Jeff Keedy Talks Type
Type legend Jeff Keedy shares sage wisdom and advice as he prepares to release four new additions to the Keedy Sans family: Keedy Sans Black, Hilite, Lowlite, and Hiline.
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Stacey Sundar: Hi Jeff, welcome to TypeThursday. Please tell us about yourself and how you decided to become a type designer.
Transition to Type Designer
Jeffery Keedy: I was an analog graphic designer that jumped at the chance to start designing type when Fontographer made it possible for anyone to do so. But for me the transition to type designer was a slow one. I was a teacher and graphic designer but completely self-taught as a type designer. I started designing type for my design projects as there were not a lot of digital fonts to choose from. I never imagined I would be able to design and use my own fonts– that was a real revelation. I also had no idea how hard it would be.
SS: Early in your career, what type designers did you find influential? What type designers do you find interesting today?
Influential Type Designers
JK: The first typeface I designed was called Neo Theo, after Theo van Doesburg’s lettering-style. It was a reductive orthogonal typeface – a good first typeface because it is the easiest to make. Back then the style was “new” again and it will most likely always be a popular style because it is so simplistic.
I have always liked W.A. Dwiggin’s type design, graphic design and writing. It is gratifying to see him finally starting to get some recognition. A.M. Cassandre, Eric Gill, Rudolf Koch, Imre Reiner, Otl Aicher, Jan Tschichold, Roger Excoffon, Bram de Does, Oz Cooper, Bruce Rogers, and Rudolph Ruzicka, are at the top of my list of historical type designers who were also notable graphic designers.
Then there are the type designers I have been fortunate to know like Zuzana Licko, John Downer, Matthew Carter, Neville Brody, Erik Spiekermann, Jonathan Barnbrook, Gerard Unger, Jonathan Hoefler, Greg Lindy, to name just a few.
Type designers who were students, Barry Deck, Jens Gehlhaar, Sibylle Hagmann, Andrea Tinnes, Micah Hahn, Ian Lynam, Benjamin Woodlock and all of the students I’m working with now.
SS: How would you describe Keedy Sans? What about it are you most proud of?
Enter Keedy Sans
JK: A student once referred to me as “the guy who designed the Hobo of the 90’s” and I took that as a complement. In 1989 when I designed Keedy Sans no other typeface had ever been designed that incorporated the idea of a deliberate contradiction and dissonance into the structure of the design. There had been typefaces that were randomly and irregularly distressed or that appropriated contradictory forms (ransom note style) but none that contradicted its own rules of construction.
… a font that deliberately does so many things wrong and still manages to be legible, and seemingly consistent, is not an accident.
The fact that it contains three different terminal styles (squared, rounded, diagonal) on a single font wasn’t a new idea. Rotis for example, mixed two previously exclusive styles together (sans and serif) and it did so in a consistent matter. If you only see a few characters of Rotis you will know how the other characters blend the sans with the serif. By contrast if you see only a few characters of Keedy Sans you won’t accurately guess how the other characters will look. Do the terminals end square, rounded or slashed? There is no consistent system or rule that determines this. It willfully contradicts your expectations for continuity among the letters. To further emphasize the effect, some countershapes contradict the letter shape itself (A B H U ) and some characters have attributes that are not shared with any other character (I, f, j ). This could be seen as amateurish ignorance and it certainly was by some, but a font that deliberately does so many things wrong and still manages to be legible, and seemingly consistent, is not an accident.
Turning ambiguity, dissonance and contradiction into a style was not new to music, art and architecture but it was to type design.
Turning ambiguity, dissonance and contradiction into a style was not new to music, art and architecture but it was to type design. Other deconstructive and postmodern design strategies wittingly and not, followed, but Keedy Sans got there first and was the first to theorize itself as such.
SS: Had you always intended on the expansion of Keedy Sans? How many new weights can we anticipate, when will it be released and will we be able to purchase it on Emigre?
When I designed Bondage Bold back in the 80’s I never intended it to be released, it was just for my own use. Rudy VanderLans saw it and talked me into letting Emigre release it. At the time their fonts were only sold in two weights so I reluctantly designed a regular weight and changed the name to Keedy Sans. Emigre released it in 1991.
New Additions to the Keedy Sans Family
JK: Twenty six years later I designed Keedy Sans Black. It is the truest expression of what I was originally after. Since it is a display face often used to create logotypes, I designed Keedy Sans Black, Hilite, Lowlite, and Hiline to work as a stand alone display or in various combinations for a multi-color effect, four new fonts in total. I will be releasing them myself.
SS: Can you share any thoughts on what good typeface design is to you?
For me a good typeface usually contains three contrasting and often contradictory ideas.
On Good Typeface Design
JK: A typeface is an idea it can take many forms. A good or interesting idea will make a good or interesting typeface. For me a good typeface usually contains three contrasting and often contradictory ideas. A typeface that only represents a single idea can be useful but it’s very limited in it’s use and expression. A typeface isn’t a typeface until someone uses it to say something.
SS: How would you summarize the state of type design today in the U.S.?
Type Design in the U.S. Today
JK: The tools for making type have never been more powerful or more accessible than today. The amount of information, scholarship, interest, and discussion about type design is amazing and will likely only get better. But the communication industry is controlled by a very small cabal of very large corporations and that will likely only get worse. You have to pay to play, and play by their rules.
But the communication industry is controlled by a very small cabal of very large corporations and that will likely only get worse. You have to pay to play, and play by their rules.
SS: What advice would you give to new typeface designers?
Don’t make a typeface just because you can. Make a typeface that nobody else would make. If you think anyone else could make it, let them.
Advice to New Typeface Designers
JK: Don’t make a typeface just because you can. Make a typeface that nobody else would make. If you think anyone else could make it, let them.
Make typefaces you want to use. If it resonates with you it will with others as well.
In the case of a commission only do it if you can exceed the requirements and expectations of the client. You should get more than just money for your work.
If it is a revival don’t resurrect it as a zombie. Making a digital version is not reason enough to dig it up. Reanimate it or let it rest in peace.
SS: Thanks very much Jeff. On behalf of TypeThursday, it was a pleasure having you with us.
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