— Type for you.

You probable know Typeradio, created by Underware, and it´s famous quote:

“Type is speech on paper.
Typeradio is speech on type.”

Unfortunatelly i don´t have the time to hear it as often as I wanted…but today I heard the John D. Berry session, and I advise you to do the same.
(Don´t miss the nice jingle at the beggining
I specially liked the “confrontation” with David Carson‘s work, which I also appreciate very much. ( You can hear David Carson’s episodes also on typeradio)

It´s divided in three parts:

Part 1:
John always starts with questions, everything he does in his life he has come to sideways, he is interested in both words and visuals and does not make a distinction between the two. What good is it to be a designer if you don’t read?

Part 2:
John talks about collecting and accumulating, and how he organises his collections. If you are a collector of obscure literary magazines of the pacific north west from the late seventies and early eighties this could be your chance to increase your collection. John talks about being the editor of U&LC, and how content and design worked together perfectly.

Part3:
John explains how he got involved with U&lc. What he hates about typography and what not to do. What he finds important when designing a magazine. His views on Massimo Vignelli and David Carson. Why not to use Helvetica numerals. What he considers most powerful the written or spoken word.

And who is John D. Berry? Let´s go to the facts:

John D. Berry is an editor/typographer who works both sides of the design/content divide. He is the former editor and publisher of U&lc (Upper and lower case) and of U&lc Online, and he edited the book Language Culture Type, on international type design, published for ATypI by Graphis. He has a deep and eclectic background in both writing/editing and typography; he has made a career for more than twenty-five years in Seattle, New York, and San Francisco as an editor and book designer. He writes and consults extensively on typography, and he has won numerous awards for his book designs.
He writes a regular column about type and design, dot-font, for Creativepro.com.
He lives in Seattle with the writer Eileen Gunn.

He never drew a typeface, but “maybe he will surprise himself someday”.