Pimp my Type

With so many options out there, font licensing can feel like a headache! But it's critical to understand it before choosing a typeface. That's why I'm thrilled to welcome Joyce Ketterer, CEO of Darden Studio and expert on font licensing, to help us untangle it all. We discuss Among answering listener questions, we discuss: The most common commercial font license models and how to choose the right one. The differences between open-source fonts and commercial options. Whether using Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts is really safe What designers and developers need to know before selecting a font. The risks of skipping proper font licensing — and how to avoid them. Talking Points: 06:34 – Fonts Are Licensed, Not Purchased08:45 – Restrictions on System Fonts12:08 – Adobe Fonts and Licensing Challenges14:42 – Using Fonts for Logos and Glyphs18:07 – Software vs. Intellectual Property Licensing Models26:36 – Free vs. Licensed Fonts30:08 – Why Foundries Price Fonts for Companies39:01 – Perpetual vs. Timed Licenses44:17 – Licensing Fonts for Apps, Websites, and E-books56:07 – Embedding Fonts in PDFs58:19 – Contacting Foundries for Guidance

Web accessibility is an afterthought or a technical thing for many designers. At least I saw it that way before I embarked on my accessibility journey. But It's during the design process when crucial decisions are made – and these go a long way! So to give designers some practical tips, I invited web accessibility expert Mina Nabinger to join me in a fun talk. We discuss What you should pay attention to as a designer, covering things like: Why accessibility matters and is not just a checklist, The legal landscape, especially in the EU, the most critical issues for visual designers, How much accessibility is needed vs. nice to have, and Balancing accessibility with aesthetics. Talking Points: 04:09 – Mina's Background in Accessibility06:47 – Why Accessibility Matters08:22 – Relevance of Accessibility for Visual Designers10:52 – Top Accessibility Issues in Visual Design13:34 – Accessibility as a Continuous Process, Not a Checklist15:05 – Critical Issues in Visual Design Accessibility21:42 – Legal Landscape of Accessibility in the EU26:08 – Icon Buttons Without Labels29:24 – Challenges with Moving Images and GIFs32:11 – Links in Paragraphs and Touch Targets37:50 – Outdated Icons: Do They Still Work?40:25 – Writing Accessible Call–to–Action Buttons43:26 – How Much Accessibility is Needed vs. Nice to Have?47:05 – Balancing Accessibility with Aesthetics50:48 – Screen Resolution and Text Size for Accessibility56:00 – Final tips for visual designers

Are the fonts you pick actually any good? And I don't mean if they fit the topic or the aesthetics of your project. I mean the quality of the actual font. Is it well-made? To help us with that, I invited type designer Alanna Munro. You will learn: How Alanna combined a passion for gaming with type design. The problem with marketplaces The three most important things to check if it's a quality letterform About optical illusions and type design What curve speed is The difference between a font and a typeface We assess five fonts, going from bad

What makes an accessible typeface? And how can we improve typography in regard to web accessibility? To answer this and other questions, I invited type designer Eleni Beveratou, creative director at Dalton Maag. We discuss:

Typography for print can be intimidating to many designers, especially when you focus on digital mostly. This is why I invited specialist Diana Varma to share her knowledge of what to pay attention to when dealing with type for print. You will learn:

In the second part of the two part conversation with Nadine Chahine, type designer and CEO of I Love Typography, we dig into the world of distributing typefaces. I asked Nadine, what motivated her in this highly competitive market to start a marketplace for fonts? We dig into:

In this first of the two part conversation with Nadine Chahine, type designer and CEO of I Love Typography, we dig into Arabic type design, typography and type design in general. Browse Fonts on I Love Typography

Designer, tinkerer and typographer Jason Pamental joins me to chat about what creative possibilities variable fonts bring. We also dive into web font performance, how to improve loading speed with practical tips, and why this all will become obsolete in the nearer future. From this easy going conversation, you'll learn: ➡️ What's different with typography for screen design. ➡️ About the most common typographic challenges on the web. ➡️ What effect bad web typography has on people. ➡️ About the adoption of variable fonts in 2022.

I am joined by the lovely author and typography professor Indra Kupferschmid to chat about type classification and combining typefaces. We cover why the old systems don't work, and touch on a font matrix. It's a brilliant way by Indra, that tells you how to describe typefaces differently, and helps in making better decision in pairing them. Besides that, Indra also shares: ➡️ how calligraphy taught her why letter forms change when using different writing tools. ➡️ that her student's don't feel that intimidated by combining fonts. ➡️ why popular typefaces like Roboto and Inter work so well and still might stick around for some years. Talking points: 00:00 – Introduction 04:36 – Greeting to Indra Kupferschmid 05:36 – Avoid flipped apostrophes (should look like a 9) 08:01 – Consistent typography makes text easier to understand 11:44 – Categorizing typefaces 16:23 – About historic type classifications 20:07 – Why the old type classification models don't work 22:31 – Filtering Fonts to make it easier to pick one 25:55 – Filtering based on features 27:54 – Terminology is the biggest problem, better describe what you see 28:59 – The Font Matrix 38:04 – Creating contrast 39:50 – Don't use too light typefaces for body text 43:23 – Why are Roboto and Inter so popular for UI design? 48:25 – Why there are so little serif typefaces on screen? 53:59 – Are more typefaces now shown than images? 56:03 – Rapid Round of questions 58:32 – Goodbye

I'm joined by wonderful José Scaglione. He is a type designer, lecturer, and co-founder of the high renown foundry TypeTogether, which is behind popular typefaces like Bree or Adelle. They worked with top brands, like Apple and Google, where they also contributed serif typefaces for screen rendering. And this is why I invited José – to discuss with him the predominance of sans-serif in user interfaces and screen design more broadly. We speak about, why it might be a legacy issue, and that moving out of your comfort zone can be very rewarding. It brings us to legibility, readability, and accessibility. José also shares how he experienced the switch from static fonts to variable fonts as a type designer and foundry. If you struggle with pairing typefaces, this episode also has some tips for you. Talking points: 00:28 Introduction 02:39 Greeting to José Scaglione 03:36 Is the font in the TypeTogether logo overused? 06:01 Don't use tabular figures on business cards 07:27 Benefits of learning about typography 09:49 Why is sans-serif dominant in UIs? 13:02 Legibility, regardless of sans or serif 15:34 Why are neo-grotesques so popular? 17:08 Arguments against neutrality & Helvetica 18:57 Portada: A serif typeface for UI design 20:39 Complexity of printing vs screen 24:30 Variable fonts and optical sizing 27:57 Variable fonts and file size 29:37 Do you need the design space of VF? 31:31 Belarius: Slab serifs in UI design 35:40 Accessibility and typography 42:38 Advice for typography newbies 43:20 Tips on pairing typefaces 45:26 Rapid Round of questions 47:11 Goodbye 48:18 Summary Visuals, quotes, and links: https://pimpmytype.com/talk01

Hello and welcome Typography enthusiast to Pimp my Type as a podcast! Let me take a short moment to introduce myself and this podcast here. My name is Oliver Schöndorfer, UI designer and typographer and there to help you to boost your designs with great typography. I share what I have learned in 15 years hands-on experience on my blog, weekly newsletter, and YouTube Channel. Since typography is a very visual medium, why doing a podcast at all? Well, after 18 months doing the YouTube Channel I wanted to have guests on the show, to pick their brain and broaden my perspective. I use their advice in videos, but I thought the whole conversation better fits in an Audio format. This is why this podcast exits. It will be occasional interviews with experts in the field, the main content and visual tutorials and tips will still be on YouTube. Find articles, the YouTube Channel, and my weekly newsletter with a hand-picked font recommendation on pimpmytype.com.