The Interrogang Podcast

What kind of year has it been in type‽ Josh and Kyle have much to reflect on from 2024, and even though they try to do it with a chill vibe, it's hard to ignore all the energy coming from the type world. Kyle can't quite pin down how 2024 made him feel, but he finds the strength to forgive all those unnecessary ligatures. Meanwhile, Josh identifies a Times New Roman assassin and thinks we might be getting a little too creative with our minisites. And in the end, the two can't agree on whether or not 2025 will be full of weirdness or not, I guess it's up to all of us to find out...

Links to everything discussed in this episode:
Place from Commercial Type
Exact from Signal Type
Valve from Pangram Pangram

Have you ever wanted to find a font specimen underneath the tree on Christmas morning‽ Then you might just be...a type person. With gifting season upon us, it is once again time for Josh and Kyle to bring you their favorite physical media from indie foundries and shops, ranging from type that is cuddly to tools that facilitate play to a hat that might just help you get lucky at the bar. And we're really into pencils on this podcast if you're into that sort of thing too. Josh also has a very Grinchy present for Kyle this year, and won't be waiting until Arbor Day to give it to him...

Online type shops:
Letterform Archive Shop
Good Type Shop
Letterperson Shop
Hamilton Wood Type Museum Shop
Draw Down Books
Counter Print Books
Present & Correct

Type specimens for your favorite type nerd:
Sharp Type Volume One
A Concise Synopsis of the Commercial Type Library as of June 2024
After Michaux Type Specimen
Otto: A Tale of a Boy and a Tail — ABC Dinamo
Kelli Anderson Books

Gift ideas for that last minute (or Arbor Day) gift:
Typotheque Strokes Tote
Specimen Cap — Grilli Type
Nebulith Throw Blanket — Space Type Co.
Alphabet Runner Stamps — Present & Correct
Letter Love Postcard Set — Letterform Archive
Zuzana Licko 'g' Throw Blanket — Letterform Archive
Karl Martens 2025 Calendar — Draw Down
Universal Stencil Plate — Draw Down

What’s your starchiest font‽ It’s Turkey Time again people, and we have once again laid out a five-course meal of our favorite fonts from 2024! So get ready to devour gorgeous backslants, crunchy fonts with no curves, and New Jersey license plate letters that say "I'm walking here!". You’ll wash it all down with tipsy mono italics and finish up with everyone’s favorite anarchical type masterpiece. Whether you clean your plate or not, there's plenty for everyone. May it never be said that the Interrogang table is not inclusive of weirdos…

Your 2024 Thanksgiving Day spread:
Sharp Earth from Sharp Type
MD Lorien from Mass Driver
Ohno Backslant from the Ohno Type Drawer
Glammo from Signal Type
NaN Rage from NaN
Euchre from Okay Type
Ceraph from Sharp Type
Piet from TypeMates
Michaeux from Plain Form
Vanity from Order Type Foundry
Armond from Badson Type Foundry

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Why do we think of neutrality as a dirty word‽ Josh and Kyle highlight what makes neutral typefaces integral to the lifeblood of modern type design, both creatively and economically. Now, it may sound like such a conversation might be pretty middle-of-the-road (ya know, neutral), but a lot of ground is covered here. Does the specter of Helvetica loom over all neutral sans designs? When should we look to remove cultural inspirations from our designs? How do serifs fit into the world of neutrality? Should you do a rollout from a moving airplane? Why is Josh still on this podcast? All good questions...

Links to everything that we discussed in this episode:
Baumer Grotesk from Erkin Karamemet
Booton from Displaay Type Foundry
Airport from Revolver Type
Degular, Retail, and Camelion from Ohno Type Co
Sharp Earth from Sharp Type
Big Issue from Blast Foundry
The Recast Collection from Dalton Maag
Gamay from Darden Studio
Melun from Lift Type
Paramount from Production Type
Cortese Sans from Mark Van Leewen
Icona Serif from Suitcase Type
GT Pantheon from Grilli Type
GT Flaire from Grilli Type
CoFo Holz from Contrast Foundry

Neutraljuice, Neutraljuice, Neutraljuice!

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What fonts are best for your scariest messages‽ It's the annual Halloween episode and the guys have unearthed a plethora of fonts to make your skin crawl. From fonts that just returned from the torture chamber, to sweet fonts with a dark side, to plant-like alien protuberances, it's a ghoulish typographic menu. Then, Josh has prepared four Halloween short stories, each requiring Kyle to conjure up a font to truly get those goosebumps working. So gather 'round a campfire for this one folks, and when you hear the clown's laughter, don't linger...

Links to every terror-ific font discussed in this episode:
Synch by James Plattner on Future Fonts
Marjoree from ShowMeFonts
Very Bauble from Letterror
Cascorro 18 from Manufacturas Tipográficas Madrileñas
Eurocat from MaxiType
Macabre from James Coleman on Future Fonts
Nostra Stream from Plain Form
Glob from Resistenza

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What makes for a good name‽ In this very special episode of the Interrogang, there's reason to celebrate as Josh and his wife welcome their first child into the world. So, we're throwing a font-themed baby shower! Kyle takes the reins in this episode and devizes baby shower mini-games, naming challenges, and (maybe not so helpful) friendly suggestions for baby names inspired by the type world itself. We even have a special guest to join in on the fun: our very own editor Andrew finally comes out from behind the mixing board and in front of the mic. And as much as we wanted to, we couldn’t bring ourselves to title the episode “Quirky Spermo”. Didn’t seem like a good parenting decision…

Links to typefaces and things mentioned in this episode: 

Extraset's ES Park

Monotype's Global Type Use Survey

GT Pantheon

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What does Google know about what fonts are made of‽ Josh and Kyle turn once again, despite their better judgement, to Google in everyone's favorite Interrogame to see how well Google's AI can answer your questions about fonts. It's a mixed bag, but once you listen to the episode you might just learn that gothic fonts are from the Gothic era, that modern fonts attended leadership training, and that Mr. Rogers had some enemies. Google may not always wax philosophical on type, but Kyle sure can (for *most* people)...

Links to everything that we discussed in this episode:
Gatwick Collection from Pangram Pangram

Source of the word "cromulent" for any non-Simpsons fans out there

Support the Interrogang for as little as $3 a month and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! These episodes are all thanks to your support!

How old is too old for a font‽ There's a lot of discussion around the age of a font in this episode, as we tour recent modern medieval designs that don't look the way you think they do, question the value of fonts released decades ago, and wonder why we continue to put up with Papyrus. Josh is all about calligraphy, and Kyle has found that gravestone under a depressing tree glyph you were always looking for. Once the judges scores were tallied up, though, it's clear: Josh put on a podcasting masterclass...

Remember: Respect your elders and freshness counts!

Links to everything that we discussed in this episode:
The calligraphic tour:
Pahin from Blaze Type
Tradition from Bold Decisions
Sharp Roman from Sharp Type

Elizabeth Goodspeed's Heralding the ancient and otherworldly charm of Future Medieval graphics on It's Nice That

Recent medieval releases:
Mancine from Herzberg Design Co.
Clavichord from DJR’s Font of the Month club
Narwa designed by Lewis McGuffie and released on Future Fonts
Gil Modern from CAST Foundry
Fulgora from Sudtipos
Emeritus from Blaze Type
Neue Heitz from Pretend Foundry

Proof of Words
Covenant
Garnier
Alara
Limerick

The Bottle Dance from Fiddler on the Roof

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Are we entering an entirely new universe of font genres‽ It's becoming harder and harder to classify genres in typography, and many of the newer releases are just exacerbating that difficulty. Whether it's finding whimsy in your text serifs where it doesn't belong, a dot font that abandons all conscious typographic reality, or a new-fangled approach we're calling a "multi-genre" font, new fonts are as alive and creative and confusing as they've ever been. That is, unless Kyle succeeds at taking us back to Ancient Rome...

Links to everything that we discussed in this episode:
Sylvain Boyer explains the story behind the Olympic logo
Olympic typefaces through history
The Variable font designed for Nike from Pizza Typefaces
Gramercy from Dinamo
Gamuth from Production Type
NaN Tragedy from NaN
Columba from East of Rome
Scatterplot from Cast Type Foundry

Some examples of what we think are "multi-genre":
Arsen from Typofounderie
Notice from Erkin Karamemet
Trust from MCKL Type

Articles about "Infillism":
Emigre: Time and Time Again on the Fontstand Blog
Response to this Infillism essay by Klim Type foundry's Kris Sowersby: Welcome to the Infill Font Foundry
Response to these essays by Stephen Coles on Typographica: Rejecting Infillism and Waterfalls of Mediocrity

And we assume that you certainly don't remember that Armour Hot Dog jingle

Armour Fonts, the fonts kids love to bite!

Support the Interrogang for as little as $3 a month and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! These episodes are all thanks to your support!

How adventurous can a big corporate font rebrand really be‽ Obviously, there's a lot of room for improvement there and Josh has a bold new direction for Chipotle to go. The guys also talk Olympic logos, handwritten fonts that make you feel seen, a foundry's equivalent of the Burger King Kid's Club, and the trials and tribulations of font pairing. And Fonty McFontface has a cool new type release that you should definitely check out...

The all cat version of this podcast can be found on S-purr-tifiy.

Links to everything that we discussed in this episode:
A writeup on some past Olympic logos
All the past Summer Olympic logos from the great sportslogos.net
Cornbread from MaxiType
Production Type Font Playlists
Red Hat and Redaction from MCKL Type
Premier, TypeTogether’s distribution service
Typotheque Club
Spotify Mix
Early Sans and Late Serif from Character Type
Badson Type Foundry

Support the Interrogang for as little as $3 a month and help us expand what Proof&Co. and the Interrogang have to offer! These episodes are all thanks to your support!