By American do you mean Merkan, or the whole continent, N and S, or part therof?

Sorry, USA.

> the best living american typographer

What is best?

By “typographers” do you mean type makers or type users?

okay, i’ll give you a little more history:

i am working on a client who has requested that his book be set in a ’new’ typeface, something made since 1980; for his last book, he used a face from a young dutch designer, and now is interested in working with an american typographer’s work.

the ’best’ is, of course, a matter of taste, but i was thinking someone on the level on hoefler

and, yes, it needs to be a type-designer, not a type-user

Christian Schwartz comes to mind.

ChrisL

Matthew Carter, David Berlow

Mark Simonson
James Montalbano

“Born in London in 1937, Carter was introduced to type by the work of his father”

I know Mathew lives in the U.S. now so I don’t know what your client calls “American”.

ChrisL

http://www.designmuseum.org/design/index.php?id=123

I was going to say Christian as well. His “Farnham” is a lovely text face.
http://fontbureau.com/fonts/Farnham

Another option would be Joshua Darden’s magnificent “Freight” family.
http://www.garagefonts.com/typespecimens.html?key=bannerfam&thename=Frei...

And, let’s not forget that water polo-playing man, John Downer:
http://houseindustries.com/index.php?page=showfont&id=171
http://www.emigre.com/EF.php?fid=130
http://www.paratype.com/btstore/fonts/Iowan-Old-Style.htm

As you’re in NYC hows about Gary Munch, Josh Darden, James Montalbano, H&FJ or one of the vllg’ers? I think they’re all* red-blooded blue-passport carrying American citizens?

Si

*except Underware and a few other vllg foundries

There is a guy named Ed Benguat?

ChrisL

i thought his name was Ed Benguiat

Paul,
It is.
My name is “Can’t-Spell-4-Sh**” :-)

ChrisL

The i is only there so you can embarrass the newbies by asking them to pronounce his name.

Si

Benguiat is hard to pronounce? How?
(I suppose I’ve been pronouncing it wrong, then...)

Bengat

ChrisL

I originally used the French pronunciation, Bawn-gwee-ah, rather than the Nu Yawk.

But Ed being a New Yawhah :-)

ChrisL

Si, thanks for mentioning vllg. In fact, most of us are unAmerican. The Americans in the group are:
Joshua Darden (Joshua Darden)
Barry Deck (Thirstype)
Frank Ford (Thirstype)
Tracy Jenkins (Village)
Patric King (Thirstype)
Greg Lindy (Lux)
Christian Schwartz (Orange Italic)
Rick Valicenti (Thirstype)

That’s only 8/22. The other 14 members are Canadian, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swiss. We are the world. We are the children.

Don’t forget Ken Barber and Eric Olson, two of my faves.

There probably is no “best.” No “best” graphic designer, no “best” typographer, no “best” anything.

But the name “Jonathan Hoefler” is the one that popped into my mind unbidden, first, before the others mentioned here...

You know, instead of trying to choose your type from a supposed “best type designer”, you could narrow it to “american typefaces from after the 80s”, browse trough a few (wait - I mean a lot) and find one that suits your project. This could be done with any period of time; in fact, I bet even if you narrow it down to type released only during the current and/or last year, there would be a pretty wide spectrum for you to pick from.

>In fact, most of us are unAmerican.

Thanks for setting me straight. I was going for the NYC angle so put vllg on the list, then thought better of it, but didn’t want to take the vllg people off. ;-)

I think Nick Shinn belongs in this list himself.

—Michael.

———————————————————————————
// love what you do or do something else. //
Michael Ebert — graphic designer, jazz saxophonist, horror movie devotee
http://homepage.mac.com/mwebert
mwebert@mac.com
———————

Of course, except he’s a Canadian (via the UK). (Or is he a Brit by way of Canada? I’m confused by my own syntax.)

Mark Jamra
Carol Twombly
Jim Parkinson
Richard Lipton
Robert Slimbach
Kent Lew
Cyrus Highsmith
David Berlow
Mark Van Bronkhorst

I wouldn’t want to go into “best” territory, but these are all living Amerkun type designers (as opposed to typographers).

> who, in your opinion, is the best living american typographer

O.K. At first I fell for this, and started thinking of candidates.

> i am working on a client who has requested that his book be set in a ‘new’ typeface, something made since 1980

Did he give you a reason why? Is it related to the content of his book? Does he have a “thing” for type or for type designers? And why does this designer HAVE to be living? There have been excellent designers who have passed on since the 80s. Are their designs elimated just because they are dead?

> for his last book, he used a face from a young dutch designer

I’m curious who. Can you tell us who?

> now is interested in working with an american typographer’s work.

Again, what relevance does this have? Why the “best” designer? Why not the “best” typeface. Many of the great designers have also created a doggie doo face or two. Selecting the “best” living type designer will not necessarily get you the “best” or most relevant typeface for his book.

Also, using the “best” designer’s “best” typeface is not going to make his book a “best” seller. Plus, it’s not JUST the selection of type, it’s HOW the type is used, and WHY it integrates with the design of the book.

So in summary, it’s the right type for the right job.
And any “great” designer or typographer who is not conceited will tell you that.

I’d also add Sumner Stone and Rodrigo X Cavazos.

I like Tobias Frere-Jones

as norbert says...and the known saying:”..typography its not groups of beautiful letters its a beautiful groups of letters...”

WHAT IS THE BOOK?

( This seem stupid?)

I vote for David.

This is the “People Magazine” version of Who’s Who in American Type design :-)

ChrisL

I vote not to vote until I know the position the candidate is to fill.

> for his last book, he used a face from a young dutch designer

Was he cute? =-O

“Was he cute?”

It might have been a young woman Dutch designer too! What a face! and she’s high on the body too! :-)

ChrisL

Then again, he might have been just a frustrated painter instead of a designer.

ChrisL

Many fonts designed by Americans are based very heavily on European historical designs. Something to keep in mind if the book is meant to have an ’American’ feel (which is another topic entirely, previously discussed here). Unless the designer is the important part, which it appears to be.

My guess is that the client is looking for “Star Power” so he can tell his customers that the font he used was designed by “THE BEST” Yankee Doodle Dandy designer:-)

ChrisL

i like Zuzana Licko.
Fairplex has an “American” flavor.

just my 2 cents. cheers,

——————
nc

I second Fairplex, which has grown on me in the years since its release. As a Dwiggins scholar, Kent Lew’s Whitman is very American — and new.

We should start a thread listing contemporary American book faces. An alphabetical list would start with Alfon and end with Whitman and Verdigris.

or better yet, a wiki entry!

American Book Faces

Book’m Danno (err Paulo)

ChrisL

I don’t want to get into naming a bunch of people because there are just so many great type designs. As Norbert pointed out, there are also many great type designers who have made some less than “stellarific” designs. Its also possible that a type design by itself has had more influence than its designer.