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Ray Larabie |
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An Interview with Ray Larabie
Interviewed by Geetesh Bajaj, March 9th 2006
Ray Larabie (pictured to the left) became interested
in fonts in the early 70's when his grandmother gave him
sheets of Letraset. He became so familiar with typefaces that,
by the time he was 17, he could identify hundreds of fonts by name.
He began creating typefaces with pen and paper and later, on his
first computer, a TRS-80.
In 1996, Ray launched Ray Larabie's Freeware Typeface of the Week, a small
website featuring his latest font designs which he offered free of charge for anyone to use. This
evolved into Larabie
Fonts. In 2001, Ray launched Typodermic, his commercial site devoted to larger families of fonts available at very reasonable prices.
Geetesh:
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Tell us more about yourself and your interest in fonts.
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Ray:
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I've been designing fonts since 1996 and now it's my full-time
job. It's pretty much all I do. I think about fonts every
few seconds...it's very annoying for people around
me. |
Geetesh: |
Tell us more about Typodermic, your commercial font foundry.
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Ray:
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I used to make freeware fonts as Larabie Fonts but I decided
to go commercial in 2001 under the Typodermic name.
Now I release about two fonts per month, sometimes more.
Most
of the fonts I've released in the last two years have been
the direct result of non-exclusive font designs for corporations,
businesses and individuals who commission them. By keeping
the work non-exclusive, I can make custom font design affordable
with the benefit of potential long-term sales. Often people
have tried to license a font from another company, and
found that their fee is far too steep, their expectation
of royalties is way too high or that they're unwilling
to add accents or make other changes. They find that it's
much less expensive to have me create a custom font. Of
course, I'm not allowed to alter someone else's font and
I would never make a "knockoff" version of another
font (unless it's almost a century old).
When I create
a custom font, I come up with designs that are much better
because they're custom fitted to the project. For example:
when I created fonts for Roxio Inc. (DVD creation software)
they gave me examples of existing fonts that they liked
but they needed fonts that were "video friendly" .
. . fonts that contain design aspects that make them perform
well on video. So I created a series of fonts for them.
Part of the deal is that they have no distribution restrictions:
Roxio can include them with any product they make. So,
they saved a lot of money and ended up with something suited
to their exact needs.
That's pretty much all that goes
on at Typodermic these days. Occasionally, I have time
to create a new fonts just-for-fun but it doesn't happen
very often. The rest of the time is spent dealing with
technical issues, interviews like these and helping other
people with their font projects. Fortunately, my wife
deals with the administrative side of the business allowing
me to concentrate
on fonts.
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Geetesh:
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What do you feel about the proper usage of fonts in PowerPoint
presentations? Why is this such a neglected area?
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Ray:
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I think most people stick to the fonts that come
with their system. PowerPoint presentations shouldn't
have a lot of text. All the PowerPoint presentations I've
seen were just bullet points outlining what
the speaker was saying. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. I've seen
some good presentations where they use engaging stock
photos or illustrations with a striking headline in an
appropriate font.
For example, if the speaker is talking
about foreclosure, instead of a white screen with coma-inducing
Arial bullet points, you could show a picture of obviously
low-income housing with Foreclosure written
in a grunge, rubber stamp or stencil font. (fonts like Dirty
Baker's Dozen, So Run Down, Interplanetary Crap).
An unusual
display font can help wake people from the dreaded PowerPoint
slumber. Presentations can be a powerful sedative
and a hard-to-read or interesting font choice is an easy
way to wake people up. Using a single hard-to-read heading
can encourage
people slow down to read it and begin to think. Making people
read a lot of text in a display font will wake YOU up . .
. because your audience will throw cups of hot coffee in your direction.
Be careful: PowerPoint can be DEADLY.
Note from Geetesh: Make sure that the font
is available on the machine that will play the presentation. While
PowerPoint does support font embedding, results are not always
predictable - and many fonts don't allow embedding at all.
And you certainly should not copy commercial fonts from your
system and give them to others - an alternative is to use
freeware fonts such as those designed by Ray...
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Geetesh:
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What can PowerPoint users do to make their font choices
better? |
Ray:
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Consider the use of typefaces on road signs versus
fancy gilded lettering used on a sign outside a pub.
The road sign needs to be understood quickly by people in moving vehicles
so the font must be clear. The pub sign needs to attract
the attention of pedestrians at eye level who may even
need to slow down their reading speed while trying to decipher
the fancy letters; gaining their attention and interest.
This same principle should apply to a good PowerPoint
display.There are times when the same, static
image may be onscreen for a minute or longer. This is when using a striking
font can make people slow down and absorb, like the pedestrian
reading the pub sign. When you have a lot of information that won't be
onscreen for very long, use clear, easy to read fonts, like traffic signs. Don't worry
about budget approval: there are plenty of good looking free
fonts from sites such as mine.
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Geetesh:
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Can you share a fun story, trivia, or even some tips
with Indezine readers?
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Ray:
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There was this time I saved a PowerPoint presentation by thumping the presenter's
notebook really hard. I guess the battery connection was loose.
The audience cheered. Then a guy threw up. It was the
best PowerPoint presentation EVER!
That's a funny story, right?
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