Talk Paper Scissors

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Gotham Release Date: 2000 Designers: Tobias Frere-Jones  Classification: Geometric sans serif Owned By: Hoefler&Co. Claim to Fame: The typeface that unified Barack Obama’s presi...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Comic Sans Release Date: 1994 Designers: Vincent Connare Classification: Sans serif script Owned By: Microsoft Corporation Claim to Fame: The world’s most loved-to-be-hated typeface...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Wingdings Release Date: 1990 Designers: Charles Bigelow & Kris Holmes Classification: Dingbats Owned By: Bigelow & Holmes, Microsoft Typography Claim to Fame: Wingdings allo...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Papyrus Release Date: 1982 Designer: Chris Costello Classification: Fantasy   Owned By: Letraset Claim to Fame: Used and abused in personal computing and recently spoofed on SNL.  L...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: ITC Zapf Chancery Release Date: 1979 Designer: Hermann Zapf  Classification: Script Owned By: Linotype Claim to Fame: The first and only calligraphic typeface shipped with the first...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Helvetica Release Date: 1957 Designer: Max Miedinger, Eduard Hoffmann Classification: Neo-Grotesque Sans Serif Owned By: Haas Type Foundry Claim to Fame: The world’s most ubiquitous...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Futura Release Date: 1927 Designer: Paul Renner Classification: Geometric Sans Serif Owned By: The Bauer Type Foundry Claim to Fame: The typeface that put a man on the moon.  Let&ap...

Send us Fan Mail From the middle ages to the Middle East, from Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before… welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.  Name: Blackletter (specifically Donatus-Kalender)  Release Date: 1455 Designer: Johannes Gutenberg Classification: Blackletter Owned By: n/a Claim to Fame: The world’s first mechanized ty...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to digital publishing’s present! The second in a 3-part mini-series, this episode explores the last 10 years of digital publishing and what’s going on in today’s publishing landscape. Four key trends are discussed: Digital Rights Management (DRM), software for digital publishing (namely, Adobe InDesign CC), self-publishing and publishing in a pandemic.   Let's Connect...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to digital publishing’s future! The third in a 3-part mini-series, this episode explores predictions about what digital storytelling could look like in 2022 and beyond. Also, special guest and PDF expert, Jason Lisi, joins us to dive deeper into PDF specifications for digital publishing and give us a sense of where PDF could be headed in the future.  Let's Connect on...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to digital publishing’s past! The first in a 3-part mini-series, this episode explores 40 years worth of major technologies and events in digital publishing, from the recognized birth of digital publishing in 1971 with Project Gutenberg to Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s books that went up in flames in 2010. Like Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Ca...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Years’ Eve! This is the final episode in a 5-part mini series leading up to 2021 that will get you thinking in fresh new ways for a fresh new year. This episode is all about a New Years’ Day tradition that involves focusing on feelings more than specific goals, and it’s especially helpful for visual thinkers.  Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram . :)

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Years’ Eve Eve! This is the fourth episode in a 5-part mini series leading up to 2021 that will get you thinking in fresh new ways for a fresh new year. This episode encourages you to think about creative insight in a new way and cha cha in the rain.  Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram . :)

Send us Fan Mail This is the third episode in a 5-part mini series leading up to 2021 that will get you thinking in fresh new ways for a fresh new year. This episode taps into an itty-bitty productivity hack that will help you get to the top of List Mountain.  Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram . :)

Send us Fan Mail This is the second episode in a 5-part mini series leading up to 2021 that will get you thinking in fresh new ways for a fresh new year. This episode focuses on three little words that may change the way you think about your next project.  Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram . :)

Send us Fan Mail This is the first in a 5-part mini series leading up to 2021 that will get you thinking in fresh new ways for a fresh new year. This episode focuses on the ways in which ‘the rules’ are fake.   Let's Connect on the web or via Instagram . :)

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode I have the honour and pleasure to introduce you to two creative, innovative and talented emerging designers who are going to do big things in this world. In fact, they’ve ALREADY done big things. Veronika Wiszniewska and Mary-Anne Buerano have designed incredible original typefaces (eat your heart out, Garamond!). Veronika designed a text face inspired by her au...

Send us Fan Mail Type, set, match!  It’s time for our third Talk Paper Quizzers episode where contestants answer trivia questions to compete for the completely fictional, completely worthless, but highly-coveted “Apostrophe”. In this episode, a live studio audience of typography students face off in 4 typesetting category rounds: typographic typos, signs & symbols, digital documents and custom...

Send us Fan Mail Some typefaces are designed to be legible, others to be beautiful, others to be odd, eccentric and quirky. But some typefaces are designed for very specific purposes and extend into important world issues, far removed from the pages they’re printed on. This week’s episode looks at 3 different designs (one holy, one old and one stylish) that aim to make the world a better place fro...

Send us Fan Mail From The Great Gatsby , to Monsters, Inc. , to The Godfather , typography has a significant role to play in film. Today’s episode explores the concept of ‘typecasting’ and kinetic typography in beloved films across a variety of genres. From Hollywood heavyweights to incredible indies, kinetic typography has the ability to layer in new meaning, convey strong emotions and help tell...

Send us Fan Mail The ampersand. You know, the ‘and’ symbol (&). There’s lots of history and lots of personality tied into this little knotted e and t, so come along for the journey in today’s episode. Here, you’ll learn about the ampersand’s ancient and modern histories, including how it was the ultimate underdog, almost lost forever under a layer of molten ash nearly 2000 years ago. This. Is....

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a fun one! Diana chats with Sarah Aspler, Senior Editor at Buzzfeed, to get the low down on type and other design decisions made by the media mogul. In this interview, you’ll learn ways to get started as a professional meme-maker, why you shouldn’t be “too precious with your work” and that spin class is really hard. Sarah’s laugh-out-loud personality, paired with t...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s episode features revered Toronto type artist, Christopher Rouleau. His work has been seen in the pages of Today’s Parent and Chatelaine magazines, as well as for companies like Pepsi and LG . He’s also a writer, educator and co-founder of Ligatures , Toronto’s typography hub.  In this episode, you’ll learn why setting creative limits is a good thing, why there’s a seat at...

Send us Fan Mail Hey sports fans! This episode is for YOU!  We’ve got the Leafs, we’ve got the Jays, we’ve got the Toronto FC, and we’ve got the Raptors. Today we’re talking Toronto sports... with a typographic nerdy twist!  Important questions that will be answered in this episode include: How are the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays connected through typography?  Why are there 16 X’s hand engraved on t...

Send us Fan Mail Type, set, match!  It’s time for our second Talk Paper Quizzers episode where contestants answer trivia questions to compete for the completely fictional, completely worthless, but highly-coveted “Apostrophe”.  In this episode, a live studio audience of typography students face off in 4 typesetting category rounds: formatting, focusing (emphasizing), fine-tuning and finessing.  Th...