„50 kilka porad na temat typografii”

16 maja odbyło się spotkanie z Enricem Jardi - autorem książki „50 kilka porad na temat typografii” wydanej patronatem STGU. Autor poprowadził wykład zatytułowany „Hiszpańscy typografowie i designerzy, których nie znacie” oraz znalazł chwilę na rozmowę z dr Borysem Kosmynką.

Borys Kosmynka: 

I really enjoyed your lecture about the Spanish Graphic Designers. But we’re here to talk about your book. Its recommended as a world’s bestseller – how many languages it was already translated to?

E.J:

The first edition was in Spanish and English.

The second one was in Catalan and Spanish, and now in Polish.

B.K.: 

During the talk you mentioned that typography is very dependent on the medium, on the intent of the letterforms and where they're used. In the same way, people who design typography create it for a certain context, and there's a massive variety of those as well as levels of advancement of it. So, who is your book predominantly aimed for?

E.J:

In that sense, if I'm honest, it's meant to be used by paper graphic designers because it's where I come from. Although, in this version, I introduced some things about screen.

B.K.: 

Okay. And in modern-day typography, even in its paper form, do you feel that the need for paper is disappearing or is it coming back? Where are we?

Because there was a big time where people thought that books are over.

E.J:

Well, books are not over. Newspapers are dying. They're not over but are dying very slowly... And nowadays... I was involved in newspaper design a few years ago, but now there are no new newspapers and they are selling less and less. And basically, the newspaper nowadays, it's a logo. It’s a website, it's a reference, and nobody knows how it will end. But it's a slow ending of the paper. 

But paper books are not over. And e-books somehow didn't replace the paper book, but it's a new market. It's different. And I think they are selling more and more books. But by now, it's... I think by now, you never know, but by now, paper is not replaceable.

B.K.: 

What made you choose a book format, rather then something open like an online resource, or an app.

E.J:

Nobody would pay for a digital version of this book.

B.K.: 

Okay, I see. What challenges do you think are present in typography nowadays in designing paper typography or designing typography in general?

E.J:

In general, the problem is that you can make excellent typographic design as they are doing, because nowadays, there are a lot of foundries, a lot of type designers, and they are more and more. They are better and better and better. But when you have to use a typeface, at the end, the client is using Calibri and other typefaces that are available.

So I think this is hard to say, but the next thing will be that typefaces will be available in all media, and this means for free. Yes, nobody would pay for it.

Only designers pay for special typefaces.

I think we have too many typefaces, and the good ones you have to pay. But the better the type designers, the more similar typefaces look like.

For instance, this typeface (pointing to the iPhone screen) was made for Apple, this is geometrical, neo-grotesque with round dots. How many typefaces like this are there?

There are thousands of thousands of very good families. I'm not saying very good, but hundreds and hundreds of very good families that look exactly the same like this.

This is somehow a contradiction. The more skilled the designers, the more typefaces look alike.

B.K.: 

Where would you say you see innovation for design in typographic sense, in designing text, in designing books?

E.J:

It's hard to say, because the most beautiful things still happen in paper. You don't see beautiful websites meant for reading. So somehow the place to read nowadays is the book or the mobile, not the big screen.

Nobody reads long texts in the big screen. They read also or maybe tablets, but the tablet is something that nobody knows how it will end. It's something probably will end to a mix of mobile and tablet.

B.K.: 

Definitely, I would say that there's a lot of space for innovation in terms of designing beautiful websites with great text and great reading experience. And it’s quite challenging because of the web technology, but I can promise you as type designers, we're working very hard on making beautiful web fonts.

I'm sure you get asked that a lot. I do as well. What is your favorite typeface?

E.J:

No, I don't like this question. Anyway, you can put “Swift”. That's the same one I use in the cover and in text because it fits both in display and text.

B.K.: 

Very flexible.

E.J:

Also a very influential typeface. If you think about influential typefaces, like Frutiger.

Frutiger influences a lot of typefaces. Swift influences a lot of typefaces.

B.K.: 

Are you a fan of Gerhard Unger?

E.J:

Gerhard Unger, yeah. I meet him. He was a very nice guy.

I like the way he approaches things. I remember him in a conference saying, why does typography design show the layout? I never did the layout. As soon as I had a computer, I did my work in computers. Why do they have to simulate making these arrows? They never used this. Why don't you work straight on the screen?

B.K.: 

Can you tell me a little bit about your favorite project that you have done in your career? Maybe something that comes to your mind.

E.J:

Now I'm working on a project about images. It will probably be a book or a documentary. I still don't know. I'm trying to set up not a theory of image. This is why I use these images of Javier Jaén and these things about how images work. It's very complex. I have to study different fields. I have a lot of notes. I have a lot of texts about how images work. The final form, I still don't know what it is, but I have a lot of material for that. I don't know what it will be.

B.K.: 

What would you like your students to achieve and do with text?

E.J:

I would like to see projects at the end of the process that invite you to read.

B.K.: 

I'm happy that you did the book. We're going to recommend it to the young generation of designers. Thank you.