The Interrogang Podcast

How much could an agent help freelance designers find work‽ Josh and Kyle put on a suit and tie this week and tackle some business topics. Could tying cost-of-living data to font prices be the way of the future? And what would a world with type design agents look like? Along the way, Josh wants to start a giant game of font naming telephone and Kyle is freelance Robocop. As if there is any questio...

How did all these foundries keep so busy this summer‽ There's so much to cover in this episode: the concept of social kerning, new foundry Adotbelow 's explorations of multiculturalism in type, CSTM's Backslanted defying the laws of typographic gravity, Arbale serving as Typofonderie's Avengers, the hints of Helvetica in Typotheque's Münchenstein , the orderly bounciness o...

Do you have any bad habits you need to break‽ Josh and Kyle are back in the habit of podcasting, so they wonder how much the traits you develop as you grow up might hold you back as a professional. You probably don't need to unlearn everything you know, because sometimes, your habits just make you who you are. Kyle can't finish what he starts and Josh's arm movements are barely huma...

Aren't we all a snob about something‽ Well, we tried our best not to be too obnoxious about it in this Rewind episode about having strong personal preferences around type. Support the Interrogang and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter or The Concierge Newsletter for all the independent type news that's fit to email!

How many stars does a sensible serif deserve anyway‽ We return to the pros and cons of a widespread font rating system in this week's Rewind. Support the Interrogang and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter or The Concierge Newsletter for all the independent type news that's fit to email!

Would you snap your fingers and make 50% of all fonts disappear‽ Will Josh or Kyle put on the gauntlet, or will they send in the Avengers to save the fonts? Support the Interrogang and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter or The Concierge Newsletter for all the independent type news that's fit to email!

What does it mean to pursue perfection in type design‽ It's summer so maybe we should just hit the pool, but we decided to tackle some big type topics first. There are designers out there working to make the perfect font right now, and maybe Jony Ive's LoveFrom Serif found it, but is it worth the time and energy? The guys think through nobility and ego and legacy and motivation and Dr. S...

Can you tell the difference between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence‽ Special guest Lindsey Laseter joins the guys this week in Part 3 of our AI series to share her perspective on what AI means to the design world. She leaves the guys actually feeling all warm and fuzzy about it. Then Josh throws font descriptions at Lindsey and Kyle and they have to guess if a human wrote it or if C...

How can we keep up with all these new fonts‽ Well, we cram three weeks of our favorites into one episode, that's how! The guys discuss Commercial Type's Terza at Editor speed, the delightful refinement of Glazier from Positype, and the out-of-this-world influences of Production Type's Paramount . There is also plenty about whether NaN needed the aid of elves to complete the unconven...

Does it matter where your inspiration comes from‽ We love hearing about where great design ideas come from, but the guys find that your personal design journey can be just as fun when you just do it your way and don't feel obligated to explain your creative decisions. That said, type designers can find inspiration in just about anything, which explains their love of time traveling fonts, crea...

How much is Apple dictating the future of typography‽ Whether it's more 3D type, worrying about your font's weight, or making sure there is always a variable option, there could be big changes coming to the type world. Or not. We're not quite sure what the future holds, but at least there are exciting font newsletters to fill our time with... Proof&Co. releases highlighted in th...

Why is it so hard to book Etaoin Shrdlu‽ Well, we got Doug Wilson instead, who joins the podcast this week to tell us all about his upcoming Linotype Book Project, documenting the history of the famous typesetting machine and its outsized impact on printing, journalism, and society. You can subscribe to this fantastic project at https://linotypebook.com . We know you’ll want to, we don’t even need...

How sinful can a font even be‽ This episode smells a bit of sulfur as the guys dream up designs for fonts named after the Seven Deadly Sins. This "tour-de-sins" overcomes its slothfulness to bring us drippy descenders, smoky serpents, and fonts that look like Spider-Man villains. Kyle might be the least wrathful person you'll ever meet and Josh's biggest sin turns out to be usi...

What are the most "flawless" typefaces out there‽ Well, it's subjective, but type nerd Kyle shares his list for the can't-go-wrong, no-notes independent fonts out there. The guys also dig deep into whether new tech in type constitutes cheating in your design process, or maybe it's just progress, hard to say. And you'll have to listen to hear who Kyle refers to as the...

What does a font go through to become a "mutant"‽ This is the question inspired by Signal Type Foundry's release of Reckham this week, and that's not all! We also discuss the affordability of Kimura Sans from Plau Design, Nova Type Foundry's "whipped-cream dollopy" Baga ,  why Octavia from Flavia Zimbardi and Tida Tep is the Ethel Merman of fonts, and how the lis...

How can type design benefit from advancements in AI‽ Kyle's here to tell you how, and whether it's doing the kerning for you, writing your specimen copy, or inspiring new genre mash-ups, Artificial Intelligence might just lead you to the best unpaid intern you've ever had. Then the guys do some soul-searching and identify their "glyph essence". Kyle needs to say "no&q...

How big of a threat is the oncoming AI revolution to type design‽ Well, type nerds, it's hard to say. Josh and Kyle assess the threat level that Artificial Intelligence poses to type designers and find that they're actually less worried about it than everyone else seems to be. Kyle is downright positive about its inspirational impact (surprise, surprise) and Josh thinks cheerleaders are...

Some fonts are more than what they seem, aren't they‽ This week, Kyle takes us on a journey through some recent font releases that may seem unassuming at first, but require a double take, like R Typography's Picaresk , a blocky grot that walks the line between a 19th-century Egyptian look and a 1930s Great Gatsby feel. Or the once in-house Onsite from Sociotype, a font so beloved by the...

Ready to play along with some Type Jeopardy‽ Josh and Kyle each play host and contestant in this round, with clues coming from three type-themed categories: Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Catch Me 'Ser'if You Can, and Shared Names. Josh thinks there are such things as "Yielding Serifs" and Kyle has gone insane listening to the Jeopardy theme all week, just to win fake money. It a...

Care to join us on a typographic journey through time‽ The past week's type releases give us a chance to do just that with Ohno Type Co's art-deco inspired (and perhaps worrisomely named) Regrets ; the updated, expanded, and neato Netto from TypeMates; a modernist take on the historical Clarendon with Studio Rene Bieder's Stakkat ; and a retro, baseball-inspired Tuscan serif with Di...

What’s wrong with selling your font as one that can do it all‽ The guys worry that you can oversell the usefulness of your fonts, and thus hurt your actual sales. Can a font fulfill the dream of being "one-size-fits-all" for your needs or does that just make it boring, and perhaps, a liar? Josh also rants about how overused the word "workhorse" has become and Kyle calls for an...

Did the Big Apple make a big mistake‽ Josh and Kyle are in a New York state of mind this week when they review the new "We Heart NYC" campaign. New York City had the chance to make it here, but instead chose to make it anywhere, and the guys are not impressed. Kyle suggests some New York-based type designers and foundries who could have given the rebrand a better local flair and Josh pit...

Who gave Times New Roman all this power‽ Joshua "The Scorpion" Dick and Kyle "Victory Hands" Read review the contentious switch from Times New Roman to Calibri made by the US State Department this year and worry about how little control we actually have about which fonts become all-powerful. Times New Roman may be on its way out, but there are some TNR diehards out there still...

Where does inspiration come from when designing a font‽ There were plenty of answers to that question from this past week, from Beast of England's Acorn reminiscing about Acorn Computers to Clothilde Bouan's Niki , which delightfully reflects artist Niki de Saint-Phalle's extensive repertoire, to DS Type's Prelo Pro taking a cue from...its own Prelo family DNA. We also find tha...

Is who you know more important than what you know‽ Josh and Kyle cut through the social foofah to put the phrase "It's not what you know, it's who you know" in its place, all while trying to convince you they aren't lonely hermits. There are also two months of type releases to review, and we realize how Ohno Type Co.'s name may hint at our impending doom. It's a...