Font Designer – Terrance Weinzierl
Interview with Terrance Weinzierl
How did you felt in love for type design?
I fell in love with type while studying Graphic Design at Grand Valley State University. I was aware of typography before that, but learning more about it, and beginning to master it really drove me onward.
I took an advanced typography course in about 2006 where we dabbled in type design. I loved it and decided to pursue it further.
Attending workshops through the Type Director’s Club, TypeCon or even AIGA continue to refresh my interest and skills with type. Once you throw history and calligraphy into the mix, there are multiple lifetimes worth of study and practice to be enjoyed.
How many typefaces have you developed until now?
I’ve done a few faces for retail, like Romany™ and JMC Engraver™ and Feldman Engraver™. Most of the work I do, upwards of 90%, is custom projects for various Monotype clients. I’ve had the honor to contribute to faces like Open Sans and Segoe UI, as well as work on gems like Helvetica® and Trade Gothic® for our clients.
Is type design what you are mainly doing? What is your profession aside from type design?
I’m a full-time type designer working with Monotype. I enjoy doing illustrative lettering and calligraphy as side projects to round out my professional practice. I have some examples on my website, typeterrance.com
What inspired you to design Kairos?
I had experimented with the style as far back as 2011, and didn’t complete or release a design based on it. It wasn’t ready yet. More recently, I completed two different custom projects that called for octagonal designs like this, so I already had been looking at and researching the style. I wanted to expand on the ideas I had in working on in the prototypes and the custom faces, and develop a fully equipped family.
There are a number of typefaces that have a similar octagon shape, but none were perfect. There is Sackers™ Gothic, and ITC Machine™, and classics like Ironmonger, none of which are not very broad. I really liked a few 19th century wood type designs called Grecians, and some found in ATF catalogs like Octin and Chamfered. As with any typeface design, I put my own twist on it, and really tuned it to be the best expression of that style I could make.
What techniques did you use creating your font and what was the process for creating the design?
This is one of those styles that lends itself to digital, geometric drawing tools, so it was done almost entirely on screen. It was made completely with Glyphs. I reviewed the performance of the fonts on paper and in browsers.
What was the greatest challenge you faced while creating your typeface?
The difficult part of this design was getting the weights right, in particular the lightest and heaviest weights. Ultra thin weights can be very fussy, and I tried many different instances while fine tuning the weights and their distribution.
Kairos has a pretty heavy influence from traditional slab serifs, but the details, and variety of weights and widths make it contemporary. It often looks athletic, industrial, and stern. The sharp corners make it sparkle in headlines. But, when treated right, the subtle rounded features make it look more gentlemanly and gracious. It’s stout, but has energy.
Are there aspects of the design that you think should be highlighted, or you particularly want the graphic design community to know about your typeface?
The variety of weights and widths are somewhat unique in a single package, and definitely adds the the usability and flexibility Kairos offers.
The palette of weights adds quite a bit of flexibility, but I’d recommend it for headlines and sub-heads. The middle weights can be used for text (Light through Bold), and it performs surprisingly well. The most extreme weights like Thin and Black are just begging to be set at a very large size. It would be great for branding, advertising, and packaging. It could work for publication design as well. Because it is so square, it snaps to the pixel grid easily, so it’s quite durable on screen for web and app usage.
What are the unique details from which you think they distinguish your typeface?
The treatment of the head serifs, and the lowercase in general make it distinguishable. The ampersand, lowercase g and a, and 2 are stand-out favorite glyphs. It’s equipped with small caps, arrows, ornaments, and figure style options to add a little something extra when you need it.
What was the reason for you to give the typeface its name and what is the meaning?
Kairos is an ancient Greek work used to describe opportunity and time. Partly a play on the origins of the design being called Grecian, and partly sounding like Cairo, a wink at slab serifs described as Egyptian. It can also mean weather in modern and ancient Greek, so in a way, the variety of weights hints at a variety of weather conditions possible.
I fell in love with type while studying Graphic Design at Grand Valley State University. I was aware of typography before that, but learning more about it, and beginning to master it really drove me onward.
I took an advanced typography course in about 2006 where we dabbled in type design. I loved it and decided to pursue it further.
Attending workshops through the Type Director’s Club, TypeCon or even AIGA continue to refresh my interest and skills with type. Once you throw history and calligraphy into the mix, there are multiple lifetimes worth of study and practice to be enjoyed.
How many typefaces have you developed until now?
I’ve done a few faces for retail, like Romany™ and JMC Engraver™ and Feldman Engraver™. Most of the work I do, upwards of 90%, is custom projects for various Monotype clients. I’ve had the honor to contribute to faces like Open Sans and Segoe UI, as well as work on gems like Helvetica® and Trade Gothic® for our clients.
Is type design what you are mainly doing? What is your profession aside from type design?
I’m a full-time type designer working with Monotype. I enjoy doing illustrative lettering and calligraphy as side projects to round out my professional practice. I have some examples on my website, typeterrance.com
What inspired you to design Kairos?
I had experimented with the style as far back as 2011, and didn’t complete or release a design based on it. It wasn’t ready yet. More recently, I completed two different custom projects that called for octagonal designs like this, so I already had been looking at and researching the style. I wanted to expand on the ideas I had in working on in the prototypes and the custom faces, and develop a fully equipped family.
As with any typeface design‚ I put my own twist on it …
Are you influenced by other typefaces by the design of your typeface?There are a number of typefaces that have a similar octagon shape, but none were perfect. There is Sackers™ Gothic, and ITC Machine™, and classics like Ironmonger, none of which are not very broad. I really liked a few 19th century wood type designs called Grecians, and some found in ATF catalogs like Octin and Chamfered. As with any typeface design, I put my own twist on it, and really tuned it to be the best expression of that style I could make.
What techniques did you use creating your font and what was the process for creating the design?
This is one of those styles that lends itself to digital, geometric drawing tools, so it was done almost entirely on screen. It was made completely with Glyphs. I reviewed the performance of the fonts on paper and in browsers.
What was the greatest challenge you faced while creating your typeface?
The difficult part of this design was getting the weights right, in particular the lightest and heaviest weights. Ultra thin weights can be very fussy, and I tried many different instances while fine tuning the weights and their distribution.
Kairos often looks athletic‚ industrial‚ and stern.
Please describe the look and feel of your typeface.Kairos has a pretty heavy influence from traditional slab serifs, but the details, and variety of weights and widths make it contemporary. It often looks athletic, industrial, and stern. The sharp corners make it sparkle in headlines. But, when treated right, the subtle rounded features make it look more gentlemanly and gracious. It’s stout, but has energy.
Are there aspects of the design that you think should be highlighted, or you particularly want the graphic design community to know about your typeface?
The variety of weights and widths are somewhat unique in a single package, and definitely adds the the usability and flexibility Kairos offers.
The palette of weights adds quite a bit of flexibility …
For what applications would you recommend your typeface (posters, text, newspapers, advertisements, etc.)?The palette of weights adds quite a bit of flexibility, but I’d recommend it for headlines and sub-heads. The middle weights can be used for text (Light through Bold), and it performs surprisingly well. The most extreme weights like Thin and Black are just begging to be set at a very large size. It would be great for branding, advertising, and packaging. It could work for publication design as well. Because it is so square, it snaps to the pixel grid easily, so it’s quite durable on screen for web and app usage.
What are the unique details from which you think they distinguish your typeface?
The treatment of the head serifs, and the lowercase in general make it distinguishable. The ampersand, lowercase g and a, and 2 are stand-out favorite glyphs. It’s equipped with small caps, arrows, ornaments, and figure style options to add a little something extra when you need it.
What was the reason for you to give the typeface its name and what is the meaning?
Kairos is an ancient Greek work used to describe opportunity and time. Partly a play on the origins of the design being called Grecian, and partly sounding like Cairo, a wink at slab serifs described as Egyptian. It can also mean weather in modern and ancient Greek, so in a way, the variety of weights hints at a variety of weather conditions possible.