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I should also distinguish between “typeface design” and “typography”: although in some regions they are used in parallel, they should be approached as separate concepts. whereas typeface design refers to the design, testing, and production of useable typeforms (i.e. fonts of some sort) typography relates to the specification of structure and appearacne on a document level; in other words, typography in some small part deals with the product of typeface design, but is about much more than the representation of letters.

Typeface design is design within a context: the designer acknowledges the wider historical and cultural environments in which a typeface sits, and must respect the expectations of the users. This is not to mean that a designer should not aim to “push the envelope” and surprise users – but to do this well one must first be aware of what is currently considered conventional and acceptable. In other words, a designer is a social observer, and a good designer is a social commentator.

So, a typeface is, like a product of the applied arts, something with embedded functionality and usability, therefore it has value through its utilisation: on a basic level it allows textual meaning to be encoded, but on a higher level it allows values such as association, style, identity, differentiation, and beauty to be expressed.

A good designer would always start with investigation into the context: from the development of a category of document and a typographic style, to the specifics of comparable typefaces. At the same time, a conscious reflection on the process of type making is essential: what is, for example, the relationship between the forms and the tolls used to make them originally, and then to reproduce them? What are the influences of specific procedural approaches (the ductus of a script, or the effects of a chisel, for example)?

So, typeface designers should start by researching the field in which their new typeface will probably be used in. Then, identifying the approaches to making the particular forms in terms of formal elements and procedures for creating/joining/combining these forms. Writing and sketching (at Rdg we use a scale of about 50 mm baseline-to-x-height, and the starting word “adhésion”.

Quality in typeface design exists on several layers; it may include the preparatory research, the making of typeforms, the post-production… (See for example the MATD guidelines on this.)

A typeface must be ultimately judged against its peers, in use; otherwise, it degrades into a “fine art” - style project, self-referential and without any dialogue with its environment.

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