1. Which are your criteria for choosing a typeface for a publication?
Typography is an artistic expression and as such is very difficult to define these criteria. Choosing a typeface for a publication is quite different from opening a recipe book which will advice you on what you can or cannot do with letters. I never follow certain rules but I always have in mind the following:
a. The content of the publication. Every typeface has a personality, so I want its personality to respect and communicate the content of the publication.b. Legibility
c. The medium (screen or paper).
d. The audience. I'll use a total different set of typefaces for a children's book and another one for the annual report of a big company.
e. The overall quality of the typeface. A high quality font which includes all the letters, ligatures, numbers, punctuation marks, currency and mathematical symbols, is the one that I'll trust to do my work.
2. Do you prefer serif or sans-serif and why?
It’s difficult to answer this question. I cannot choose between two typefaces knowing only that the one is serif and the other one is sans serif. There are many other factors for my choice beside this.
3. Which typeface you would never use for Harper's Bazaar?
Harper's Bazaar is a historic American fashion magazine with a very sophisticated perspective about fashion and beauty and with audience in the middle-upper and upper class. Harper's Bazaar had been the home of many talents such as Carmel Snow, Diana Vreeland , Richard Avedon, Man Ray, Andy Warhol and others. The visual identity of Harper's Bazaar has the signature of his legendary art director, Alexey Brodovitch and his Bazaar's iconic Didot logo carries a big part of the magazine's history. Having all these in mind and since typefaces convey the social position of a magazine, determined by the reader's upbringing and earlier influences, it’s hard to use any typeface which does not convey all the above. In recent past Harper's Bazaar used DIN, but this is one font that I would never use in this magazine. DIN is not the only font that I would not use for Harper's Bazaar (of course script and blackletter typefaces are out of the question) but I think this is a very good example for someone to understand which typefaces do not match with this publication.
4. Would you ever compromise legibility for aesthetics and when?
Legibility or readability is not the only point of concern. A typeface is not only the medium by which we convey to the reader the meaning of text, it is also shapes and forms. Graphic design is also shapes and forms. Therefore, letters may sometimes loose their legibility for the sake of aesthetics, but this does not necessarily mean that they loose their power.
5. Is economy of text a major concern when it comes to choosing a typeface for your magazine?
Not really. In a fashion magazine like Harper's Bazaar long articles are not so common, so there is no need for a narrow typeface.
6. What do you see to be the next trend for magazine design?
Magazines and newspapers are no longer the only media we use for news, fashion, entertainment, etc. Needs have changed, therefore the medium has to change as well. In this context, the new magazines must portray their character and personality. The "new" magazines will be like coffee table books. Magazines with a strong concept, sophisticated images and illustrations, eye catching typography, high quality papers, in new formats and all sorts of different sizes. These are the magazines of the future.
7. Which motto describes best yourself and your work?
“Art is not a reflection of reality, it’s the reality of that reflection”
- Jean-Luc Godard
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