Why Design?

I have been in love with typography since the age of 16. I attended a Yearbook/Journalism conference in San Diego (yes, I was a proud high school Yerd ) and by accident found myself in a panel about the importance of typography in publications.

At this point in my design education, I knew different fonts existed (I made all my birthday cards with The Print Shop) but I never understood why the correct font was so important. The speaker told a story about selecting the right font with her yearbook editor in chief. They reviewed a book of fonts looking closely at each of the letters, one font was too childish, the other too formal. When the editor picked out one he thought would work, she looked at the font and commented, “no the lowercase e is too playful.”

The lowercase e was too playful, who even notices those things?! I was smitten, this idea that a lowercase e could be too playful was fascinating to me. That panel started a love affair with typography and design that has driven me for all of my career.