After we started the first FontShop in Berlin
in 1989 and put hundreds if not thousands of PostScript fonts within easy reach of type-thirsty designers, a lot of them quickly got bored with the standard libraries. As we knew quite a few type designers, we decided that FSI FontShop International would launch its own library of original typefaces, by designers, for designers. Neville Brody and myself happened to have a few faces ready, as did our Dutch friends: Just
van Rossum, Erik van Blokland, Max Kisman. The response from the design community was totally positive: other designers (even from outside the Netherlands) submitted their fonts to us, and the design community helped the collection grow by investing in FontFonts for their type libraries—honest-to-goodness grass-rootiness
at work. The FontFont library is now the largest collection of contemporary typefaces anywhere—the biggest of the small foundries, some call
us—and includes many of the most widely used typefaces today.
Designers now need images as much as they needed fonts twelve years ago. When a concept works, don’t fix it. Again we invited fellow designers, this time to submit their favorite pictures. This summer, we launched fStop: pictures by designers for designers. More grass-rootiness,
and a great alternative to traditional royalty-free stock images.
In this issue of font, we will explore the graphic design in i-jusi magazine, get a preview of a typo-environmental project by Why Not Associates, see the latest FontFont releases, and with great pleasure, introduce you to fStop.
Erik Spiekermann
|
|
|
