Design Matters from the Archive: Tobias Frere-Jones

Over the past twenty-five years, Tobias Frere-Jones has established himself as one of the world’s leading typeface designers, creating some of the most widely used examples, including Interstate, Poynter Oldstyle, Whitney, Gotham, Surveyor, Tungsten, and Retina.

Tobias received a BFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. He joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Art in 1996 and has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. His work is in the permanent collections of the V&A andMoMA. In 2006, The Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague (KABK) awarded him the Gerrit Noordzij Prijs for his contributions to typographic design, writing, and education. In 2013 he received the AIGA Medal, in recognition of exceptional achievements in the field of design.

On this episode Debbie talks to Tobias Frere-Jones about his career and why typefaces are like the air we breathe. “The stretch of time between when you wake up, and when you first interact with some piece of type that someone has drawn, is probably only a couple of seconds.”

 A little eye-candy to peruse as you listen: images from Tobias’ newest typeface, Mallory.