Left to right: Steve Matteson (Ascender Corporation), Tom Rickner (Ascender Corporation), Michelle Perham (Microsoft), Chuck Bigelow (RIT)

On October 28th, 2009 a panel of typographic experts gathered to impart the wisdom they have gathered over years in the typography industry.

Led by Charles Bigelow, typography professor in the School of Print Media and a co-creator of the Lucida fonts, the panel discussed the paths their careers followed leading them to the high-ranking typography positions in which they currently reside.

All three of the panel members attended RIT and graduated from the School of Print Media. Steve Matteson and Tom Rickner currently operate Ascender Corporation as Type Design Diriector and Type Designer and Font Producer respectively. Ascender Corporation has been contracted by major corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple and designed the typefaces used in the Microsoft Zune player as well as the Android G2 Google phone.

Michelle Perham currently works for Microsoft Typography Group as a project manager and oversees international type design for all Microsoft products including the recent Windows 7. Her group currently has over 250 different fonts with more foreign fonts than latin fonts. According to Perham, less than 10% of world computers running Microsoft are using latin fonts.

The panel discussion covered a wide range of typographic topics including the increase in display fonts and the decrease in newspapers. According to Charles Bigelow, as the display technology and “hinting” of fonts become more refined, people are more comfortable reading off of a display. There is a linear relationship between this refinement and the demise of the newspaper industry.

A major focus of this panel discussion was job opportunities in the world of typography and design. The panel all seemed to agree that you have to follow the aspect of your education that held your attention the most no matter if it was your core focus of study. Chuck Bigelow has a degree in Anthropology and Michelle Perham has a degree in Photography, both took a type class and have based their careers around this particular facet of their education.

In addition to following your passion, the panelists from Ascender discussed the importance of hand drawing and the ability to have a strong grasp on the tools needed for type design before considering entering the field. A strong understanding of type was stressed as well as the need to practice with font revivals before attempting to put a person’s own work onto the screen.

If one thing was clear in this discussion it is that type is in high demand.

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