Traditionally, typeface design was practiced by a few specialists working for large type foundries. It was a very long process starting with original drawings, many proofing stages, the excruciatingly detailed and demanding art of punch cutting and on to the finished cast metal type. Now, through the use of the personal computer, many more people are designing alphabets in much less time. While the computer is widely used in letterform design, it is simply another tool, like the pencil, pen and brush, in the hands of the designer. Whether made with ink on Japanese paper, or by manipulating Bezier outline curves on a Macintosh computer, letterforms are still conceived by humans, using the mind, the heart and the hand.
Art begins where geometry ends, and imparts to letters a character transcending mere measurement.
Noted calligrapher and designer Julian Waters delivered this lecture at Washington's Sidwell Friends School, where he was the 1997 Rubenstein Memorial Guest Artist. He also teaches an annual master class at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Typeface Studies there. In 1997 Adobe Systems released his Multiple Master typeface, Waters Titling. Click here to view it. No portion of this article may be reproduced without the author's consent.