Roger Black’s Basic Goal for Type
In May 2015, I began work on a personal project fueled by my passion for typography. My goal was to connect with the great creators of type and typography, and share their wisdom and philosophies in bite-sized chunks, that I would illustrate. I was greatly encouraged by the response to my email soliciting participation. I received positive feedback and promises of contributions from some of the best and brightest creative minds working in type today. Typethos began on June 1st.
On Wednesday July 15, a modest bit of advice served as the Typethos quote from renowned graphic designer Roger Black. That quote is in the graphic above the headline. Roger was also kind enough to share some context for his quote that I will present here. This is what he wrote:
I would say the main principle of typography that has guided my work my work is the basic goal:
Make it easy to read.
Of course some typographic design is done just for effect. Readability is a secondary goal, if a goal at all. I am reminded of David Carson’s famous page where he switched the body type to Zapf Dingbats. Who cares if you can read it, if you’re just trying to get attention?
But my work has for the most part been publication design — either in print or on the web. I design not pages, but the rules around making pages. The idea is to find type specs that can be used time after time, for different kinds of content. Fonts should be are readable first and distinctive second.
When I started in the 1970s, I latched onto Ionic No. 5, as the core body type. I am not sure why. It probably had something to do with my first schoolbook readers — Dick and Jane. These were iconic books, and the typeface was Ionic, or actually Century Expanded.
Ionic No. 5 is based on the very small text sizes used by newspapers in the late 19th century, with a high x-height. It seemed neutral (which is good for news, which can be good or bad); sturdier than Century; and more modest than the later typefaces in the Linotype Legibility Series, like Corona and Excelsior. In the 1970s, I thought of Ionic as handsome and all-American.
The first newspaper I was paid to art direct (LA, 1972) used Ionic No. 5, set on the Merganthaler VIP typesetter. I’ve used it often, since — for example, for the text for of the Los Angeles Times in 1999, which still uses it.
In addition to being a leading voice in publication design, Roger is a leading voice in typography — both in its application and in its design. He is a founding partner of The Font Bureau, one of the international standard bearers for quality type that is both technically and aesthetically exemplary. Roger and his Font Bureau partner David Berlow have recognized and nurtured many of the best creators of type design. Designers like Richard Lipton, Petr van Blokland, Nick Sherman, Cyrus Highsmith, and Tobias Frere-Jones. Roger keeps good company and continues to fight the good fight for great design for type and publications.
All Typethos quotes to date have been archived and may be seen via this link.
