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307: Fine Specimens with Elliot Jay Stocks of Adobe Fonts
I love a beautiful book about typography (who doesn’t?!) and this one, that we’re about to get into, is a BEAUT! Our guest today is Elliot Jay Stocks and I am obsessed with his other book (Universal Principles of Typography) and use it as the textbook in my intro to typography class (it’s really, really good) and I couldn’t wait to chat with him about his new book, available around the world now! Elliot is a designer and author, known in typographic circles for his work as th

Diana Varma
1 day ago2 min read


306: Personal and Peoples Histories Held in Letterforms with Tré Seals of Vocal Type
Welcome back, type lovers! This episode is especially for you. ;) In this eye opening look into the history of typography, signage, protest, and personal stories, Tré Seals thoughtfully explains the ways in which type has caused a lot of harm to various communities, but the ways in which it’s also a hopeful gateway to make meaningful change. Tré Seals has been on a lifelong path when it comes to design: he's been practicing writing in cursive since he was in kindergarten; so

Diana Varma
May 193 min read


304: Designing Systems of Type (Mistakes and All!) with James Edmondson of OH no Type Co.
Welcome back - I’m so glad you’re here. Today I’m serving up a brand new 4-part guest lecture series, featuring an incredible line up of type and design folks from across North America! This first episode features highly sought-after type designer, James Edmondson. James is a type designer based in San Jose, California. He studied graphic design at California College of the Arts, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Art's TypeMedia program in The Hague, Netherlands. With

Diana Varma
May 72 min read


300: Clarendon: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Clarendon Release Date: 1845 Designer: Robert Besley Classification: Slab Serif (Egyptian) Owned By: Today its multiple versions are owned by multiple foundries. Claim to Fame: This is the first first-ever registered and patented typeface. About Our Guest: Jordan Grey is a th

Diana Varma
Apr 171 min read


299: San Francisco: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: San Francisco Release Date: 2014 Designer: Apple’s Team (based on Helvetica and FF DIN) Classification: Neo-Grotesque Sans Serif Owned By: Apple Claim to Fame: This is the first new typeface designed by Apple in nearly 20 years, it’s the UI font for Apple’s software. In this e

Diana Varma
Apr 162 min read


298: Verdana: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Verdana Release Date: 1996 Designer: Matthew Carter and Thomas Rickner Classification: Humanist Sans Serif Owned By: Microsoft Claim to Fame: A typeface that was designed not for print, but for the screen, changing the way digital text looked and felt. In this episode of An In

Diana Varma
Apr 152 min read


297: Garamond: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Garamond Release Date: Mid 16th Century Designer: Claude Garamond Classification: Old Style Serif Typeface Owned By: Not owned by one single person, but digital variations are owned by multiple different companies: Adobe Garamond, Monotype Garamond, Stempel Garamond, and E

Diana Varma
Apr 143 min read


296: Calibri: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type . Name: Calibri Release Date: 2007 Designer: Lucas de Groot Classification: Sans Serif Owned By: Microsoft Corporation Claim to Fame: Calibri made history by dethroning Times New Roman as the default font of the MS Office Suite. Microsoft’s favourite typographic child is taking the

Diana Varma
Apr 132 min read


285: Independent Foundry Magic with Libbie Bischoff of Type Du Nord
Welcome back - I’m so glad you’re here. This is the third episode in a 3-part guest lecture series, speaking with a diverse range of design and typography pros from across North America! This episode features the owner of foundry Type Du Nord , Libbie Bischoff. Libbie Bischoff is a Minneapolis-based type designer and educator. She completed the Letterform Archive’s postgraduate program, Type West, in 2020. After graduating, she opened her own type foundry, Type Du Nord. Whi

Diana Varma
Feb 132 min read


283: Indigenous Type Perspectives with Leo Vicenti
Welcome back - I’m so glad you’re here. This is the first episode in a 3-part guest lecture series, speaking with a diverse range of design and typography pros from across North America! This episode features type designer and educator, Leo Vicenti . Leo is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver whose research approaches indigenous language preservation, revitalization, and the return of these languages to everyda

Diana Varma
Feb 32 min read


281: 👉🏽 Manicule 👈🏽
Allow me to draw your attention over there please. (I know you can’t see me but I’m pointing in that direction, towards the letterpress print of a manicule I made recently, which is hanging out in my closet of a recording studio.) — I’m so thrilled to be part of the Canadian Letterpress Alliance ; a newly formed, 3x a year fun mail club for letterpress printers across Canada. And while I don’t consider myself a letterpress printer in the same way that so many in this gro

Diana Varma
Jan 205 min read


279: Certified Letter Nerds with Alanna Munro of Arcane Type Foundry
Welcome Font Friends! Today we have the one and only Alanna Munro here! Alanna is a Certified Letter Nerd and the main human behind Arcane Type Foundry —a foundry offering both an enchanting library of typefaces and charming custom type design. Alanna’s letterforms have been described as having ‘happy curves,’ which means that no matter the style, a friendly disposition is always infused into the vector drawings. But don’t mistake friendliness for frivolity; she is also a hug

Diana Varma
Dec 8, 20252 min read


277: Emerging Typeface Designers Ivana Vukmirovic & Mahrukh Saeed
It has become a Talk Paper Scissors tradition to feature the incredible work of up-and-coming typeface designers in this space (check out Episode 026 with Veronika & Mary-Anne, Episode 113 with Nate & Sarah and Episode 146 with Nicole & Cameron, Episode 191 With Max & Cecilia, and Episode 258 with Paulina & Darrab). This work was born in the Advanced Typography course I teach at Toronto Metropolitan University. After reviewing many submissions, with work scaffolded thro

Diana Varma
Nov 24, 20252 min read


275: Humanizing the Experiences of Dementia Using Disappearing Ink Technology with Rachel Arthur of boom saloon
Today’s guest and her team’s most recent book project is truly emotional and inspiring. As always, this episode is not sponsored, however I do want to disclose that I received an advance copy of the book and after experiencing it, I absolutely had to chat with our guest about the incredible technology, typography, and hope behind this project. In this conversation, you’ll hear from Rachel Arthur, Founder and Editor of boom saloon , “an independent publisher dedicated to democ

Diana Varma
Nov 10, 20252 min read


258: Emerging Typeface Designers Paulina Marin & Darrab Qureshi
It's become a Talk Paper Scissors tradition to feature the incredible work of up-and-coming typeface designers in this space (check out...

Diana Varma
Jun 12, 20252 min read


Toronto Tourism, Graffiti Culture & Emotional Infrastructure with Alex Sein
It has been on my radar for many years, at this point, that I’ve wanted to dive into and learn more about graffiti culture. There’s so...

Diana Varma
Jun 3, 20252 min read


251: Type Up Your Life with Elliot Jay Stocks
Straight from his idyllic backyard music studio in the UK, we have Elliot Jay Stocks ! Elliot is a designer and musician, known in...

Diana Varma
May 8, 20252 min read


240: Lora: An Incomplete History of Type
Lora is a well-balanced contemporary serif with roots in calligraphy. It is a text typeface with moderate contrast that is well-suited...

Diana Varma
Mar 28, 20253 min read


239: Eurostile: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer...

Diana Varma
Mar 27, 20255 min read


238: Abhaya Libre: An Incomplete History of Type
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer...

Diana Varma
Mar 26, 20253 min read
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