Articles & Essays

  • Of What Consequence, Design?

    Juliet Shen

    This essay is an evaluation of how the Initial Teaching Alphabet was designed. Juliet Shen looks at the history and aesthetics of this curious “alphabet reform” which, amazingly, is still in use…

  • Hearing Type

    Frank Armstrong

    “Rhythm” and “tone” are words that occur frequently in descriptions of both music and typography. As the author of this article points out: “Music notation is directly comparable to typography – both…

  • Searching for Morris Fuller Benton

    Juliet Shen

    The twentieth century went by with little being written about one of America’s most important type designers. The information on Morris Fuller Benton remained scant, partially because his work stood outside of…

  • The Monotype 4-Line System for Setting Mathematics

    Daniel Rhatigan

    The companion piece to Rhatigan’s Three Typefaces for Mathematics, this essay looks closely at the version of the Monotype keyboard and caster used to set mathematics. After years of development in the…

  • Thoughts on Type and the Digital Revolution

    James Clough

    A broad and engaging observation from a teacher, historian, typographer, lettering designer and calligrapher who has lived in Italy for the past thirty years. Clough looks from personal and historical points of…

  • Three Typefaces for Mathematics

    Daniel Rhatigan

    The most effective typefaces for mathematical notation are those that have been created or adapted especially for it, anticipating both the typographic and the technical issues involved. This extensive dissertation examines the…

  • French Type Foundries in the Twentieth Century

    Alice Savoie

    The value of this dissertation lies not only in what it imparts to the reader, but also in its rarity, since relatively little information on the recent history of type in France…