For myself, to solve problems that I invent, like "what would a monowidth unicase typeface look like?"
I anticipate a market for such self-indulgent frivolities, on the hunch that the kind of formal issues which interest me are a more general phenomenon of society, and that these typefaces will occasionally strike a chord with others.

My target audience is definitely the professional, but I wouldn't say that I design for her/him, like Nick I design for myself, to try things out, to challenge the way we read and speak and to get my ideas out of the system. I sell my own stuff, so I don't have to make my designs fit a certain profile, which is a great privilige.

I don't think of applications when I design. Sometimes I think 'the word 'caff

If you design for yourself, why sell the finished work then? Not being an ••• just for the sake of it, but c'mon. No profession is that self-serving where one does stuff only for one's self. Type designers make typefaces in hope that they get used, right? If not, what would be the point of doing them? Simply to <em>show them off</em> seems a silly reason.

When you are starting to design a typeface, I'm sure even the slightest of intentions is worked into it, whether you are thinking "This would look bitchin' on a billboard" or "I'm sure a designer can run this at 4 pt and still be legible". There has to be the slightest of intent to appeal to somebody

I'll bite Armin . . .

I design type first for me, second for the masses (anybody with a computer and a credit card who likes fonts). I feel completely indulgent in my profession and in the back of my mind I honestly do think I can't wait for other people to see and use these fonts and hope they think they are as cool as I do.

I want my fonts to inspire people.

I don't care if they use the fonts for personal birthday party invites or cereal boxes. I want people to see the fonts in use and feel a connection to the fonts and the message being communicated to them.

I think as an art director for many years I felt there was this 'ultimate' consumer I was designing for - straight up demographics (Female 24-37, Income . . .). Then i tried to get into their heads and invent people to design ads to and it left me very empty.

Once I started making type, I started having more satisfaction in my work because I felt, if every designer in the world starts using my fonts, in 10 years my porfolio is going to hit the millions. (I'm not so concerned about my portfolio these days)

I don't need to design every ad in the world and honestly have no desire to, there are people who are better than me and really love making ads. BUT, if I can make better typefaces for designers and consumers to use and see in use, I feel I am enabling better communication with my talents instead of working up headlines with a copyrighter and doing tons of layouts through the night.

I recently wrote in an editorial piece that I think we're living in a more typographically aware world than say 10 years ago. Mark my words in a few years time don't be surprised to see our intimate type community explode into the mainstream.

Stuart :D

Armin, great question.

I think the first thing to note here is that retail type design is so unlikely to provide a sufficient and steady income to most individuals that it does in fact make sense that so many people "indulge" in it. Some of those people make their living with custom type work (which is generally less rewarding "spiritually"), or in a totally different field. The net result is that the designs are very "divergent" in terms of utility: they are unlikely to be best-sellers, but some people will have wet dreams (personal joke intentional ;-) over some of them. It's more like Art, and some people (like me) actually have a problem with that, since I have to question how that serves other people. Designing to answer some funky personal riddle or whatever seems a bit too bourgeois for me. :-) I already have a BMW - I'm bourgeois enough!

Personally, when I design a font "out of the blue" I try to make it something end-users, more than designers, need - and simply hope that there are designers out there who think the same way, and want to deliver that same kind of typography to their "users", so they end up needing that certain kind of font. I'm not claiming that I do this because I'm a noble person or something, it's probably simply due to my nature (which is out of my hands) - I enjoy satisfying other people (although maybe only if they're "in tune" with me). So for example I made the Akhakalak Georgian font because I saw that the Georgian script is too wide, and wanted to give people a display face that would set narrow, like on bottle labels for their wonderful wines. And when I made Nour (Armenian) you could say I targeted even beyond what Armenian users think they need, or what they say they want: I targeted what I think Armenian typography needs now. And once in a while I run into a designer who "gets it" and enthusiastically pays me to get a copy of it. It's sort of like a cultural crusade.

The other thing that turns me on though is solving technical issues with new fonts, like pushing the limits of readability, or fighting lo-fi repro. That's the engineer in me.

hhp

Thanks Hrant and Stuart. Those are the kind of things that are intriguing. Being a graphic designer, it is very clear for me who I design for: I design for my client's clients but I give them the impression that I'm designing for them (the direct clients). So I basically have two clients, or targets, I have to please. However, for type designers it does seem a bit more vague and fluctuating from one type designer to the next.

Do you ever listen to graphic designers' opinions on what typefaces they like and why the choose one over another? We are a snobbish and bitchy bunch, so I can understand why sometimes our opinions could be shunned.

Do you react to trends? If retro scripts are in fashion do you set out to do one and cash in?

This is an intriguing question. When I was a student I wanted to design a typeface for my senior BFA project. Two different instructors had differing opinions about how I should proceed. One suggested I create a hypothetical client or a design problem to solve and therefore be better able to measure the success of the project. The other instructor took the opposite view, suggesting I design it for me and let it be more of a personal expression.

(I'd encourage any design student with the hankering for type to try it out. I'm no type designer, but that exercise has made me much more comfortable pushing type around, experimenting and questioning the norms.)

I believe there is room for both approaches. If it weren't for the personal expression we wouldn't have typefaces like Amplitude or Tarzana or anything from Stuart or Test Pilot Collective.

Armin, I know you wanted to focus on non-commissioned types, but you can't deny the place commissioned faces have on the typo-landscape. Consider Clearview, Bell Gothic, Hoefler Text, Retina or Frutiger (which are all available for retail sale after their original exclusivity has expired). The list is endless, and the innovations on the utilitarian front are huge. That can't always be said of more personal designs.

Ahem, now I'll shutup and let the type designers speak.

I work in advertising during the day and have to adjust my designs to client's needs and wants. At night I design type and I can honestly say that I don't think of a target audience and how t