Digested on August 28, 2005Posted by David Earls
TypeCon has come and gone (plenty on that in a bit from the Belgian below), and next on the list is the 49th ATypI conference, aptly entitled “On the edge” given its location up there in the slightly nippy Helsinki, Finland. If the heat of New York was too much for you, then get your wooly jumper packed as it is less than three weeks away now, running from 15th till the 18th of September.
At ATypI, Matthew Carter (the designer of the typeface you’re almost certainly reading now) will be the subject of a retrospective lecture at ATypI presented by Margeret Re, the author of Typographically Speaking — The Art of Matthew Carter.
ATypI also wrote in to remind you all of an exhibition running in partnership with the National Library of Finland. Entitled simply “Treasures”, the exhibition will include national and international rarities from east and west, covering a period of over 2000 years, drawn from the library’s archives of Finish literary culture and book printing arts right up to the early part of the last century. What’s classed as a rarity these days? How does a miniature Koran, a 19th century children’s book and a specimen of the first printed cut-out paper doll sound? A book arts fetish!
No indication on how much of that collection of ephemera will be in big print for the visually-impaired however. Which painfully contrived segue brings me onto the Royal Mail’s decision here in the UK to scrap postage charges for sending books, papers and even letters set in 16pt or higher. The scheme isn’t new — previously free postage was provided for such items as white sticks, guide dog equipment — but this is a welcome and somewhat large extension. The scheme has been expanded with the help of the RNIB, who many of you will remember were responsible for the development of the Tiresias typeface family. I feel proud (and a touch smug) to be British today.
I was muttering on about Adobe’s merger with Macromedia a little while back, and more news has come out in the last couple of days. The stockholders of the two companies have voted to go ahead with the merger, to a fairly unanimous 99% in favour from the Adobe camp and 99.8% in favour from Macromedia. I think the guys with the cash want this to go ahead — and why wouldn’t they? By removing that pesky element of competition, the multitude of owners (mostly pension funds and investment banks such as Barclays — just the sort of people who know what is best for graphic designers) stand to benefit from all that near-monopoly business.
There will be those who spout out the usual trite comments about this state of affairs. It will be better for the consumer, better for the companies, better for everyone. Will it fuck. Public companies have a legal duty to their shareholders to maximize profit where ever possible (don’t believe me? It goes way back to Ford vs Dodge), and in the context of this merger, you don’t have to be an MBA graduate to take a guess at what that might mean for Macromedia and Adobe’s product lines.
What it inevitably means is that there is no particular reason why Adobe would want to maintain anything other than flagship products from the Macromedia range. If you’re going to keep the same product ranges, what’s the point in merging, after all? Flash, I suspect, is the key, not only as its the defacto package for, er, Flash animations, but also in it’s development of Flash Paper, a direct competitor to Adobe’s PDF and no doubt soon to follow Adobe’s LiveMotion into the software bins of time. The only benefit I can see on the horizon for Adobe Flash is the possibility that the HCI and UI chaps in the After Effects team might lend out a hand on Flash’s trashy interface.
But the people to suffer are those who use Macromedia’s Adobe analogs. I can’t see why Adobe would find “synergy” in keeping Freehand going as a direct competitor to Illustrator, especially as Freehand has traditionally cannibalised sales not only from Illustrator but also DTP packages (rumour has it Adobe sell a few of those) as it has multi-page capability — just the ticket for freelancers needing to keep their costs down. Multi-page is something Adobe has resisted within Illustrator itself for just this very reason. I believe its called market segmentation. I call it cynical abuse of power.
What of GoLive and Dreamweaver? Again, there is little market differentiation between these products — either one will go, or will be taken to task and remodelled as a completely different solution. Given Adobe’s interface consolidation attempts, will they think its worthwhile to invest huge wads of cash in that, or are we to see another element of diversity and competition leave for pastures new?
Speaking of pastures new, Adobe and Macromedia have a current combined staff just shy of 5,500 worldwide. Well, you don’t need two CEOs, that’s for certain, but not to worry about that. Macromedia’s CEO Stephen Elop is safe in his new job at Adobe as president of worldwide field operations. So is the former Macromedia CEO, Rob Burges, who also happily joins the Adobe board. I wonder how safe others in the organisation are. How many lives will be torn apart by redundancy over the coming months, all in the name of cost efficiencies? Just so we’re not confused here — making huge redundancies from huge corporate mergers is nothing short of redistributing money upwards to the rich. It really is that simple.
Just in case you’re thinking me a little cynical, pop along to Adobe.com and check out their investor relations section where you can fill your head with figures galore that show you just what sort of organisation we’re all supporting when we buy our Photoshop licenses. In it, you’ll see that for 2005, the board of Adobe unanimously recommended every proposal that increased their access to stock options etc, and unanimously recommended against any proposal that suggested cutting back on director remuneration or benefits.
Why? Because, one assumes, that Bruce Chizen’s salary in 2004 of just under a million dollars isn’t in any way an affront to common decency or morality. Neither was his bonus. Of $1,304,687. Did I mention the $125,312 he also received under the profit sharing scheme? To be fair though, the USA is a very expensive place to live, and an income (just from Adobe, not including his income from moonlighting on the board of Synopsis) of two and a half million dollars is hardly excessive, right? Neither are the 450,000 stock options he received?
Is this greed talking? Am I just bitter that I don’t live in the lap of luxury? Am I just lamenting that I can’t snort cocaine off a rugby player’s thighs on a sun-soaked Pacific island? No. I am genuinely upset that on this very day 11,000 people will starve to death, while there is someone out there earning $2.5m a year. That isn’t right, no matter how great the healing tool is. No matter how marvellous we find OpenType handling in InDesign. No matter how many fonts reside in the Adobe library.
There is a huge cost to us all from this merger, a cost that in typical 21st century style, has been neatly externalised away from the companies involved, and onto us all. It is not just a matter of how it affects us in the creative industry in terms of software diversity, but also how we want our world to be. It is in the lives of those who will lose their jobs (not just in Macromedia and Adobe but also all the auxiliary companies that supply both) through no fault of their own, but through management decisions based only on the acquisition of wealth for a few. It is in a society that is damaged by the excesses of those who care only for themselves and their cronies. It is in the messages that such actions send to our children, to our poor, to our ill, to each and every one of us, not just sat at our computers in Europe and North America, but to all of humanity.
I don’t want to leave this on a negative point. There are alternatives to all the corporate entities that, by law and by their nature, have to operate like this. A large part of the problem, as we have seen from Bernie Ebbers and Worldcom, is the separation between ownership of the company and leadership. When CEOs, CFOs and other board members aren’t spending their own money, but will benefit directly, there is always the chance of abuse, and the commercial pressures of a free market do nothing to dampen the likelihood and everything to increase it. This is why laws such as those that stemmed from Dodge vs Ford came about in the first place, but still there is little in the form of accountability. Corporate responsibility is limited in the most part to neatly written words on company websites alone, unfortunately.
Again, there are alternatives. Cooperative movements offer a successful business model that can often be built up to a large scale, as we have seen in the UK from the department store chain John Lewis, and the Cooperative Bank, but which also offer an accessible business model for far smaller entities. That is just one example, of course. All that is required is the desire on the part of us as a community to do what we can to think of innovative alternatives, and these alternatives need not be giants — FontLab springs to mind. So does the new Village, from what I’ve read. Of course, community concepts are often counter to the increasingly atomised (and increasingly egocentric and selfish – and yes I am aware that I’m no stranger to ego) world in which we live in, but we need to ask ourselves if that is a product of recent times or something inherent in all of us. I for one do not believe it is. Typography has been a political tool since its inception, and there is nothing to say that its commercialisation cannot be reversed, or that its purpose cannot be shifted away to higher things than mere dollar signs.
And as I go, a little context for you, rehydration salts to stop an African child from dying of diarrhea costs 8 cents.
And now onto Yves, who as TypeCon attendees will no doubt both rue and lament, managed to pick up a gong for his dancing salty chocolate something-or-others...
Bald Condensed | TypeCon2005 Edition
by Yves Peters
As I came back from the roller-coaster ride that was the TypeCon Experience to find an insurmountable mountain of work waiting for me, my whole summer schedule went topsy turvy. I’ll stick to an appreciation of TypeCon2005 for this edition of Bald Condensed, and will resume the reviews next time. Sorry’boutthat.
In a nutshell, TypeCon was a big success. As a social event, you just can’t beat it. Specifically in my case I got to meet for the first time dozens of people I’d known for months and sometimes even years, and hooked up with loads of new great type persons. The thrill of being able to match a face to an online voice was tremendous, and it turned out almost every single one of them were thoroughly enjoyable to boot. The extracurricular activities were almost as important as the conference itself, as they helped cement relationships in this geographically dispersed community. This is one of the few times a year most of us get to meet the rest of us.
As I didn’t have much to do on the first days — I didn’t attend any workshops — I decided to make myself useful as that extra helping hand. This was a great way to get to know the people that make up the organisation, and I can attest that they are a wonderful bunch, some of the hardest working and nicest people I’ve met.
Unfortunately I ended up missing some presentations. I only caught the last minutes of Type in Motion by Jakob Trollbäck as I was called up at the hotel that morning and arrived way late because of that. Let Them Eat Type by Louise Fili coincided with my interview for TypeRadio.org. A Glimpse at the Life and Work of Eric Gill by John Sherman came just after mine, and I badly needed to unwind. My greatest regret was missing Thinking With/In Type by Ellen Lupton and Alex White.
As a conference, it wasn’t perfect, but I got enough out of it to be satisfied. I found the accent was a bit too much on typography in graphic design, and had hoped to learn more about type itself. This means I was pretty bored by most of the portfolio presentations. I don’t mind “big names” in graphic design, but they should at least have something interesting to say or teach me something new if they’re doing a presentation at a conference. The one I quite liked was Alexander Isley’s as his work is refreshing and original, and his comments were insightful.
The presentations where I felt I really got my money’s worth were the ones focusing on the process and the history of type design. Highlights were Cosas de España: Interpretations of Eighteenth Century’s Spanish Types by Mário Feliciano, as he expertly linked historical sources with his reinterpretations/revivals ; the delightful trip into type history which was U & lc: In-Your-Face Typography by John D. Berry and Photo-Lettering: Back to the Future by Ken Barber, the flamboyant Ed Benguiat and the astonishing Ed Rondthaler ; the socio-economical observations throughout Graffiti Exposed by John Downer, Tony de Marco, Carlos "Mare 139" Rodriguez, Wes Wong ; Peter Bruhn’s and Stefan Hattenbach’s laid-back stroll through The Swedish Type Scene ; Experimenting with the Cow, insanity unchecked by Alessio Leonardi ; and Ina Saltz’s fascinating exploration of the world of Typographic Tattoos.
Of course there were some special events too. Erik’s half of FiFFteen: an Evening with Neville Brody and Erik Spiekermann was incredibly entertaining, which didn’t surprise me because he is without a doubt one of the quickest and wittiest minds in the type world. The Premiere of the Second Annual Typophile Film Festival was great, period. I want more of that. I really enjoyed getting to know better Matthew Carter’s career in A Life in Type: In Celebration of Matthew Carter. Mike Parker’s and David Berlow’s anecdotes were the icing on the cake.
Memories of such an event tend to break up in little fragments, so I decided to just write them down like that.
A TypeCon2005 overview
Most surreal moment
Bruno Meinert from Linotype walking up to me after noticing my MacRhino/Fountain “Who needs Helvetica?” T-shirt and trying to convince me during the ensuing conversation why Vialog actually has to look dodgy. Look, if you go through all the trouble of producing a type system and promote it, I really don’t see why you can’t at least design decent fonts for it.
Most surprising moment
Liza Enebeis and Donald Beekman asking me if they could interview me for Typeradio.org. I remember thinking at first: “Why on earth do they want me?”, but it turned into a incredibly exciting and fun experience.
Most embarrassing moment
Dan Reynolds introducing me to Akira Kobayashi and having my synapses short-circuit, not being able to say anything that sounded even remotely intelligible. Also, walking up to Matthew Carter and trying to introduce myself, wondering if the mildly annoyed look on his face had anything to do with the Fleischmann thingie. And a couple of others, but I’m not telling. Me and my big mouth... (sigh)
Missed opportunity
Walking in late at Jakob Trollbäck’s presentation, hearing him say something pretty lame about Helvetica and Bach, and not feeling entitled to heckle him as I felt I should at least have sat through the entire talk to have the right to get on his case. His work looked great though.
Most entertaining presentation
Alessio Leonardi’s “From the Cow to the Typewriter” with its hilarious cartoon illustrations had the whole auditorium in stitches, even if he had to endure David Berlow heckling him (all in good humour) and had to rush through the end part as he tried to cram a 1:30 hour presentation in a 40 minute time slot.
Most moving presentation
Watching type history unfold as Ed Benguiat and centenarian Ed Rondthaler reminisced stories about the Photolettering Inc. days. I had tears in my eyes for the better part of the presentation. The fact that Rondthaler uncannily resembles my late paternal grand-father didn’t help. At all.
Most confronting moment
Tony De Marco pausing at a slide of derelict buildings full of graffiti, saying: “This is where I live.” How can we judge those youths and say anything about vandalism and defacing buildings when all we have to do is shut off the television.
Most satisfying moment
As I walked out of the auditorium after my presentation, having someone from the audience stop me in the aisle, explaining his design firm was developing a worldwide communication programme for a fashion brand, and asking me what he had to do to ensure that all typefaces used for and by his client were duly licensed and legal.
Most awe-inspiring moment
See J.P. switch computers in the middle of Alex Isley’s slide presentation, without having him skip a beat. That woman worked wonders.
Most shameful moment
Miserably failing at the Type Quiz.
Best hugs
Miss Tiffany (twice), Peter Bruhn (the absolute hugmeister) and Stefan Hattenbach (at last). And Shu too.
Most immediate connection
Stephen Coles, Joshua Lurie-Terrell and Jon Coltz (whadayaguess, they write about type as well). And Shu too.
Warmest welcome
Tamye Riggs
Best mindless entertainment
Christian Schwartz’ karaoke night. I usually stay clear of those, but as they had the only song I agree to sing to, I gave in.
Best food
Les Halles
Most surprising food
WD-50
Worst food
TGI Fridays, where we eventually ended up very late at night after finding out Frank Sinatra is a big fat liar (city that never sleeps my arse: all the eateries in our neighbourhood were closing by eleven).
Oh, and regarding the keepsake booklets — I’ve got the impression they went down well. We got some really nice comments on Typographica, so we might do something like that again in the future. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that extra special number 200 which should surface in September.
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