Very simple story. I was looking for the Guggenheim’s font and sent an email around to some designer friends. One of them linked me to a thread here on that topic and I was hooked. Now of course that font is available - Verlag - but at the time it was exclusive to the Gugg.

This was 3 years, 3 weeks ago according to my profile.

I was searching for information on the history of Akzidenz-Grotesk. The two relevant typophile threads make up the two most detailed English language documents on the subject, making the threads extremely useful for a paper I was writing.

Maybe one of these days I’ll flesh that research paper out, get my friend who knows German well enough to help me through some old German books to help corroborate everything, and publish it.

It was so long ago (1999?) I don’t remember how I found typophile.com. At the time it was nothing more than a lovely teaser splash page and an invitation to participate. I emailed Jared and we talked a bit about ideas for the site, including a directory of foundries and designers (the wiki has worked out to be a good tool for that end). I think Typophile has become more of a discussion central than Jared ever imagined, and much more active.

I also got the original invitation. The rest is hiss-toh-ree.

hhp

Somewhere around the Spring of 2004, while Googling some type related keyword, Typophile popped up as one of the hits. I don’t remember what I was looking for at the time but I became so enamored with the existence of a forum filled with type geeks that I just wandered about the place. Soon, I was hooked and signed up and got my T-shirt, screen name and an avatar—not the current one. I was particularly intrigued with the Critique Forum and was impressed with not only the work of Kris Sowersby, but the dialogue which ensued in the making of his now-released typeface. The whole experience rekindled my dormant interest in type design. I soon after began work on Leporello and posted it for critique. I am still thankful to all those who took the time to help me on my way.

Thanks to Joe and Jared for the reawakening!

ChrisL

It’s all Yves’ fault and that wacky TypeCon in NYC. I was volunteering and ended up getting lunch with Yves and Ascender Corp. We were discussing type resources and he told me to join up, so I did!

The first online type forum I visited was Typographi.ca, at the time (2002) a well-known Canadian site. It was there that I first heard tell of Typophile.

Investigating the phenomenon further, here’s what I wrote for Graphic Exchange in 2003.

> a well-known Canadian site.

Funny.
Ah wait, do you mean English? ;-)

hhp

I gave a talk about W. A. Dwiggins at TypeCon2006 in Boston, and I got wind of Typophile through that gathering. A few months later I finally got around to visiting, saw what a great community this is, and Madame Tiffany la Merveilleuse helped me to get signed up.

I haven’t been the same since.

Ah wait, do you mean English? ;-)

Perhaps you’re thinking of Typographi.fk (another Anglophone domain).

No, I’m thinking of the Toronto Star piece. :->

hhp

When I first heard about Typophile the front page navigation was Mac-only, which made it difficult for me to promote on microsoft.com/typography. That changed, along with a lot of other things, in September 2001...

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=2208

It was in my Typography class in school that I first learned of Typophile. Keith Tam, my teacher at the time, had listed it as a course reference. I checked it out, got way obsessed with being a lurker, then one glorious day I saw a posting for an intern. I applied, and here I am 3 years later, bossing Christian around. :) Ok, so he bosses me around.

I am a visitor-stats whore; I am addicted to tracking how people come to my sites. Thus, I found Typophile in 2002 because you guys found me first and linked to my little movie. I followed the link back, and between here and Typographica, I finally discovered where my community had been hiding all my online life. Thanks for providing a safe haven for type geeks all these years — happy birthday, Typophile!

I think I found a few stickers from my bag o’schwag at TypeCon 2004 and I decided to check it out... This is an excellent resource and I always tell my students about it. Thanks Typophile! Without you I’d be a typo-nothing! :)

I’m only a member for 30 weeks or something, but I think I was just searching for typography- and typedesign-related websites, and I stumbled upon this one. Or I may have seen it linked on one of the type-blogs. I’m not sure, to be honest. :D

The House of the Bezier Curve

There is a site upon the net
They call it Typophile.
It’s been the ruin of many a poor son
And God I know I’m one.

My Uncle was a printer
He taught me ’bout the type
I have loved the Baskerville
And you know that ain’t no hype.

Now the only thing a typehead needs
Is his FontLab and his Suite,
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when the curves are sweet.

Oh mother tell your children
Not do to what I have done.
To spend your life before the screen
Trying to make that notan hum.

Well I got one hand on the trackball
and the other on the keys
and I’m going back to Typophile,
a-cryin’ help me, help me please.

Yes, there is a site upon the net
They call it Typophile.
It’s been the ruin of many a poor son,
And God I know I’m one.

I was playing with “upgrading” one of our Type 1 database fonts to OpenType format, & trying to figure out the proper names to give glyphs we had previously called “oneoldstyle,” “oneoldstyletab,” etc. There was a long thread which popped up in a Google search. It, and other threads were so helpful, I sent the $40 donation. Never got the promised T-shirts thought. (Just kidding I’ve gotten much, much more from the site).

Charles Ellertson

Hey W.B., you clearly have a future in writing lyrics! Very clever and very funny. I liked singing along and having all the syllables fall in the right spots in the rhythm, too.

I don’t remember exactly how I found out about it, but I’m pretty sure it was from something on Typographica. It was probably not long after it started, but I remember feeling like I was late to the party.

Damn. I wish I could match William’s post!

I stumbled on you twisted typesters while looking for some answers about aligning last lines on the page... You guys set me straight pretty quickly.

The first night I must’ve spent easily 3 hours reading back threads, often not understanding much (especially Eben’s threads) but getting a real kick out of the writing and arguing — in particular, Hrant’s comments.

I have often thought of turning some of it into found poetry. Who can resist the word “bouma”? Especially << Bouma >> in guillemets?

;) keep it up! You have gotten me through many a work day.

Bill, you want to have a look at today’s (Monday, April 16, 2007) Facts & Arguments essay....

I started up here last summer, when a type-related search hit here first. (edit: I’ve learned a lot, made some great friends, and like every other place in the e-world, found there are people who just “don’t get it” in every sphere of consciousness in the universe.)

Which means, of course, that Typophile is a lot like the real world: most folks are great, but a few aren’t. ;-)

(edit: that’s not either approval or condemnation, it’s what it is.)

I suppose I heard about Typophile at typographi.ca, but I cannot recall when. I only occasionally looked at the site. In July 2005 I was at the SHARP conference in Halifax and something I saw here spurred me to write a comment. I decided to join. But I was using a really crappy computer on a really slow hotel dial-up about 3 in the morning, and I kept getting some stupid-ass message that made me believe the action was not working. Since I had to give a talk in only a few hours I slammed shut the laptop and went to sleep.

The urge to say anything must have left, for I never thought again about making a comment until recently. So I tried to join up. I must have entered the same user name and password, because came back a note that led me to see I’d been a member since that night in Halifax. Who knew?

Glad to be here; very worthwhile. But I have very little to say to the world these days, so I doubt I’ll add very much.

good night.

powers

Thanks to Blueflag from Dafont.com
I now have friends like Hrant+Dezcom

Typohile(s) has made my wife
Always says, holding knife:

Forgot kids+house!
Throw keys+mouse!
Typophile! Typophile! Typophile!
Curse the Day of Typophile!”

Please, do not blame her,
I ..................................... hair

I think I was googling for something type related about 2 years ago, stumbled upon Typophile, got stuck, then hooked. Lurked around for a while and finally posted my first post June 17, 2005. Time sure flies! Ever since my typomania has got worse and money spent on fonts and type books is increasing. I spend a lot of time here, and it sometimes affects my work and/or sleep.
Thank you for existing! Typophile has helped me a lot and entertained me too.

Happy Birthday T-ophile! I don’t remember when I came here or how, sorry.

Well, I see that next week I will have been a member for 5 years. I don’t remember how I learned about Typophile. It might have been via Typographi.ca or the Typo-L list. I was heavily involved for a while in the beginning (much at the expense of other aspects of my life).

As many of you know, I disappeared for a while a few years ago. Rumor was that I had checked into Typophile Rehab; but really, I just took on a very all-consuming creative director job for a couple years.

Now I’ve been making my way back on to the forums. But I find I don’t have as much to say (or prove, perhaps?) as before. Still, I’m very glad Typophile is still around and going strong. I enjoy touching in now and again and keeping up with things.

Here’s to many more great years of Typophile!

— K.

I was still at school and very interested in editorial design so I frequently browsed reading and learning about type on many now dissapeared small websites until one day I stumbled on Typophile. About four years ago.

I remember the first thread I read it was something about the future of type and the alphabet, it looked very interesting and there was this guy with a strange name making such radical propositions that made me post.

I remember some other notorius personalities that marched upon the typophile threads such as an excentric Italian printer who went to sail a couple of years ago, a birdwatching expert on dwiggings that who knows where did he flyed to and many others that still remain.

I’m thankful to typophile and oh god... I know... I’m one...

Héctor

A friend turned me onto the site. I realized I could study the glyph here. Since I believe in microscosmic analysis that suited me.

Thanks for all the hard work…

peace

As one of the regulars at What the Font, along with Phiippe, Mike F— we chat occasionally and share stories about type. Mike F insisted (as he does) one day, that I read a thread here - and so here I’ve continued to be.

Happy BIrthday Typophile.com and thank you MikeF

*Sorry I’m a day late*

I’m a typoholic, (or as a close friend says “typophiliac”),so I was looking for a place where I could extend my knowledge of typography and font design. It was the first forum that popped up when I searched and here I remain and always will. Whether I’ve improved is debatable though.

Thankyou Typohile.

I found Typophile.com quite by accident — a Google search for some font or another, I believe. As I had just begun experimenting with Fontographer, I posted my first few tinkerings — Atlantis, Architrave, and Hefeweizen, I think they were, with Silvertone Woodtype, the Seriatim sorts and several others following soon thereafter.

My thanks to Joe, Jared, and all of you who are involved with Typophile for giving us all a great forum for exhibiting and critiquing our work. Happy anniversary, and I look forward to many more.

David Thometz

I remember it as if it was yesterday. A friend of mine, Anthony Hadden, mentioned that Jared’s site was up. I zoomed over and haven’t left since. So many new friends found through this site I can’t even begin to say how much Typophile means to me. Yey for type geeks!

I was doing research for my Thesis project (which included the design of a typeface) and I couldn’t seem to find any resources for creating a working font. I did a few Google searches and found some tutorials on this site (what happened to those, BTW) and I’ve been hooked ever since. That was almost 2 years ago.

I’ve learned so much about type on this site, that I now spend less time talking about it here and more time trying to make it!

Two days from now it will be one year since I signed in for the first time. I lurked for about 6 months before that. I think I found Typophile via a link from Typographi.ca, which is now Typographica.com. While I have always loved type, and my undergrad graphic design concentration was typography, I have been learning so much from you masters here. I am inspired an hopeful, to the point that I’ve finally become serious about producing my first family of faces. And I will be asking you all a lot of questions and posting here for your critiques and advice. Thanks for everything.

—Bruce

In April 2000, I met Jared by the vending machine where he was selling his font Review Beta beside candy bars and chips. The font I was working on, “Raisin Nut”, came up. He said, “you should post that on Typophile”. The rest is history.

it might sound kind of silly, but typophile has changed my life. I had just started toying with building fonts and was wanting to do a revival of Nymphic by Hermann Ihlenburg. I came here for help and that started my typophilism. That was Jan 2004. i’m sure my following onslaught of questions was a bit annoying, but folks like Adam Twardoch, Thomas Phinney, Hrant Papazian, John Hudson, Miss Tiff and others were always willing to answer and educate me, for which i will always be appreciative (please forgive me if i didn’t list your name in this short list). By the end of the year, I had quit my job and been taken on by P22 as an intern for 3 months (a fortunate series of events). I’ve been at P22 ever since. At Typecon 2005 Jared and Joe invited me to be a moderator at Typophile with my charge being to look over the newly-formed typowiki. I never really thought of becoming a typeface designer before all of this, and now i forsee type continuing to be a large part of my future (likely for the rest of my natural life). thanks to all the guys & gals at Punchcut and to all of you who contribute here, you’ve enriched my life in ways you may never know.

p.s. and i’ve made some great friends along the way! who knew you could make real friends in a virtual community? y’all are the greatest!

Paul’s story is actually quite a bit richer: at least from what I can tell, Paul was hired mostly because P22 needed somebody to “refresh” the essentially dormant Lanston library which they had recently acquired from Gerald Giampa thanks to some guerilla marketing on... Typophile!

If Typophile ever needs to show off a case
study of its positive role, this is The Story.

hhp

Paul also left out the part where he helps EVERYBODY with everything. I know he has helped me a great deal with many of my “onslaught of questions”.

ChrisL

After more than seven years of absence from the type scene I realised that I simply had to go back at last. I searched the internet, found Typographica, Typographer.org and Typophile.

Then I stumbled upon the Type Identification Board... :^)

he helps EVERYBODY with everything

well, i try to do what i can. i guess i still feel indebted for everything i’ve gained from this site and try to give that back whenever i get a chance to.

I’ve had a general interest in typography for many years, and as an Adobe customer I started reading the Adobe Typography forum. They kept referring people over here for interesting articles, quick type IDs and such, so I started reading over here, and ....

s’marks

Thanks for sharing everybody. This thread has been a great ride down memory boulevard. William, that’s a great tribute... I need that tune set to some acoustic guitar. And, Aziz, I’m going to read that again later when I need a laugh.

“House of the Rising Sun” would do it for you, Joe :-)

ChrisL

“House of the Rising Sun” would do it for you, Joe :-)

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Animals/_/House+of+the+Rising+Sun

ChrisL

>I need that tune set to some acoustic guitar.

Look out, I’ll bring my blues guitar and amp :)

I asked a couple of seemingly innocent questions in an other forum...

What is good type, and who are the designers of good type.

...no one answered my questions.

And then somehow I wound up here, I guess “...the wind just kind of pushed me this way.”

________
Hiro

I have known about this site for about awile now but never joined until taking a higher level typeface design class in university with Greg Van Alstyne which ended up being one of my favourite classes.
I haven’t posted any of my work yet because I am a rabid perfectionist.

I was at the pub and this young bloke with a funny accent wlaked in with a red t-shirt that said “I like type”, so I told him “Mate, your kernings ****!” and we almost got into a fight. luckily we had a beer (or a few) and ended up being good mates and he told me about this place.

so there you go!!

Muzz

I’ve only been a member for only 46 weeks a I came across Typophile -I think- while googling for a font from Tom Hingston (Metro) that he had designed for the the metrolink tram system in Manchester. Beeing a rookie still, shortly after posting my first thread I made the mistake of asking if anyone could send me a outlined glyph of Nat Vignette for a tattoo I wanted. Now ofcourse I realise this kind of thing is a “big nono” here on Typophile, so thanks again, guys for not shunning me right away ;-)
I’m still merely a font admirer, but since I’ve been on Typophile, I’ve actually made a few fonts myself (obviously still very basic, but bear in mind that it’s all a self-learning process for me). I can’t imagine a day going by without taking a least a quick glimpse at Typophile. I simply love this site!

“…the wind just kind of pushed me this way.”

It is an ill wind that blows no good :-)

ChrisL

I’m a type groupie. I found this door in the alley and I’m standing out here with my autograph book, waiting for the stars, all those cool fonts, to make their break for the limo. You can learn a lot while you wait.

I was going to finish a typeface I had started in college, and I wanted some feedback on how to progress. I got lots of helpful feedback. I didn’t really work on the project, but I continue to visit this site because it’s a great information resource. People genuinely want to help.

Thanks for everything.

I came to typophile in 2002 I think. I was taking a class from Ed Benguiat at SVA. Somebody mentioned the website in class. From there i started reading and posting in the critique section and just look at me now ... pumping out fonts at the rate of 1 per decade!

I second how cool it is to have met so many personalities online, and then meeting people at conferences. But for me the best part about this site has been, the critique section, and having others keep tabs on all the great types around the internets (and posting links).

Thanks and happy birthday!

Randy

My story is a bit different from most.

I was relaxing in my hammock outside my jungle hideaway, where I often go to escape the wails of those women who cannot have me and the claws of those who currently do or have in the past, when I heard a blood-curdling scream from the direction of the river. One of my staff of spider monkeys reported in their curious glottal language that a pale and wan young man, while boating on the Amazon, had the misfortune of having half of his gluteus bitten off by a cayman.

I moseyed over to the riverbank to assess the situation and saw that the aforementioned fellow was barely clinging to life, having lost a fair amount of blood along with a significant portion of his sitting-down-parts. Realizing that time was of the essence, I placed the young man on the back of a gorilla acquaintance and sent him to find a tribal doctor before it was too late. Before they set off, though, I noticed the “Typophile” logo on the injured gentleman’s t-shirt and, thinking it would somehow lead me to his friends or family, or anyone, for that matter, who would be able to cover the not-insignificant projected cost of his poultices and my (very expensive) time, I had one of my trained macaws research the word (I don’t have internet access out in the jungle - satellite is just too expensive).

That injured young person, of course, is and remains Stephen J. Coles.

Yours most respectfully,

Joshua

—-

jlt : http://www.hewnandhammered.com

Thanks for saving Stephen, Joshua. I had thought that you were probably ’a real live action man’ but that you kept on the Q.T. Probably by not growing a horseshoe mustache which might give you away. Well, it’s clearly a secret no more!

I myself am just a ’tundra dweller’ as you know.

I found Typophile because I finally screwed up the courage to ask Jonathan Hoefler for help in learning how to make type. He suggested I start learning here. What a good suggestion that was!

Far Fückin’ out! Joshua!

ChrisL

I found Typophile after finally figuring out what the fonts were in a copy of the New Left Review: Scala + Sans. (The fonts proved to be more interesting than the contents of the journal, btw). I started looking for more information about Scala online, which search led me to a whole world of typophiles—including the big corner of it right here—and when I recognized myself, I fell in.

I registered on the site after winning the FontFont keyword database updating contest’s grand prize in 2004, so I could post a public thank-you to the good folks at FSI and FS Benelux. (I still don’t know how I did 800 fonts’ worth; I think I needed some major off-time after completing my dissertation, and I was feeling a mite obsessive at the time.) But my speed and drive have turned to sloth, since I have yet to get around to making an avatar.

I came here because Luc Devroye’s site had a link to it. And I’m hopelessly addicted to fonts anyway.

Maurice,
Perhaps your avatar should read “1-800-FONTS”? :-)

ChrisL

I’am here since 9 week and 6 days. A member of another forum told me about this site.

Few person helped me whit my typeface and since then this typeface is getting really better.

Thank you

Chris, I’m pleased to say I’ve been hanging around the site long enough to say I should have seen that one coming. :)

I hear the groan from here, Maurice :-)

ChrisL

okay, so i clicked on “real live action man” above, and i ended up feeling creepy...

i ended up here at typophile as the result of poor directions. i’ve been stuck here ever since. but not for nothing. i now know there are more than twenty letters in the alphabet. usually.

ChuckGroth

so there you go!!

Muzzer, if you told any other story aside from the one you posted, I wouldn’t have believed you! :)

Next week will be my fifth anniversary as a Typophile registrant. (I don’t say “member” because, to my shame, I never forked over the cash for paid membership while that was still an option.)

I don’t remember how I found Typophile, but I do remember feeling humbled by the amazing collection of talent, generosity and knowledge assembled here.

Chuck, that could be because the ’real ive action man’ might be a kinda creepy archetype. Or it might have been that the hiccups you are having are maing you queasy. If anyone else has complaints feel free to voice them by email or here. Chuck, I guess you never made it to the tundra...

I think I mentioned this a few months ago. I googled my own font’s name to see what people were doing with it. I found scrapbookers, indie comics, and best of all, Typophiles.

It was 11 days ago. I can’t remember what directed me here, it’s all a big blur now, love at first sight. The first days of a new romance, when everything is still perfect. Somehow I feel it will remain that way.

Actually, I was trying to get to TyrolPhile for information on Austrian snowboards and miss-typed the url.

Once I got here, I noticed people were writing volumes and getting bent out of shape about Joanna, Korinna, and Mrs. Eaves, so I had suspicions it was a site raving about B Movie Starlets.

It wasn’t until Yves made a comment about extra long descenders that I realized mostly weirdos and perverts frequented the site, which basically is why I tune in from time to time.

Welcome Katju, at least we have not scared you off yet :-)

Now that guy Norbert has become ashamed of us and only visits occasionally but that might be due to his prisoner-release program though :-P

ChrisL

I don’t think he’s ashamed, Chris — I think it’s more that he’s just way too busy: it’s obvious that he’s found a crowd here to hang out with where he feels comfortable. ;-)

A happy belated birthday to Typophile.

I don’t come here nearly as much as I should, or would like to, but it appears I’ve officially been here for a year and 27 months. However I think it’s been longer as I’m sure I lurked for a while, being really quite terrified of type designers in general.

I may have come out from the shadows, though, when Armin Vit said something kind about me, like holding out a piece of typographic cheese to a shy cat.

Now I flit in and out like one of those damned pets you suspect of only showing up when there’s food.

-marian

“I’m sure I lurked for a while, being really quite terrified of type designers in general.”

Please don’t be terrified and visit often! :-)

ChrisL

Tervetuloa Katju! The people here are nice and helpful.

There seems to be quite a few Finns here now. Considering the population of our country, we must be over-represented.

Please don’t be terrified and visit often! :-)

Indeed!

I am quite sure we would all appreciate & benefit from hearing your perspective on type, design, and whatever else you decide to write about. Cheers!

> we must be over-represented.

That might explain my dual love for type and Formula-1. :-)

hhp

Like an awful lot of people I first came here as a student looking for a Type ID. And also like an awful lot of people I was stunned by how quickly my request was answered! (Although after hanging around the Type ID board for a while since then, 24 minutes now seems actually quite slow.)

I credit Typophile as really kicking off my love of type and helping it to bloom. It connected me into a community I otherwise would not have been able to find. It’s been an incredible source of information and inspiration, and an ever present salve for those times when you “feel like you’re the only one...” And it’s also been a lot of fun.

Thanks to all of you for your words, your passion, your eccentricities, and your photos of your cats (where relevant to a thread’s topic, of course).