02 Bram Pitoyo: The Secret History of Fonts

Do you know that the world-famous Helvetica was based on a late 19th century typeface model? That Arial is Helvetica’s bastard child, commissioned to avoid paying licensing fees? That John Baskerville, whose typeface our founding father, Benjamin Franklin adores, kept a lifelong mistress? That the designer of Gill Sans has a life of wild debauchery? That Times New Roman, now considered boring, was born out of a desire to typographically be more advanced? And that The Times newspaper doesn’t use Times New Roman anymore, notwithstanding the name? Join me as I take you through the interesting minutiae behind fonts we love, fonts we love to hate, and the man and woman who stood behind their design.Read less