Having built a career as a design every man, Steven Bonner nurtures a flexible approach that works across all creative disciplines. He takes a blank canvas approach to each brief that has helped him develop a varied skillset over years, leading to a portfolio with a unique mix of design, illustration, and lettering. This versatility has allowed him…

This original interview with Martina was recorded on June 8, 2016. Martina Flor combines her talents as both a designer and an illustrator in the drawing of beautiful letters. Based in Berlin, she has worked in the creative industry for over 12 years with an emphasis on type design, lettering, and illustration. Working by hand as well as digitally,…

The original interview was recorded on May 26, 2017. Font designer Chank Diesel was born Charles Anderson, but neighbors called him "Chanky," after Spanky from the Little Rascals. He has been running his Minneapolis-based type house and art studio, Chank Fonts since 1992. Clients who have used Chank’s custom font services include Ben & Jerry's, Car…

Angela Southern is a bespoke lettering artist and illustrator who learned her craft on the job as a sign artist at Trader Joe’s from other professional lettering artists at the company. She became good at cranking out lots of artwork under deadline and is now doing work for Time Out, Cooking Light Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Hudson Valley Magazine,…

In this episode, Terrance reveals how he came to specialize in type, and show some development milestones along the way. Besides type design, he touches on calligraphy, lettering, and real-world applications like food packaging. He talks about some of his greatest hits like the custom font family for Domino’s, Joanna Sans Nova, and Kairos. I met Te…

Paul was a former script coordinator in network TV for close to a decade before shifting to the world of design. Select credits include Friday Night Lights (NBC), Switched at Birth (ABC Family/Freeform), and Mercy (NBC). Paul and I chat about Courier as the linchpin behind the scenes of Los Angeles typography. As the standard face for all motion pi…

What is the future of typography, as our lives are becoming more digital? Gemma O'Brien is on the show from her studio in Sydney, Australia, and she will explore this question while we have a conversation about her philosophy behind the trend of authenticity in design and why she thinks the future of typography is human. In this discussion, Gemma a…

In this episode, I chat with designer Steve Rachwal who used to work as a typesetter at EllaType on Sunset Boulevard from 1985 to 1988 on the Berthold phototypesetting computer system. EllaType was strictly a Berthold shop, which featured the best cut fonts in the world. Steve helped to typeset nearly the entire Motown music collection as they conv…

In this session we get a rare peek at some of the type projects and mindset Rod and his team work on in their San Francisco design office, PSY/OPS. Rod also serves as Adjunct Professor of Type Design at California College of the Arts; and Instructional Lead at (The) Alphabetic Order. His passion for type and teaching are boundless, and he can usual…

Nikki Villagomez is Graphic Designer and Creative Studio Manager at Dixon Hughes Goodman. She is also an avid letterhunter and the author of Culture + Typography: How Culture Affects Typography. She’s been scouring the nation seeking clues that communicate the culture of a city through the typography of the city surroundings, evident in historical …

In the dojo, we'll talk about aspects of visual design influenced by type and typography with a designer or two in every episode. In the first episode of Typography Dojo, Rachel Elnar gives you a sneak peek of what you can expect in our upcoming sessions. Previews of discussions are revealed with Australian mural lettering artist Gemma O'Brien, San…