Know your type designer:

He is sometimes referred to as “Astigma” or “Prof. Bonislawsky.” He is the heart and soul of Astigmatic One Eye Typographic Institute, a microfoundry with maximum output. His font styles range from retro-futurist streamline via the hand-painted and the hard-rocking, to cool, clean digitech. Between Astigmatic and the Breaking the Norm project (more about that later), he has over a hundred font families on MyFonts. He is a real person living and working in Las Vegas. And he has loved and lived typography and lettering ever since his father gave him a Speedball lettering booklet.

On the Astigmatic website there is a compelling account of the Bonislawsky family history and the foundry’s Central-European roots. Something tells me that story is a clever mixture of fact and fiction. Would you mind telling our audience how you really got into type?

The fantastic nature of the Astigmatic roots is definitely a mixture of fact and fiction, weaving in numerous personal interests I hope to incorporate into my designs as time goes forward.

How I really got into type is quite simple. My father gave me a 1973 Speedball Lettering booklet when I was in fourth grade and I’ve been lettering in one way or another ever since. I just eventually found a way to make my hobby into a living.

Are you astigmatic? How many eyes have you got?

Yes, I am astigmatic. Early on it was just my left eye, but now in both eyes. I only have two eyes though, unless you count my mystic third eye.

You sometimes use your ‘Professor’ title. Is that: professor of Fontology?

A self-proclaimed professor of Fontology & Typographic Engineering, indeed. When I started, sharing information or schooling on how to make fonts really didn’t exist. You had to figure it all out as you went along. To a degree, that is still the case today.

I’ve been lucky to connect with various individuals and share knowledge over the years to improve my own skill and proficiency, and I’ve tried to help young designers starting out in the same manner. I love to pass on knowledge and help others when I can, and so came the title.

Your designs cover virtually every genre of type: from deco to techno, from tribal to typewriter. How did you master all those styles?

When I first started out, I was labeled the Darth Vader of type, or the grunge fonts guy, and I wanted to break out of any labeling as soon as I got it. Ever since, I’ve been trying to cover every genre of typestyle out there, and I’ve still a lot left to do. I wouldn’t call myself a master of any style, just well rounded in a lot of styles. Would that be a Jack of all Types, so to speak?

Among your own fonts, which are your favorites? Which were the most fun, or the most rewarding, to work on?

My favorites would be the Digital Disco Family, MoTenacity, Manic Tambourine, and Quick Handle. Typefaces like Manic Tambourine, Mother Hen, Tapehead and other offbeat styles were definitely the most fun to put together. Fonts like Quick Handle, Library Report, and Digital Disco were the first typestyles I made in those genres, which made them the most rewarding for me personally in moving forward.

What are the main sources of inspiration for your typefaces? Have you got a large collection of old magazines, photos of lettering, etc?

Inspiration is easy. It’s all around us. I find myself influenced not only by visual resources like old magazines, lettering books, and movie posters, but also by more abstract influences like song lyrics, movies, and strange word combinations. I currently have a ridiculously large specimen resource library which would last me the rest of my life if I stopped collecting today, but I will still collect more books, shoot more photos, and continue to expand on my reference library. I’m always looking for opportunities to work with other designers collaboratively to try and make as many of these specimens into digital reality as is humanly possible.

Who are your heroes in typography?

My heroes would be both fellow type designers I’ve worked with closely, and some with whom I have only had limited contacts, but who have inspired me through their designs, work ethic, and personalities.

Some designers I’ve worked more closely with are: Stuart Sandler (Font Diner), Jim Lyles (Bitstream), Mark Simonson, Rich Kegler (P22), Brian Jaramillo (VersusTwin / Foundry X), Eduardo Recife (MisprintedType), and Jess Latham (BlueVinyl). Others that I’ve had more limited connections with are: Matthew Carter, John Downer, Ilene Strizver, and Jill Bell – to name a few.

Through my connections with these designers I have learned a lot about lettering, type, technique, discipline, as well as how to break all the rules.

Almost all your fonts are display and script fonts. Do you have ambitions to create a text type family?

Text type families are definitely in my list of goals and genres to journey into, along with more scripts and historical revivals. I have made some basic text families already through the Breaking The Norm project such as Revelation, Register Sans, Register Serif, and Unknown Caller, but I would definitely like to expand into more refined text styles.

Could you tell us a little more about the Breaking The Norm project and your collaboration with Stuart Sandler?

Stuart Sandler of the Font Diner and I have been collaborating on various font projects and other side ventures like the Machine Wash Image Filters for almost 8 years now. Working together on Breaking The Norm was just another extension of that. We worked together with Bitstream on this project, for which we each created 250 fonts, a total of 500 fonts, within a 3-month period. It was a lot of long days, sleepless nights, and intense work, but it was also great to work so tightly with Bitstream and get this incredible range of typefaces available to the general public for such a great price. This project not only challenged us, but helped us improve our skills and proficiency.

Finally, do you have any message for our readers?

To other designers, don’t be afraid to share your ideas or techniques, and collaborate with others…by helping each other out, we only raise the bar of quality and design for future typefaces.

To the font buying public, thank you for supporting not only myself, but type designers in general, because without you, we wouldn’t have our bizarre yet wonderful careers as alphabeticians. I look forward to inspiring and facilitating your designs with typefaces I will create far into the future.

Thank you Brian! We look forward to seeing many more of your fonts in the future!

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April interview: correction

Copying and pasting can be hazardous practice. In using the March edition of Rising Stars as a template to create the April edition, the first paragraph from an old interview managed to avoid being removed. So you were very right if you frowned when you read that our April interviewee, Bob Alonso, who started his career in 1964, did an internship in 2003! The intern was in fact Rebecca Alaccari, the subject of our March interview. Apologies to all.

Follow up:

Meloriac by Ray Larabie of Vancouver, Canada, has been one of our best selling fonts since it came out in early March. It’s a pretty straightforward Ultra Black all-caps face – until you need to use the E (and who doesn’t?). Then it suddenly becomes something really special: a streetwise, heavy-duty unicase headline font. Those who bought the font during the first two months have already received an invitation to download an update, free of charge, with a few refinements; needless to say, all new buyers receive the improved version!

If you like this typeface from Typodermic, check out some of their other fonts:

Have your say:

—Mindy Sommers from Color Bakery in Poultney, Vermont

Your opinion matters to us! Feel free to share your thoughts or read other people’s comments at the MyFonts Testimonials page.

this issue’s font credits:

See all of these fonts in the Rising Stars, Follow-up, and Supporting Fonts font albums at MyFonts.