
- 2 years to create, pixel by pixel.
- Worked for AT&T (designed the font for the phone book, yes the phone book.)
- 1980’s = when vectors came out.
- Font stores data?
- He was beaten in speed by technology once and he still created san serif and serif fonts.
- It then became about aesthetics, the art.
- Absorbed into the typographic mainstream.
Favorite Quotes:
“Type is very adaptable and it hides its methods.”
“It has a function, to read.”
Overall: I found this one to be pretty intriguing. It brought publishing down to the microscopic level, the DNA of each word choice. Mr. Carter is an artist. There is a desire for tinkering and learning here which could generally be applied many situations.
Verdict: For 16 minutes of your online time? Do it.
-Kait Neese
@KaitNeese