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What Is Irish Type? · Design Better

Design Better

Tom Foley: How to pair typefaces and why the best brand fonts go unnoticed

Tom Foley didn’t set out to design typefaces. As a postgraduate student at Central Saint Martins in London, he was researching why Ireland, unlike Switzerland, the Netherlands, or Germany, never seemed to have a confident typographic voice of its own. Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/tom-foley The answer led…

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Notes

  1. How Did Tom Foley First Fall for Typography? at 5:19

    Tom Foley first fell for letters pretty young, long before he knew the word typography. Full answer

  2. What Is Irish Type? at 11:24

    Irish type is a letter style invented in Queen Elizabeth's reign, during the Reformation, to look the way English printers thought Irish readers would want… Full answer

  3. Is the Nib Typeface for Sale? at 13:37

    Tom Foley says the Nib typeface is not commercially available. Full answer

  4. How Did Nokia Get Tamil and Malayalam Typefaces? at 16:30

    Tom Foley designed Tamil and Malayalam typefaces for Nokia while he was at Dalton Maag, and he says cultural research is what made that possible. Full answer

  5. How Do You Design a New Typeface? at 20:44

    Tom Foley designs a new typeface by absorbing the brief until it sinks in, then sitting down to draw. Full answer

  6. How Do You Pair Typefaces? at 22:58

    Tom Foley says you pair typefaces by matching structure first: where the letters come from, their vertical proportions, and their weight. Full answer

  7. Why Did Tom Foley Leave Monotype? at 25:03

    Tom Foley left Monotype, where he was executive creative director, to make type again at Drama. He describes an eight-year itch. Full answer

  8. What Book Should Type Designers Start With? at 34:25

    Tom Foley tells type designers to start with books, and the one he always recommends to students is Designing Type by Karen Cheng. Full answer

  9. Which Typefaces Does Tom Foley Recommend? at 38:12

    Tom Foley recommends three typefaces more people should use: Lexicon, Macklin, and Blenny. Full answer

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