From hvdfonts.com
© HVD Fonts
This past year, since attending the Type@Cooper
program, I’ve formed a new appreciation for talented typeface designers and now consider it one of my life goals to become an advocate for them.
As a letterer, I don’t often have the opportunity to use typefaces, so
I’m always excited when I find a typeface designer with a similar
aesthetic for the occasional times that I can use typefaces. Hannes Von Döhren is one of my personal
favs.
You may already be familiar with Hannes’s work because of his successful (and beautiful) Brandon Grotesque, which was adopted by Comedy Central as their main branding typeface. I also used it on our (my and Russ’s) Don’t Fear the Internet project. I think sometimes it can be difficult to find text faces with the right amount of personality, and it is in this area that Hannes really excels. Text type designers like Hannes make me envious because I wish so deeply that I could do what they do, but my brain isn’t wired to deal with such long-term involved projects.
You may already be familiar with Hannes’s work because of his successful (and beautiful) Brandon Grotesque, which was adopted by Comedy Central as their main branding typeface. I also used it on our (my and Russ’s) Don’t Fear the Internet project. I think sometimes it can be difficult to find text faces with the right amount of personality, and it is in this area that Hannes really excels. Text type designers like Hannes make me envious because I wish so deeply that I could do what they do, but my brain isn’t wired to deal with such long-term involved projects.
When Hannes released Pluto this year, I had the same visceral reaction as when I first spotted Brandon Grotesque. I was practically drooling and couldn't wait to find an excuse to use it!
A little about Pluto from Hannes’s site:
“Type designer Hannes von Döhren has created Pluto, a sweet type family consisting of 16 fonts. The fonts are informal and friendly at first sight and lend themselves to display settings, however the straight and upright architecture of Pluto also makes it perfect for longer copy. Because of its large x-height, it even performs nicely in very small sizes. This contemporary type family is ideal for use in retail, cosmetics, food and hospitality applications, and advertising.”
From hvdfonts.com
© HVD Fonts
From hvdfonts.com
© HVD Fonts
I think many graphic designers don’t really understand how much work and thought goes into making an excellent typeface, and I also think that while many self-proclaimed “type nerds” are familiar with font names and foundries, they often don’t investigate further and learn about the type designers themselves. Since becoming active in the type community and meeting more and more typeface designers, I’m so excited to encourage others to celebrate typeface designers and ask that next time you win some fancy design award you send a nice note to the silent contributor that helped make it possible—the type designer that created the font you used throughout your winning design.
