Each and every typography nerd must have been in Cafe Metaforma in Cracov 21 November, where all the juros of the International Competition – Typeface Szymborska were asked about their inspirations. The main questions was “what turns them on in typography?”.
Martin Mayer, holland typographer, gave an enthusiastic speech about the sanserifs, the fonts that keep their position of the bestsellers for years. We could see all those clumsy examples of sanserifs from the early XIX century, which were made by clearing serifs from serif letters. Now it sounds funny, but these where the origins of the best known fonts like Helvetica, Univers, Mayer’s Questa and even Arial.
Verena Gerlach mentioned transformations and travelling as her major inspirations. She keeps an eye on everything she is surrounded by, taking thousands of photos of different writings, boards and lettering met in the street.
Pilar Cano mentioned the energy of those fast movements while drawing the letters that she is axcited about. While having a loose idea about the typeface you want to design you’re free to use all your creativeness.
Robert Oleś changed the question into what pisses him off, as he is more of a book designer than a typographer. He mentioned a few calligraphers whose work give them thrills and chills: John Stevens, Giovanni de Faccio and Russel Maret. And he highlighted how tough is typographer’s work if he/she wants to design a good typeface.
The youth, imperfection and life turns on Ewa Stalcka in typography. She is interested in putting life into letters, like in projects with moving typo, letters in music or written images.
Soon, we will know the winner of the International Competition: typeface Szymborska. Dont’t miss it! And what typography turns you on? Or maybe what turns you on in typography?