Notes

Wrestling With the World of Pixels

Alice Rawsthorn, Object Lesson columnist for the New York Times Magazine, interviews H&FJ on the design of Vitesse, their latest - beautifully designed - slab serif.

Rawsthorn’s article - Wrestling With the World of Pixels - neatly draws together three key themes: firstly, it profiles the idiosyncratic partnership between Hoefler and Frere-Jones (keen rival bibliophiles); secondly, it briefly introduces Vitesse (an elegant contemporary slab serif); and thirdly - the most interesting third - it introduces the challenges contemporary type designers face when designing typefaces for the world of pixels (a challenge that cannot be underestimated).

Hoefler states:

[The] problem is that pixels operate differently on screen to ink on paper, so typefaces for the web need different qualities.

The bigger problem is all of the technology that delivers the font to the viewer. The web site is delivered by one cluster of hardware to another, often with a different operating system, different browser and, in some cases, different pieces of software. That’s a very long chain. The number of variations is almost bottomless, and the results are unreliable at best.

There’s no question that this unpredictability is the next challenge facing web typography and it’s interesting to hear two accomplished typeface designers’ thoughts on the topic.

Whilst it’s encouraging to see the emergence of services like Typekit, Typotheque’s Web Fonts Service and - imminently - Fontdeck, the one, critical problem that remains to be resolved in the web fonts equation is the almost infinite number of possible display scenarios well-crafted typefaces have to operate within.

One of the answers, as Hoefler and Frere-Jones articulate, is the need to craft typefaces for on screen delivery. (A challenge the duo have been wrestling with for years.)

It’s clear there remains some ground to cover, but it’s encouraging to see two designers of the caliber of H&FJ actively embracing the challenge.

In closing, Hoefler states:

We have lots of ideas, some have to do with design and some have to do with the technology that delivers the font … That’s the secret formula we can’t talk about yet.

With the rapidly evolving web fonts landscape, let’s hope that H&FJ’s mysterious secret formula isn’t too far off. There’s no doubt that a reliable solution that addresses the myriad complexities of web typography is needed. If it enables the display of H&FJ’s beautifully crafted typefaces, even better.

When can we expect it? Watch this space…

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In addition to their role as lecturers in interactive design at the University of Ulster at Belfast, where they have been active in promoting a web standards-based curriculum, Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson are practicing designers and digital artists. Their work has featured in a variety of design books and magazines alongside numerous internationally respected designers and they are regular speakers at design conferences and workshops worldwide.

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