Spotlight for Typographics
I was on standby to do a “spotlight” at Typographics — a quick word at the microphone in between the main conference speakers. They didn’t need me after all, but here’s what I would have said:
Hi everyone, my name is Tim Brown. I started my career as a web designer, and now I’m Head of Typography at Adobe. If you want to know me better, check out Typekit Practice or read an article I wrote, Paying for Type.
I wanted to thank all of you for your patience with Adobe, and your faith in our Type team. Thank you for the opportunity to affect the business of type design and the practice of typography. This is a very special moment in history for both.
And I need your help. I wrote a book called Flexible Typesetting, for A Book Apart, because the web has changed typography. I need you to read this book so that we can talk.
Right now, we don't have words to describe the work we're doing when we set type in multidimensional, relative ways. And we don't have the right tools for doing that work. Join me in understanding what has changed and figuring out what we need.
This is my first time at Typographics, and it has been excellent. Thank you for your time, and thanks to the folks at Cooper for putting on an incredible event.
And it really was incredible. Beautiful summer days in the heart of New York City, in historic buildings of The Cooper Union.
I especially enjoyed TypeLab – the chill, alternative track of the conference – with its informal presentations, demos, discussion, and live lettering. Whiteboards & chalkboards everywhere. Saw friends I hadn’t seen in years, and met some great new ones. Definitely going to attend again.