That's so weird and also so exciting: seeing the profession ‘Type Designer’ amongst Anthropologist, Historian, Geneticist, Stone Carver (!), Indigenous Language Preservationist, Marine Biologist, Quantum Astrophysicist, Entomologist, etcetera…

Congratulations to Matthew!

It’s about time!

And Nick Benson!
Too bad these weren't announced a couple of months ago, before those type design classes were cancelled for lack of interest.

Does anyone know what typeface is shown in the video on the MacArthur site at 1:10-1:15?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIMNXO_W6wk&feature=player_embedded#t=1m5s

Somebody fix the title, please.

I'd love to Joe, but it's Bill's topic.

What's wrong with the title?

Congratulations to Matthew. The font in the video is probably something he's working on. Too early to ID. Looks like he's working in Fontographer 3.something. RoboFog? And he's got one of those Emigre mouse pads.

Is it the single quotes?

>Is it the single quotes?

Flash seems to do only the straight quotes. The problem is that the current font, Miller Banner, is so lame.

Just kidding.

There were typos, now corrected. Sorry about that.

The title doesn’t actually need any quote marks, whatsoever. The fellowship is in fact called a MacArthur Genius grant — no grocers’ quotes or “scare” quotes necessary.

Perhaps they were using it sarcastically to typographically express their secret disdain for the field of typography. How ironic would that be?

Kent, that's not correct. The "genius" award is a journalist's shorthand, not used by the MacArthur foundation, as they explain here. (Scroll about 1/3 the way down.) So it's either "genius" in quotes, indicating that it's not the official name, or just the MacArthur Fellowship.

""Quotes"" aside, Congrats to Matthew!

ChrisL

Bill — Oh my goodness: you’re absolutely right. My mistake. The journalist’s “Genius” shorthand has become so pervasive that I really thought that was the MacArthur Foundation’s handle as well.

Mea culpa. The quotes stand.

I am so delighted about this award not only because it is well deserved, but also because Matthew Carter is such a great ambassador of type design. Always modest, gracious, well spoken, and knows what he's talking about on a deep level. I remember when I first encountered him at TypeCon, I was surprised and delighted to discover that he is first of all a fan of great type, like the rest of us Typophiles.

Trust a bunch of typographers to argue about the quotes in the headline...!

It's wonderful to see Matthew getting this honor. I was thinking that he was the first type designer to be awarded a MacArthur, but a perusal of the list reminded me that the first was Charles Bigelow (although he's described there as "graphic designer").

John

Congratulations to Matthew. The only thing he has yet to win is the Nobel Peace Prize. I wouldn't rule it out.

Congratulations to MC. Fantastic. I once referred to Carter, in person, as the Lance Armstrong of the type world. I might come to regret that silly comment. Carter looked incredulous at the time. Just another crazy fan he probably thought.

Much deserved. I suppose it would be churlish to add "long overdue"?