Typophile

65 YEARS OF WORKING WITH TYPE

Robert Trogman

My career began in 1942 as an apprentice in the composing room. Because of WWII I was able to get several jobs; working at the College Press under the tutiledge of Richard Hoffman and a night job at LA Type casting the first arrival of Times Roman.
Because of the pursuit of the alphabet it led to working with some of the best in the busines: Saul Bass, Herb Rosenthal and Charles Eames. My commercial career began in the early 1960's with the revival of Jugenstill fonts and becoming an agent for Bertold.
I was able to bring on the photolettering market many original design under the name of Facsimile Fonts and later FotoStar International.
My hobby is letterpress printing and I still cast type on the Linotype and Ludlow. I presently write under the name of Dr. Type in the magazine Recognition Revue. I am no longer working with type fonts because of the pirating.

Jas

I'm 100% against pirating fonts but I think that as for music and as for movies, the type designers has to find a way to sell their fonts. House Industries work out a fetish concept for their typefaces, I don't know if it will work but it has the advantage of being original. I think that time has changed and that the new generation of type designers has to deal with it. I'm really curious of how they will solve it and I don't think that stopping to work with type because of pirating is the solution.

Hrant H Papazian

The thing with piracy Robert is that most people who don't pay for a font wouldn't pay for that font. If they can't get your font for free, they'll just get some other font for free; they generally wouldn't pay for your font anyway, because they don't think this stuff is worth money. So mainly all it does is increase the variety of the fonts we see used out there, without hurting designer profits much. It's unnerving, but we shouldn't let it rattle us.

hhp

Tiffany Wardle

I think Robert is also considering some foundries as pirates who have taken his designs, digitized them, and are now making money from them. But, Hrant you are right. Pirates wouldn't pay for he font to begin with ... BUT ... that is still generalizing. I've seen statements such as, "I'm only using these to test the font then I'll license it if the design is improved." I'm all for a good test drive, but I think this is where the real problem comes from. Designers who aren't willing to go through the proper routes to test and license their fonts.

Hrant H Papazian

> Robert is also considering some foundries
> as pirates who have taken his designs

Oh. That's better termed plagiarism. And it used to be a big problem; it's notable that it happens very rarely these days, and when it does, or when it's perceived to have happened, like in Segoe, the outcry is palpable. Typophile actually serves as a great backlash mechanism in such cases, and the font houses do pay attention. So Robert, this might actually be a great time to resume your retail type design work!

(I just hope Uli doesn't jump in though...)

> Designers who aren’t willing to go through the
> proper routes to test and license their fonts.

But that's an education issue, not a "prohibition" issue.

hhp

ebensorkin

Who pirated the work & where is it now?

Jas

I think that the main problem is not who is pirating what but how to make people want to buy fonts. This is the new challenge and we should think seriously about it.

itype

Nice to read for you here.
Is there anyway I can find a copy of your Yagi Double font as I need it desperately!
it is not for sale on any website.

w.sampson

Hi,

Is there any way to get in touch directly with Robert Trogman?

I would like to ask a few questions regarding a digitised version of Yagi Link Double.

William

Robert Trogman

you can find me on the web:
www.dr-type.net

YouTube: Bob Trogman typography

drtype.wordpress.com

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