Minari and my first font
The font I designed as a student is being used to publicise one of the biggest movies of the year. Did they have to use that font though?
Six Oscar nominations for the Minari movie on the back of all those other awards. And you used that font! You people. Bit embarrassing really. I like this industry. So different from my previous job in accountancy. Nice to be recognised. Just to be alongside these people. What a story. I guess it all started with Gutenberg… no, no, not the actor.
I live in Barcelona, where the Minari movie has recently been released. It’s doing well. It’s been nominated for six Oscars. Posters for Minari hang all over the city. They use my first font, Traho. The film looks good. The posters look good. In global terms, the publicity of the movie features a few different fonts. Mostly the movie uses a font called Peignot Std Demi but about one in three online images use mine. Someone is selling T-shirts with my font for €17.89 on Redbubble. I’m thinking of buying one.
Nobody knows it’s my work. I haven’t received any money or publicity for the font. This is typical for the type industry I guess. I need to make my own publicity here, and what an opportunity to do so, an Oscar-nominated movie. Time to step up and own my work. There’s a problem though, I wouldn’t have chosen that font to parade in front of. I designed the Traho font as a graphic design student. It’s just 26 shapes. There’s not much consistency in the design of the letters. I spent no time considering the spaces in and around those shapes. Some of the letters look backward. I’ve spent the last four years studying and working as a professional type designer. It’s safe to say I’m a better designer these days. How can I own that work now? What will my fellow type designers think of me?
A type designer’s reaction
It’s a strange experience to see my work in Barcelona. I’m new to this city and new to the font industry. Being accepted in both is fairly important. As soon as I learned about the use of my Traho font on the Minari movie posters I cringed a little. In order to claim credit for the font, I might have to sacrifice my credibility in the type design community. That would be a shame because I like the industry. It’s full of stories that I think we can all learn from.
Since making that font four years ago I have spent my time studying and working in type design. There’s a lot to learn. The more I learned about this shadowy profession, the more I didn’t know. This centuries-old industry has high standards. It can be difficult trying to live up to them. Perfectionism, self-criticism and self-consciousness are common for new designers, nothing is ever finished or good enough. Possible critiques of other type designers weigh heavy. Now my first font is on posters all over the city and I don’t know what to make of it.
The story of Wim Crouwel and Gerard Unger
There are benefits to working and studying in an ancient industry too. Most problems have been seen before. When I was designing my Traho font as a graphic design student in Dublin Institute of Design, I remember feeling that I had discovered a whole industry underneath the letters. Insects under a rock. I was interested to find out more about these type designers but they came across a bit too strict and rule-bound for me. I broke these rules immediately with my font. I made some Traho font postcards to bring with me to the University of Reading. That’s where I could learn more about the type industry. Before leaving Dublin, a graphic designer opened my portfolio and asked me a question; “Do you know who Wim Crouwel is?” I shook my head. “Look him up before you set foot in Reading” he said.
The first type designer I met in Reading was Gerard Unger and he told me a story. I was attending a summer type design workshop and Unger spoke to each student about their own experience with type. From the first day I had the feeling that I was way too inexperienced and I didn’t exactly fit in. I was embarrassed about my font. The spare Traho font postcards I had brought stayed in my bag. Unger finally got around to me (I hadn’t exactly been feeling confident about meeting him); “Who’s your favourite designer?” He asked. “Wim Crouwel” I said, the only name I knew. “Wim Crouwel?” Unger was surprised. “He was my first boss you know. He designed an illegible font.” “No way” I muttered under my breath.
As the story went, in the 1960’s Unger was a young intern at Wim Crouwel’s studio and when Crouwel asked the intern what he thought of the New Alphabet font, Unger replied that he couldn’t read it. So Crouwel asked him to write a critique of the font. It was a big break for Unger. Wim Crouwel’s font and Gerard Unger’s critique were released together. Crouwel owned his work. He was saying; here is a font. We know it has flaws. Here are its flaws.
A type designer’s solution
So now here I am working on fonts for graphic designers to use. My eye has become more refined and a lot more critical. Perhaps I have conformed too much. Wasn’t there something pure about my first font? In an outsider art-y kind of way? Didn’t I have a point about all those rules being restrictive? I have not released anything else under my own name yet. I learned to slow down, train my eyes, take it all in, learn what came before me, respect the history, respect the other designers. I thought I had left the Traho font behind but it followed me here with the release of the Minari movie. What would a type designer do?
I remember the story of Wim Crouwel and Gerard Unger. Gerard is still teaching me even after he has passed. I decided to do the same myself. I will own my work in the same way that Wim Crouwel owned his New Alphabet font. I contacted the designer Erik Spiekermann, author of Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, a book I read while drawing the Traho font. I have asked him for a critique of my font.
Erik Spiekermann’s critique of Traho
“There is no bad type. It can be badly drawn, badly produced, badly conceived, and badly received. But there may always be just the one purpose that will make it shine. Somebody found it for Traho. It is terrible mannered, not well drawn and too obviously trying too hard. But it appealed to the designer of that poster and it may even be an appropriate expression of the movie’s content… But the most important thing is that it has taught you that type design is not easy, so you went ahead and learned more. I am glad about every designer who tries his/her hand at type design: they may either discover their talent, their lack of it and, above all, how time-consuming, at times boring and usually not very lucrative it is.”
Making fonts is hard, making money from fonts is hard. The type design industry is a strange world of people who live in the shadows of their work. It is also a warm and welcoming industry that looks after its own. A type designer never knows where their work will end up after they release it. My first font ended up at the Oscars four years after I drew it. I’m a better designer now and I will try to remember this story next time I have any doubt about releasing fonts. There is no bad type.
Dominic Stanley
Special thanks to
Danielle Townsend, David Joyce, Conor Clarke, Gerard Unger, Erik Spiekermann, Claudia Rifaterra Amenós, Renée Elizabeth Clarke, Craig Corbett, Andy Young
