We divided the type design process into four stages. The first is sketching and drafting, the second — drawing the typeface and expanding the glyph set, the third is kerning, and the fourth is mastering. Then we asked our authors to send five tracks that they listen to during each of these stages, and combined them into four playlists.
In this material, we share what music our authors listen to while working on mastering and hinting. You can listen to the full playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.
- Alja Herlah Spektra
- Type Salon, co-founder
- Anna Seslavinskaya Healthgoth
- Be Unicorn, creative director
- Anya Danilova Normalidad
- Independent type designer
I have a tendency to listen to the same album over and over until a project is finished. When I used to proof a lot of hinting, I would repeat Wild Gift and Los Angeles by X, and Raw Power by Iggy and The Stooges.
- CSTM Fonts Guild Maregraphe Kazimir Pilar Navigo
- Independent type foundry
- Daria Cohen Zloy
- Independent type designer
- David Jonathan Ross Forma DJR Fit Input Roslindale
- Independent type designer
I am learning to play the mandolin and occasionally play with some musicians in the area. So when I listen to music, I am usually listening to the songs that we play together as a form of practice.
- Denis Bashev Windward
- Independent creative designer
- Elena Novoselova NWT Bodoni Agse
- Independent type designer, educator
- Emmanuel Besse Signal
- Formagari, founder
- Fer Cozzi Tomasa
- Independent type designer, educator
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- Interval Type Rooftop Oceanic Factor A & B Stravinsky
- Independent type foundry
These are the tracks that shaped Factor B — a tribute to the era of early analog electronic music of the ’70s and ’80s.
- Jean-Baptiste Levée Spectral Proto Grotesk Tesseract
- Production Type
- Jordi Embodas Trola
- Independent type designer
- Lucas Descroix Nostra
- Independent type designer
- Mikhail Strukov Maregraphe Windward
- CSTM Fonts, type designer
- Mona Franz Grato and Gratimo
- Just Your Type, co-founder
- NaumType Base&Bloom
- Independent type foundry
- Pizza Typefaces Metal
- Independent type and graphic design studio
- Rodion Ilyukhin Retiler
- Independent product and type designer