Matthew Carter

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Matthew Carter, (born in Britain in 1937) is a typeface designer. He lives in Cambridge in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Carter's career in letter making has witnessed the transition from physical metal type to digital type.

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[edit] Family

Matthew Carter is the son of Harry Carter, a printing historian to Oxford University Press. As Harry’s son, Matthew was able to gain important insight about typography, especially the classical Roman Letterform. In fact, many of Matthew’s typefaces are recreations of 16th century designs.

[edit] Education

At the age of 19, Carter spent a year studying in Holland where he learned from Jan Van Krimpen’s assistant P. H. Raedisch. Raedisch taught Carter the art of punch cutting at the Enschede type foundry. By 1961 Carter was able to use the skills he acquired to cut his own version of the semi-bold typeface Dante.

[edit] Career

Carter eventually returned to London where he became a freelancer as well as the typographic advisor to Crosfield Electronics, distributors of Photon phototypesetting machines. Carter designed many typefaces for Mergenthaler Linotype as well. Under Linotype, Carter created well known typefaces such as the 100-year replacement typeface for Bell Telephone Company.

In 1981, Carter and his colleague Mike Parker created Bitstream Inc. This digital type foundry is currently one of the largest suppliers of type. He left Bitstream in 1991 to form the Carter & Cone type foundry with Cherie Cone. Matthew Carter focuses on improving many typefaces' readability. He designs specifically for Apple and Microsoft computers. Georgia and Verdana are two fonts that have been created solely for viewing on the computer screen. Carter has designed type for magazines such as Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Boston Globe, Wired, and Newsweek. He is a member of AIG, is a senior critic for Yale's Graphic design program, has served as chairman of AtypI, and is an ex officio member of the board of directors of The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA). Matthew Carter has won numerous awards for his significant contributions to typography and design, including an honoris causa Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Art Institute of Boston and the 2005 SOTA Typography Award.

[edit] Typefaces

Matthew Carter's typefaces include:

Revivals on which Carter has worked include:

  • Auriol
  • Big Caslon
  • New Century Schoolbook
  • ITC Souvenir
  • Cochin
  • Gando
  • Helvetica

[edit] External links

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