A lifetime spent as a photographer, newspaper editor and graphic designer has just added a few extra layers to a foundation that I had the good fortune to acquire as a teenager. Working in a letterpress print shop, setting type by hand and running a platen press was a formative experience and, though I didn't realize it at the time, a perfect introduction to the craft of graphic design.
Alphabets made up of solid blocks cast from foundry metal. Pages as sturdy rectangles tightly locked in steel frames. Justifying type the old-fashioned way with tiny slivers of lead, tin and copper. This was a world where design was much more than ink on paper or pixels on a computer display. It was built from real things that had a living, physical presence.
So now I have the even more extraordinary good fortune of completing that experience, going full circle. Still working with type, but now in the interactive, intuitive and cleaner world of digital design. The composing stick is gone, along with the job case, leads, slugs and hellbox overflowing with castoff sorts. But even though the tools couldn't be more different, the craft remains the same. And so the goal, which is to create designs that honor content and convey your ideas as simply as possible.
Steve Boerner Typography & Design, Inc.
smb@steveboerner.com
@smboerner
Alphabets made up of solid blocks cast from foundry metal. Pages as sturdy rectangles tightly locked in steel frames. Justifying type the old-fashioned way with tiny slivers of lead, tin and copper. This was a world where design was much more than ink on paper or pixels on a computer display. It was built from real things that had a living, physical presence.
So now I have the even more extraordinary good fortune of completing that experience, going full circle. Still working with type, but now in the interactive, intuitive and cleaner world of digital design. The composing stick is gone, along with the job case, leads, slugs and hellbox overflowing with castoff sorts. But even though the tools couldn't be more different, the craft remains the same. And so the goal, which is to create designs that honor content and convey your ideas as simply as possible.
Steve Boerner Typography & Design, Inc.
smb@steveboerner.com
@smboerner