Zuzana Licko was mentioned in 'Just My Type' by Simon Garfield, so I decided to research into her work.
Zuzana Licko
http://www.emigre.com/Bios.php?d=10
Zuzana Licko is the co-founder of Emigre, together with her husband Rudy VanderLans.Licko was born in 1961 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia and emigrated to the U.S. in 1968. She graduated with a degree in Graphic Communications from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984.
Emigre Magazine was founded in 1984 and garnered much critical acclaim when it began to incorporate Licko's digital typeface designs created with the first generation of the Macintosh computer. This exposure of her typefaces in Emigre magazine led to the manufacture of Emigre Fonts, which Emigre now distributes as software, worldwide.
Emigre
http://www.emigre.com/AboutEmigre.php
Emigre, Inc. is a digital type foundry, publisher and distributor of graphic design related software and printed materials based in Northern California.
Founded in 1984, coinciding with the birth of the Macintosh, Emigre was one of the first independent type foundries to establish itself centered on personal computer technology. Emigre holds exclusive license to over 300 original typeface designs created by a roster of contemporary designers. Emigre's full line of typefaces, ornaments and illustrations is available in Type 1 PostScript and TrueType for both the Macintosh and PC.
Emigre is also the publisher of the critically acclaimed design journal Emigre magazine which was published between 1984 and 2005.
An Interview with Zuzana Licko - Exerts
http://www.emigre.com/Licko2.php
In 25 words or less, What is a typeface? A typeface is the ornamental manifestation of the alphabet. If the alphabet conveys words, a typeface conveys their tone, style, and attitude.
How do you get ideas for new typeface designs? Most of my inspiration comes from the particular medium that I'm involved with at the time. I search out a problem that needs to be addressed or a unique result that a production method can yield.My interest in making type was initiated by my need for legible and visually interesting bitmaps for the early Macintosh computer screen and dot matrix printer. After the introduction of high resolution PostScript outline technology, I developed several high resolution designs based upon my earlier bitmaps. These include the Modula, Matrix, Narly, Citizen and Triplex designs. Recently I have revisited some of these early bitmap ideas with my Base 9 and Base 12 font designs. The Base families offer compatible screen and printer fonts to solve today's dual need of low resolution screen display and high resolution printing with an integrated typeface design.
More recently, my interest in creating somewhat more traditional text faces was a result of Emigre magazine's increased publishing of in-depth articles, which require fonts appropriate for lengthy text setting. My Baskerville revival, named Mrs Eaves, presented me with the opportunity to design some fanciful ligatures which help create visual interest and are reminiscent of customized lettering.
How do you judge the validity of a new or experimental typeface design? Design is about creating something new each time we approach a problem, even if it's the same problem. Over time, different solutions are required to address the same design problem because the context changes over time and results in shifting of meaning. Thus, the "same old solution" tends to become boring over time and leads the audience to lose interest.
In addition, new technologies and environments arise to present new problems for the designer to address. The most successful experimental typeface designs are often those that address the new needs of a new, yet unchartered technology.
What is your opinion about "cut & paste" or modified fonts? The cut & paste phenomenon of font generation has become very popular, mainly because it's a new found toy. Fonts have become popular because suddenly everybody has the capability of installing a custom selection of fonts to their personal computer. With this same computer anyone who chooses to can also install a font making program, and this has resulted in an increased interest in the making of fonts as well. The fact is, however, that most never get beyond tinkering with existing fonts because the design and manufacture of an original typeface is an incredible amount of work, which requires quite a bit of devotion to master. Of course, there is nothing wrong with experimentation and the customizing of fonts for private use, as long as the user has acquired a legal copy of the font they are experimenting with. The problem comes about when such products are distributed without compensation to, and without proper credit to their originators. Improper proliferation of these fonts serves to confuse the already obscure history of type.
Since type design has been a very exclusive field until recently, there is little information available as compared to other design disciplines. Often, people tend to forget that typefaces are in fact designed, and not merely static forms handed down from generation to generation. One of the frustrations is that credits for typefaces are usually missing from design pieces. Although a design project usually credits the work of the graphic designers, art directors, photographers, illustrators and even printers, seldom are the fonts or type designers mentioned, although the typeface(s) used may constitute a great portion of the resulting work.
Are revivals the next trend for serious type designers? I can't speak for all serious type designers, but my own interest for reviving the classics was sparked by two factors; the sophistication of today's personal computer, and the current content of Emigre magazine shifting towards more theory and text.
The original restraints that the personal computer put on type design (which made it so exciting for me in 1984) have disappeared within the standard graphic design environment. Of course they persist in low resolution environments, but the designer's personal computer tools today have plenty of power to render a limitless variety of forms.
The other and more important factor is that my typeface designs remain closely linked to their use in Emigre magazine. Since Emigre magazine currently tends to contain more critical writing and less visual material, it was only natural to develop more text faces, and revivals were a good place to start; a means of getting back to basics.
What are the future trends for type? Information is increasingly being stored, accessed and displayed in digital form. Thus, on-screen design has regained importance for multimedia CDs, electronic bulletin boards and the World Wide Web. Screen display is no longer a temporary analogy for the final printed piece; it has become the final method of viewing much of our information. This presents the challenge of addressing the coarse resolution of the common computer screen.
Meanwhile, the primary function of type remains communication and communication is becoming a basic need in our culture. In order to understand one another, human beings require an order to information; from the layout of the page to the shape of the letters, to the grammar of the text. The cut & paste "destroyed" typefaces and typography, popularized as the "grunge" movement, do not communicate much more than the image of destruction, and I believe this to be a reflection of our society's desperation about the vast technological changes which are taking away our familiar comforts of more traditional means of communication. As efficient exchange of information becomes a requirement in tomorrow's information age, it stands to reason that a sophisticated, highly ordered means of typographic expression will be adopted instead.
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