Good afternoon everyone,

Do you remember that project that I did of collecting the complete short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald? Well, the book is out in May and I'm doing a talk at Russell's fun Interesting conference on May 17th. It will only be ten minutes long and I am on first. If that sounds like something you would enjoy, you can buy tickets here! It would be really nice to see you there. :)

I have bought a new font for this presentation and I'm very jazzed about it, so today's Fem Fri is about the women of fonts.

We start with Veronika Burian, who started her own font foundry. Here she is talking about how she got there:

Becoming more and more disillusioned with the reality of product design, my interests shifted increasingly towards typography. A friend, who is a type enthusiast, introduced me then to the world of type design. I knew i found something i really enjoyed and felt at home with. […] Encountering type design was like falling in love.

https://horizoninteractiveawards.com/news/article/developer-spotlight-type-style-designer-veronika-burian-from-type-together

I love history and the 1920s and here's Elizabeth Friedlander who designed her own font in the 1920s! It's not the one I bought but here is an article about her:

In the period that Friedlander was working, although Europe had been wrecked by WW2 – literally, figuratively and economically, it was still more commonplace for every household to own, and be engaged with, “good” design. A sort-of leftover from pre-war ideals and orthodoxy: “People had very clear ideas on design, and were all writing didactic texts on what was good and what wasn’t. They were terribly certain about it and convinced that they were writing from a neutral, objective position, in a way that seems odd today.”

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/elizabethfriedlander-graphicdesign-internationalwomensday-080318

Finally, here is Susan Shaw, who ran the Type Archive well into her eighties:

many in the industry will attest to Shaw’s commitment to all things to do with type. She wanted local schools to have a typeface of the week to educate seven year olds in the aesthetics of type and to understand the role that type plays in modern society. She was also frequently critical of slip shod use of type, print and binding quality, and would not understand how others could not share what she could see so clearly.

https://printbusiness.co.uk/susan-shaw-driving-force-for-type-archive-dies/

Love (and hope to see you soon!)

Alex.