My debut as a typographer is still a work in progress. I created it for self-promotional pieces that I am using to look for work outside of the corporate design world.
To make them look as non-corporate as possible, the typeface and the self-promotional pieces consciously avoid Swiss Modernism. Instead, I took inspiration from the earlier Modern example of geometric Bauhaus typography and the Renaissance tradition of using the golden section for composition (in this case using it for the form as well).
My other modern inspiration is not as visually apparent, but I think it comes through in the personality of the letterforms. When I first saw Picasso and Matisse, probably in a high school art history book back in Ohio, I found it exhilarating. Among other things, I saw in their work a real joy in creating, and very personal expression. I tried to capture some of this idiosyncrasy as an antidote to the universal claims of cool, rational modern design.
This decision wasn’t made for purely visual reasons. I think the distinction between Swiss Modernism and other, more personal modern art and design, parallels some of the difficulties designers face in a culture that unconsciously ascribes to positivist philosophy that values science over other disciplines or ways of knowing, such as history, literature and art. This can lead designers to try to rationalise our work. Unfortunately, when we do this, I think we’re undermining a great strength – after understanding the problem and its context, our talent for making a qualitative, intuitive decision about the best solution.