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 sketching. You can listen to the full playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.

• Alja Herlah Spektra
• Type Salon, co-founder

• Anna Seslavinskaya Healthgoth
• dotdotdash, design director

• Anya Danilova Normalidad
• Independent type designer

• 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

• Denis Serebryakov Epos Gik Nekst Taler
• Independent type designer

I work in silence or with jazz radio The Giant of Jazz, playing in the living room.

• Elena Novoselova NWT Bodoni Agse
• Independent type designer, educator

• Emmanuel Besse Signal
• Formagari, founder

• Fer Cozzi Tomasa
• Independent type designer, educator

• Hugues Gentile Qommodore Signal
• Independent type designer, educator

• 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

• Nikita Kanarev Archaism
• Independent type designer

• NaumType Base&Bloom
• Independent type foundry

• Philipp Neumeyer Juneau Yuni Slab Elma Norbert
• Independent type designer

• Pizza Typefaces Metal
• Independent type and graphic design studio

• Rodion Ilyukhin Retiler
• Independent product and type designer

• Vera Evstafieva Amalta
• Independent type designer, calligrapher

When I turn on music, it’s usually as background. Right now I’m listening to music from my childhood, it gives me a feeling of calmness and timelessness. It’s music by guitarist Francis Goya. The exact record that my parents used to play is available on YouTube, in some places it even jams just like it used to.