But dealing with Stiff wasn’t easy. He wanted endnotes so he could give his sources, which were critical to his argument. Even though we didn’t usually publish notes — Eye is a magazine, after all, not a journal — I agreed because I could see their necessity in this case, though I suggested we drop the page numbers. Stiff wasn’t happy with this, maintaining that it would ill serve readers; he was consistent to a fault. I thought that was overstating it. When the essay, slightly revised, was reprinted in Looking Closer 2 (1997) under a perhaps too emphatic new title, “Look at Me! Look at Me! (What Designers Want),” he put the numbers back in.

Looking back, so much of the “Golden Age of Design” revolved around clear, ordered and unhindered communication. Without the jargon and buzzwords, designers were practicing user-centered design in their particular craft. I do not think it is coincidence that once the design community lost the focus of the viewer/reader that design began to go off the rails and became far too introspective and, debatably, self-serving. I believe in large part that movement has began to atrophy or at least is becoming more accurately defined as art. It is always beneficial to be reminded of what design of all flavors (including typographic design) should, and should not, be focused on.

Mr. Brown Typeface by Jan-Christian Bruun. via Typography Served

Liquid Stencil by Silvia Ballerini. via Typography Served

Kettler by Process Type Foundry. via Typography Served

Pona by Jordi Embodas. via Typography Served

Exogenetic by Aaron Nicholls. via Typography Served

BLOCK typeface by Natasha Lid Bjørdalsbakke. via Typography Served

Bryant Compressed by Process Type Foundry is a playful, rounded typeface. via Typography Served

Tabac typeface by Suitcase Type Foundry. via Typography Served

Poster design by Vasco Durão. via Typography Served

Identity design and some really compelling experimental typography by Romualdo Faura. via Typography Served

Andromeda typeface by Thomas Gillett. via Typography Served

Monroe Font by Daniel Hernandez. via Typography Served

Mafra Display, published by dstype, designed by Pedro Leal. via Typography Served

Secca typeface by gtf. via Typography Served

Paten typeface by Leon Sloth. via Typography Served

Ico is a great collection of dingbat fonts designed by Ondrej Jób. via Typography Served

Locator Typeface by Process Type Foundry. via Typography Served

Foster type, designed for Frozzen magazine by Jorge León. via Typography Served

Fontsmith Postcards by Eleanor Ridsdale. via Typography Served