Type now

Fred Smeijers

16 March 2004. Fred?s talk accompanied ?Fred Smeijers: work so far?, the exhibition of paper works and artefacts first staged in the Hague in 2003. He enthusiastically traced his career and developing interest in typography and type design. The talk was copiously illustrated with many of the items present in the exhibition. Fred was interested in letter-shapes at University, drawing and stencilling. ?Things became real? when he joined Océ, the Dutch office equipment manufacturer, which was developing a laser printer. This needed to be programmed to correctly draw various standard typefaces. Fred painted a vivid picture of him amongst a sea of engineers, helping to marry the technical and aesthetic aspects of the technology, the output, and the teams involved.

Questions from Océ engineers spurred research visits to Antwerp?s Plantin-Moretus Museum, where he discovered type specimens and notebook pages from Christopher Plantin. He analysed this, drew his own variation, and adapted from the punches a new typeface, which was later to become his most familiar ? Quadraat. Leaving Océ, he freelanced. ?The use of typefaces is very important?, he declared, showing type design for products including the Dutch telephone directory, Philips kitchen appliances, and Boekblad magazine. ?Type design in itself is not that interesting?, Fred himself subsequently appeared to contradict as he described establishing his own foundry to release typefaces including Fresco and Sansa to great acclaim, and winning the Gerrit Noordzij Prize, from which his moral code for type designers, this exhibition, and the book Type Now developed. So what about Type Future? ?So long as humans stay open, have curiosity to try things, and typefaces stay accessible and cheap, people will use more.? Based on Fred?s talk, people will continue to use more of Smeijers? magic.