Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Off Book is a series from PBS Arts dedicated to documenting the creative process, and expanding the definition of art. Produced by New York filmmakers Kornhaber Brown, the series premiered with an exploration of “light painting”, and the intention to explore a new artistic genre every episode. Episode two focusses on typography, with H&FJ representing the sub-sub-sub-genre of typeface design. Pentagram partners Paula Scher and Eddie Opara discuss their unique perspectives on typographic identity (in both senses of the word), and designers Julia Vakser and Deroy Peraza of Hyperakt discuss the range and reach of data visualization, a genre unto itself. And kudos to Kornhaber Brown for wrapping up with the one-minute segment, “How to talk about type like you know what you're talking about.” Required pre-holiday watching for our families. —JH

Off Book Episode Two, from PBS Arts

We're generally content to control font outlines by pushing points around on a screen, but an intuitive interface for managing the entire gestalt of a type family remains elusive. H&FJ's Andy Clymer tends to develop fonts and tools together (one always seems to be the excuse to create the other), and this is his latest exploration: using facial recognition to control the basic parameters of a font's design.

Behold Andy modeling his latest creation, which employs Kyle McDonald's FaceOSC library, GlyphMath from RoboFab, and Tal Leming's Vanilla to mutate the geometries behind our Ideal Sans typeface in realtime. I'm intrigued by the potential to control local and global qualities of a typeface at the same time: fingers and mouse to design the details, faces and cameras to determine their position in a whole realm of design possibilities. I wonder about the possibilities of a facial feedback loop, in which one's expression of wonder and delight could instantly undo a moment of evanescent beauty. And then there are the possibilities of environmental pathogens affecting letterforms: what might too much caffeine, air conditioning, or ragweed pollen do to a typeface? Listening to Louis C.K.? Too many whiskey sours? —JH

Hoefler & Frere-Jones is very proud to be among the honorees of the 2011 National Design Awards, announced this morning by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

An official White House project created to increase national awareness of the role of design, the National Design Awards are given annually in recognition of excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement in design. Now in its twelfth year, the award celebrates the achievements of designers in ten categories from architecture to fashion. In 2009, H&FJ became the first typeface designers ever to be recognized by this prestigious award, and Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones and Carleen Borsella were among the honorees invited to a special luncheon at the White House hosted by first lady Michelle Obama.

We are again honored to be in such distinguished company at the National Design Awards. In recognition of his extraordinary influence on both the study and practice of graphic design, Steve Heller will receive the 2011 Design Mind award. Ben Fry, co-architect of the Processing programming language, will be recognized for his groundbreaking work in data visualization with the award for Interactive Design. And of special significance to everyone at H&FJ is the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, which this year will be presented to our longtime friend and colleague, type designer Matthew Carter. These are extraordinary times for typeface design. —H&FJ

Hoefler & Frere-Jones: 2011 National Design Awards Finalist