I’m joined by wonderful José Scaglione. He is a type designer, lecturer, and co-founder of the high renown foundry TypeTogether, which is behind popular typefaces like Bree or Adelle. They worked with top brands, like Apple and Google, where they also contributed serif typefaces for screen rendering. And this is why I invited José – to discuss with him the predominance of sans-serif in user interfaces and screen design more broadly.

We speak about, why it might be a legacy issue, and that moving out of your comfort zone can be very rewarding. It brings us to legibility, readability, and accessibility. José also shares how he experienced the switch from static fonts to variable fonts as a type designer and foundry. If you struggle with pairing typefaces, this episode also has some tips for you.

Talking points:

00:28 Introduction

02:39 Greeting to José Scaglione

03:36 Is the font in the TypeTogether logo overused?

06:01 Don’t use tabular figures on business cards

07:27 Benefits of learning about typography

09:49 Why is sans-serif dominant in UIs?

13:02 Legibility, regardless of sans or serif

15:34 Why are neo-grotesques so popular?

17:08 Arguments against neutrality & Helvetica

18:57 Portada: A serif typeface for UI design

20:39 Complexity of printing vs screen

24:30 Variable fonts and optical sizing

27:57 Variable fonts and file size

29:37 Do you need the design space of VF?

31:31 Belarius: Slab serifs in UI design

35:40 Accessibility and typography

42:38 Advice for typography newbies

43:20 Tips on pairing typefaces

45:26 Rapid Round of questions

47:11 Goodbye

48:18 Summary

Visuals, quotes, and links:

https://pimpmytype.com/talk01