We have a fabulous selection of international guests critics visiting us at TypeParis Summer25. We wanted to find out a little more about each of them, so have presented them with a series of questions which they have generously taken the time to answer. Discover Albert-Jan Pool’s interview.

Biography Albert-Jan Pool studied type design with Gerrit Noordzij at KABK and began his career in Hamburg's type industry in 1987, later founding Dutch Design in 1994. Famously designing FF DIN for public signage, which he expanded over the years with new styles, scripts, and variable fonts, working with designers like Achaz Reuss and Antonia Cornelius. Alongside teaching and advising on legibility and inclusive design, his latest project is Altona, a typeface inspired by 1920s street signs, co-designed with Julia Uplegger and Antonia Cornelius.

‍

Interview

‍

What’s your favourite way to start the day?

Albert-Jan Pool Have breakfast with coffee and read the newspaper. Say hello to Bente, Antonia or Nadja when they’re at work in the office, check and answer urgent e-mails, update priority list, make phone calls, pay bills, check which jobs may be delegated and start working. Leave the office between 17.00 and 18.00 h. Lunch with the above mentioned from 13.00 to 14.00 h. Team-meeting is every Tuesday at 10.00 h. On Fridays I’m not in the office and do private projects at home.

‍

Favorite kind of music to listen to while working?

Albert-Jan Pool I love to listen to music, but not while working.

‍

Do you read/listen/watch the news?

Albert-Jan Pool I try to read the newspaper every day and watch ‘Tagesschau’ either on my laptop or on Instagram.

‍

What do you think of social media today?

Albert-Jan Pool Social media is OK, but I must take care not to let it take too much time. I We do business posts on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook under FF DIN Plus and I have personal accounts on all three too. I find most of my smaller customers at Instagram, the larger ones are at LinkedIn. Facebook is getting less important. I stopped posting at Twitter because Elon Musk took over.

‍

“Many paths have already been walked before and the risk that you present something to a client that is merely a clone of a typeface that’s already available and subject to copyright is not to be underestimated.”‍

– Albert-Jan Pool

What do you do to take a step away from work?

Albert-Jan Pool Yoga, walking, cycling and designing photo albums, mainly on family history. Right now, I’m working on a photo album on my late friend and colleague Evert Bloemsma as a private project. It will be shown on the exhibition about Evert in October this year which is held in Amsterdam. The exhibition is being prepared by the Dutch typographer Jaap van Triest and prof. Sébastien Morlighem from Amiens.

‍

We’re thrilled to have you back at Summer25! We’d love to hear about your experience back in 2017.

Albert-Jan Pool I’m fond of teaching so it was a great experience to meet and advise students from all over the world and exchange thoughts on their projects with them. Also, I had the pleasure of being invited to speak about legibility. I had worked on DIN 1450, the German standard on the legibility of typefaces up until 2013. The committee consisted of several colleagues, such as Peter Karow, the inventor of the legendary Ikarus-Format, Indra Kupferschmid, known for her expertise on typeface classification, and Florian Adler, who later designed the website https://legibility.info. Our update on DIN 1450 was still rather new then, so presenting it in Paris for the first time was a great opportunity to make it better known in France and the international participants of TypeParis 2017. The committee recently did an update of that standard and the corresponding English translation will be made available by DIN within the next weeks, so keep an eye on it.

What drives you to create new typefaces?

Albert-Jan Pool The first typefaces I designed were commissioned by URW during the time I was their type director: URW Imperial, URW Linear and URW Mauritius. After that Erik Spiekermann asked me to create the five-weight family FF DIN from DIN 1451 Mittelschrift (medium) and the three-weight family FF OCR-F from OCR-B. Next up were corporate typefaces such as Jet Set Sans for the JET gas stations. Because FF DIN turned out to be successful, I kept expanding the family over the years. The first typeface that I started without being asked to do so, is Altona. It is a revival of an alphabet that was used for street signs during the interbellum. I designed it together with Julia Uplegger and Antonia Cornelius – it was released by TypeMates in 2023.

‍

How much does a software and its rules determine a type project nowadays?

Albert-Jan Pool I do not think that software really plays a big role anymore. The design of bitmap fonts brought a lot of restrictions with it, but they have been replaced by (hinted) outlines in most cases. Interpolation used to be restrictive too, but today it’s possible to automatically leave out certain serifs in blacker weights and condensed style if needed. Delicate shapes can be designed more accurate by choosing 2048 ppem or even more instead of 1000. Shallow curves can still be tedious, but not impossible.

‍

“Today we know that what we read most, may be easier to grasp, but that does not necessarily mean that the typefaces we read most, are the best.”‍

– Albert-Jan Pool

‍

Do you think AI will change the way to design typefaces?

Albert-Jan Pool I’m not sure about the role of AI yet. It may be useful to visualise ideas in the conceptional phase, like checking out how a typeface like Optima may look like when certain kinds of serifs are attached to it, or how a Script style made fit to accompany Helvetica may look like, but when it comes to design outlines, the algorithms still produce amateurish results. As with photo-realistic illustrations it will take some time until the typical AI-artefacts start disappearing. Today we already have thousands of free font-families to choose from, so when it comes to actually using AI to generate something that’s supposed to be new and original, AI has to compete against algorithms that are capable of finding existing fonts that may already fit your needs. I expect that AI-assisted search for the available will be way more quicker and reliable than going through a rather cumbersome procedure of trying prompts, tediously checking data as well as redesigning and refining the results. Also I think it is obvious that when you ask for something like a typeface between Arial and Helvetica or Akzidenz Grotesk and DIN, AI will rather ‘find’ such typefaces for you rather than designing these. Many paths have already been walked before and the risk that you present something to a client that is merely a clone of a typeface that’s already available and subject to copyright is not to be underestimated.

‍

What is your ratio of self-initiated typefaces vs. ones for clients?

Albert-Jan Pool I guess it’s 3 : 7. Self initiated is definitely more satisfying, but in my case it is financed by the typefaces I was commissioned to design and that’s quite a comfortable situation.

‍

Are you someone who redraws type classics or seeks new forms completely?

Albert-Jan Pool The typefaces I redrew weren’t classics at the time I set out to do so, I was lucky that FontShop’s marketing people and turned FF DIN into a classic among graphic designers. Later, Monotype’s salespeople consolidated the initial success and established it as a corporate typeface. Family extensions such as Round, Slab and Stencil enhanced its versatility, so in the end it’s a combination of efforts that contributed to the success.
Inventing forms is always more fun, and it compensates for the more tedious and even painstaking tasks. But on the other hand, it’s also important and fruitful to do other things than typeface design ;-)

‍

Is it possible to draw a typeface for a script or writing whose language we do not know?

Albert-Jan Pool History has shown that it is possible, but collecting appropriate reference material, research on the design history and consultation are pre-requisites. Collaboration with or commissioning designs to native designers may be more fruitful, but on the other hand, we’re not only talking about convention. We’re also talking about designing (for) the new. Meaning to say that when it comes to designing a typeface for a certain script system, there can only be a few styles that are solidly rooted in historical correct forms. Every script system needs a range of designs of that kind, that’s out of question. But next to that, there’s also a need for faces that break with conventions to stand out, to draw attention, to express emotions and the like. Ideas on how to do this must not necessarily come from within the culture in which a script system has evolved. There’s always been exchange between cultures, people influence and inspire each other — that’s basically a good thing, I think. In the end, the users will decide on what’s acceptable, is persistent or what will disappear again.

‍

What do you think of this trend of free fonts?

Albert-Jan Pool Free Fonts and Open Source Fonts are different pairs of shoes as we say in Germany. But irrespective of that … as far as I can see, the bigger players in the market have not seen sales figures going down because of them. I think that it’s the easiness by which fonts can be accessed may be more decisive on what fonts are used than pricing only. Why should one go through the trouble of searching through numerous websites that offer free or Open Source fonts and install them myself, when it’s easier to click and automatically install a range of fonts that are offered through the Adobe Creative Cloud, Monotype Fonts or Office 365? Also, with free fonts you will always have to check wether they are realiable regarding technical functionality, character set, spacing, kerning and so on. Also, one has to check wether one can really use them for the intended purpose from a legal point of view. Many fonts that are offered for free download are not really free to use, even not for private usage. They are just illegal copies of licensable fonts. Several foundries have business partners that track websites on font usage. One of them recently stated that 60% of their fonts used on websites have not been licensed properly or not licensed at all. So even when sales have not gone down, this figure shows that more revenue can be made, when they manage to turn cases of illegal use into cases of legal use.

‍

How do you approach the focus on detail when teaching typeface design? 

Albert-Jan Pool The attraction to details can be good in an early phase because they usually trigger and motivate the designing brain. Still, I advocate to do ‘first things first’. And after some initial sketches, that’s all about finding and exploring the appropriate style, weight, width, proportions and rhythm. The further a student develops a design, the more rewarding and necessary it is to really focus on certain details.

‍

What key aspects of legibility have evolved over time, and what’s crucial for the future?

Albert-Jan Pool There have been many misassumptions about legibility. For a long time, it was thought that ‘simple’ letterforms like those that can be found in Futura would be easier to perceive. Today we know that the one-storey ‘a’ and ‘g’ are too similar to ‘o’, especially when ascenders are rather short. Also, evenness was often confused with legibility. Today we know that repeating vertical stroke endings as in ‘a’, ‘e’, and ‘s’ of modernist linear sans serifs like Univers and Helvetica may be conceived as aesthetically pleasing, but they also cause small apertures. This makes it more difficult to distinguish letterforms from each other. The same goes for too much similarity among b, d, p and q. When b is designed as a perfectly mirrored d and p is a perfectly mirrored q, it’s harder to distinguish between them. Especially for beginning readers and those that suffer from dyslexia. Another decisive factor is the thickness of the hairlines. The smaller the perceived size, the thicker the thinnest strokes need to be. Familiarity was also thought of as being a key factor. Today we know that what we read most, may be easier to grasp, but that does not necessarily mean that the typefaces we read most, are the best. Furthermore, we know that a typeface with a highly unusual distribution of thick and thin parts, such as Dyslexie and Open Dyslectic have not proven to be more legible that others. Neither with dyslectic readers, nor with average readers, serious research – such as executed by Sofie Beier – provided. Generally speaking, I think that we can say that when we compare two typefaces that mainly differ by their form principles, the typeface in which the form principle is based on broad nib generally performs better than the typeface that relies on the pointed nib or on geometry. These two typefaces may have serifs or not, have a higher or lower stroke contrast, the typeface that is based on the form principle of the broad nib is more legible than the other one. The difficulty is that there are hardly two type families that only differ by form principle. Weight, stroke contrast, hairline thickness, width, x-height, proportions and spacing and should all be identical, otherwise we will not be able to tell the influence of the form principle on legibility. With existing fonts, it has always been difficult or even possible to find two fonts that suit such an experiment. Today, the technology of variable fonts may make it easier to tweak or design two fonts in such a way that the only difference is the form principle. Which tells us there there is still some design work and research to be done to find out what legibility really is about!

‍

“Generally speaking, I think that we can say that when we compare two typefaces that mainly differ by their form principles, the typeface in which the form principle is based on broad nib generally performs better than the typeface that relies on the pointed nib or on geometry.”‍

– Albert-Jan Pool

Do you remember when you decided to pursue your career in design?

When I was about to start studying in The Hague, I saw the diploma exhibition. Next to typography, photography, packaging and illustration, all students showed two alphabets they had drawn. Petr van Blokland was the only one who designed a bitmap typeface that was meant to be used on screen. This was definitely the design that intrigued me most and seeing that one could study letterforms by designing letters that were meant to work on a computer screen somehow convinced me that for me, The Hague was the perfect place to study. Everything turned out to be different than expected, but the longer I studied there, the more I occupied myself with designing letters. When I was finally offered a job in the type studio of Scangraphic near Hamburg, I decided to go for it and leave Holland behind me.

‍

Who were the teachers & mentors who had the most impact on you?

Gerrit Noordzij was the only one that taught typeface design. Reynoud Homan, who was teaching typography, also fascinated me. He had studied at the KABK too and worked at Total Design. He adored modernist design and was quite the opposite of Gerrit Noordzij. Still, they admired each other. For me, the two opposites respecting each other opened up a field of possibilities to explore. At Scangraphic it was their type director Volker Küster, who taught me all about spacing and getting things done. Finally my colleague Jelle Bosma helped me to master the technological challenge of producing PostScript fonts, a new technology at that time.

‍

Do you sketch on paper (or tablet) before moving on to the digital workflow?

Yes, I always make sketches by hand, but not that many. As soon as I think that I know how certain characters should look like, I start working on the computer.

‍

Do you have words of wisdom for someone starting in type design?

As the number of designers, foundries and typefaces is increasing, it is becoming more and difficult to enter the retail market and draw attention. Today I would rather try to collaborate with agencies and try to sell corporate fonts for smaller projects such as a headline face for an advertising campaign, a series of product logos etc. Create a small portfolio of designs that you’re convinced of and of which you think that they may be attractive to their customers. Do networking to get in contact with them personally. Don’t work on spec but rather show them what you have to offer and show them the way and benefits of a possible collaboration. Never sell all the rights (your intellectual property) unless you get paid very, very well. Even then, take care that your license agreement with your customer allows you to use the design yourselves again, when the customer decides to not use your design anymore. Customers and their products may change or even cease to exist, typefaces can live forever!

‍

‍

Thank you very much Albert!

‍

– Interview by Laimė Lukošiūnaitė

‍

‍

Register to the graphic & type conference in Paris ➼ Now25 conference

Learn more about TypeParis

➼ Type & graphic designers interviews

➼ Summer25 programme‍

➼ Reports

➼ Attendees feedback series

‍