Could you tell us something about your background as a graphic designer? When and how did you begin specializing in type?

In my late teens my school years passion for drawing shifted towards a fascination for calligraphy, an interest which deepened and lasted for many years. Probably because it is a very controlled form of design; an area where you gain a lot from attempting and finally mastering shapes of letters. To become a professional calligrapher would never have been a realistic aim, though, and I found work as an assistant graphic designer at an industrial design studio in Stockholm called RLD. From there I went to the Berghs School of Communication to study graphic design. By this time my interest in letterforms had become a passion for typography, and I had done a few type designs, although I had no means to produce them for commercial purposes.

It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that I took it to the level of actually producing fonts. I was now the co-owner of a major design studio, Embrink in Stockholm, doing package design for many of Sweden’s large companies and brands.

I became a freelance designer in 2004 and have since spent more and more time on typeface projects.

Did you receive any formal training in type design?

Not really, other than the few classes that were given at Berghs.

Although your typefaces cover a wide range of styles and genres, they all belong to the same family – the Samuels family. Only their “first names” are different. That’s not exactly how we would normally define a type family. Is there something that connects them – other than having been drawn by the same designer?

Using personal first names for my fonts is a result of my relation to them. As soon as they are named they also have a face and a personal character. I am not the first to do it but possibly the first to do it consistently. A type family would usually be a group of fonts based on the same cut. I have simply broadened the definition.

For Maya, my latest design, I considered leaving the concept, but in the end I felt it had a certain relevance. It does tie together, as you call it, “a wide range of styles”.

Could you say something about your method in designing type? Do you start with hand-rendered drawings? Or do you construct fonts directly on the screen?

I am old school in the sense that I always start on paper. I need to isolate the basic idea or shape on an independent medium to keep the idea separated from the process. This way it works better as a reference when the work is under way. Also, I find that the pen gives more freedom in finding and exploring shapes.

The major design work is done in Adobe Illustrator, testing shapes and thicknesses and building the basic system. The basis is often a semibold, and from that I make an ultrathin. Any other weight is drawn within the frames constituted by these two.

Andrew Samuels and Rosemary Samuels are both original and interesting sans-serifs. Could you tell us a little more about the ideas behind these fonts and the purposes you had in mind when making them?

Andrew Samuels is one of my older designs and was drawn to work as a headline as well as a text font. As with many designs, the starting point here was the “a”. The somewhat crude cut is meant to provide interesting details when used at a large size and to help connect the letters when used in smaller sizes. Andrew was developed as a custom font for the Nocom Software Company.

Rosemary Samuels dates back to a holiday drive in Scotland, where I was inspired by road sign type. It has much smoother and friendlier shapes; someone called it humanistic and I think that description fits well. It was intended as a text font rather than for headlines and I have found it to be one of my most useful designs. Rosemary became a supporting corporate font for Spendrups Breweries.

Your serifed typefaces, April and Rebecca Samuels, are rather small families. Do you have plans for extending them?

I agree that they are not as extensive as they have potential for. It is simply a matter of priorities. April is first in line to be extended with a light version and possibly a bold.

Rebecca’s main feature is that it’s designed to need a minimum of kerning (to perform well in applications that do not handle kerning). It is a complete set in the traditional sense and has been met with some interest. Rather than extending it further I will try to create a sans serif version.

One of your specializations is package design, and several of your alphabets were originally made for packaging. What makes you decide to design a custom font for a project? Is that done a lot in Sweden?

When working with package design in the food and drink area (which is my specialty) you are creating personalities; identities that you want people to relate to and to come back to and recognize as their choice. To me this means text, image and color are free to interact in order to create a unique expression. Usually, this means I draw the name or logo for the product in question. If this results in lettershapes worth developing further I do that, and if this results in a font I go back and apply it to the product or project. This goes back and forth until the result is either an applied font or an independent one.

My impression is that it’s becoming more and more frequent that agencies incorporate custom fonts in corporate design projects or major campaigns.

Would you say there is a specific Swedish or Scandinavian style in type design?

I really couldn’t say. We have a reputation for a design style that is airy, blond, minimalist and functional, but whether this applies to type design as well I am not sure. I do find we have a preference for plain and straightforward styles rather than more flourished or decorated ones.