Design Something.

Interview of Lauren Thompson, type designer and creator of the blog Nymphont, interview by Dan Kern. One of the world wide web’s up-and-coming design stars is paving her own path through the challenging landscape of type. Typography is one of the most sacred of the old media design disciplines.

Lauren Thompson runs a site called Nymphont, which she uses to educate, enlighten, and guide its readers through the world of type and related design. I interviewed Lauren Thompson through a series of emails during August and September, 2009.

Hi Lauren!
Hi, why thank you for they lovely introduction. I am so glad it is socially acceptable on the web to be a geek. Nymphont is a wonderful outlet for me to create and share, and has been more fulfilling and beneficial in ways than I had expected.

What, or who, got you started in design?
Well, since childhood I have always been an ‘artist’, I guess you could say. Passionate about the art within any project I was to work on, and about the various art forms I would try.

Art was always where I excelled and I enjoyed it, but I also accepted at a young age that this was a fine hobby, but not what I should pursuit as a career.

To this day, I am really at a loss as to what that might be. Although I’d love to see a future where I could work to prevent children from being preyed upon. I’d be able to put aside my passion for art for that. But that’s as realistic and as far I went with most of my attempts in seeking a future outside the arts.

My start in designing for the web, graphic or otherwise, might not have been had it not been for my polar opposite younger brother. The young computer enthusiast, kind enough to show me this Internet that I was all the rage. I had heard of it of course but as a ‘non-conformist’ I had an immediate disdain for anything ‘mainstream’.

To the ‘delight’ of my parents I began my non-conforming in about the sixth or seventh grade by dying my hair black and refusing to wear anything that wasn’t black. It was during this time when my brother was to show and explain to me the Internet, in his way, which I understood and was fascinated by.

I was proficient with the basic use of computers but it wasn’t until viewing the Internet with my computer enthusiast younger brother and his insights about it that I became passionate about designing for the ‘screen’.

Shortly after my introduction to the web it occurred to me that I had to have a website of my own.

There may have been geocities, but back then it was not at all like it is now. You really had to search for any information about creating websites. HTMLgoodies.com was the best “tutorial” site in existence, I have watched it change tremendously over time. Today I hear no one even mention the site.

I began making personal sites for myself and others, I made fan sites because I needed something to make a site about. I had a successful “Linkware Graphics” site when those were in fashion as well.

I made so many sites for myself in the first several years I know I cannot recall the majority of them. The Internet Archive has thankfully stored a few relics from my web design past.

I taught myself HTML and CSS, and have been able to grow up with it and watch much of it become written or “erased.” I do write code in Notepad, but I guess that’s because I am old-school. I am sure there is an excellent editor available today, but my past experience with them when they were a new concept, was that they couldn’t handle most code or would mess it up so you had to re-do a lot of the HTML by hand anyway. Using Notepad just saved me the trouble and time.

Another remnant from my old-school web roots; I still use Yahoo! for my email. I have grown to accept or maybe even like Google, but I still despise MSN.

I continue to do freelance design work, though have taken a few “hiatuses” from the world wide web. With my most recent design project in early 2008 I launched the blog, “Nymphont” and began ‘experimenting with digital type’, something I had always wanted to do.

Speaking of your site, nymphont.blogspot.com offers a lot of your work for download, for free, for people to use personally. Tell us what motivates you to share your work like that.

I think the main reason and motivation for me to create is that I like to make things to share with others. But I also like to think they might find them useful.

That is the fun part. I just enjoy being a part of the whole culture of the web and the design community.

Seeing something I have created being put to use by others is very gratifying, of course, as is receiving feedback or ‘recognition’ from my design “peers.”

I just enjoy it very much. At the present most of the resources I provide are utilized by fellow designers, and the like, who, in general, are very respectful of my terms. I am happy that my resource was chosen for their specific need.

Nice. Do you have a favourite colour pallet? Are there certain colours or shapes you’re drawn to when you design?
Oh I have many favorite color palettes! My current obsession seems to be the color scheme I use on my blog, which consists of light and dark shades of grey, and a shade of ‘deep pink’. I find myself drawn to other websites that share this color combination. I do try hard to avoid using pink, but to no avail!

Right now this is the main color scheme I have been using successfully in my own designs.

I am absolutely smitten with Herb Lubalin’s typography, particularly his typeface Avant Garde. I think it’s quite lovely and use it in practically anything!

I also love damask prints, and the popular styles of them; heavy contrasting colors like white and black, or chocolate and a pale green.

I try to avoid the whole ‘shiny web 2.0′ look even though it’s sometimes done nicely. Maybe since I just returned to the web last year I missed the excitement of trend.

I like using borders and backgrounds to create unique link effects, and I really like using dashed borders. I like squared edges as opposed to rounded also in web design.

I like ‘grunge’ designs and textures as well, when I design I really have to work hard on not trying to use too much.

Design-wise, what turns you on? Do you have a muse? Where do you look for inspiration?
The typographic art of Herb Lubalin inspires me like *nothing else. I don’t know what it is exactly about his work, but it still manages to inspire, to capture something, and remain so valid, unmatched and unchallenged even now thirty years or so after it’s creation.

It might sound silly, but looking at pieces of his art or *pieces that feature work by him, is really a pleasurable experience. It’s almost subconscious.

Typography and typographic art is quite a common interest at the present, and rightly so as *written language is entirely human, it is something that we all relate to. I myself have been fond of ‘letters’, and words, since a time when I thought such a thing was an odd characteristic for one to have. I wasn’t even aware of, nor did I consider the concept of, their being a name for this. I just knew that I enjoyed looking at and creating letters, words, or phrases. It is one thing that I am truly passionate about, and get excited about; typography.

So it was only natural that I begin to design fonts I suppose.

I am also moved creatively by pain, tragedy, and of course by love.

It’s always fun to learn what a designer you admire uses to create their work. A favourite pen. A favourite program. Designers, by nature, all seem to harbour an inner geek. So, with that in mind, describe for us your ‘kit’, digital and/or analog, what do you use to make things?
I have been focusing on strictly digital art for quite some time now, but my favorite design tools ever, would have to be,
-a mechanical pencil
-and some blank sheets of paper.

Mechanical pencils are highly underrated, whenever drawing by hand, they are my first choice. They are the aluminum baseball bat of writing utensils.

I enjoy creating illustrations (in the physical) more than I enjoy creating illustrations digitally, but I work almost exclusively in the digital realm right now.

On a daily basis I use Adobe PhotoShop, FontCreator, and Notepad,(which I use for writing code, start to finish).

I don’t mind using Notepad for all of my coding either. By separating style from content with a Cascading Style Sheet, and avoiding old mark-up, coding is simplified and streamlined. It doesn’t seem all that impractical any more, really.

Of those three design tools, I have the most sentiment for FontCreator. My results have always been positive with the ‘underdog’ program. I am certainly not especially well known or established as a designer, but the recognition I do have right now, begins with and still centers on, the fonts I have made. All of which, were made using FontCreator.

I really hate to admit this because it seems ungrateful, but right now I do lust for newer, better software. I do not have any design tool that in itself inspires me or that I find ‘particularly’ enjoyable.

Lauren, it’s been great talking with you about design. And thank you so much for sharing with us. One final question: What advice would you give anyone who’s just starting and is interested in a career in design?
My advice to those just starting a career in design, or interested in doing so, would be firstly, to only pursuit a career in design if they do have a passion for it. If they have the desire to design, a sincere interest in it and it is enjoyable to them, then they should have more success than those who do not.

And then, like a good doctor, stay informed about the field of design your in, and up to date. Regarding web design or digital design this is especially important, if you do not stay current in your methods the chances are you will not have much success in the industry. Within my own design projects, I never want some portion of what I make able to be improved upon by someone else, and I always try to provide more than I am required to and above what’s expected myself.

Thank you so much, I’ve enjoyed talking with you as well.

About Lauren:
Lauren Thompson creates digital typefaces and is a freelance web and graphic designer, blogger. Created the blog Nymphont in February of 2009 to share her original font designs and downloads, which has evolved into a digital playground of sorts, where she shares her blogging experiences and digital creations and inspiration as well.
Visit her blog Nymphont | Follow on Twitter @nymphont

About Dan Kern:
From his website: “Dan Kern is a Canadian born writer and media practitioner. His career spans clear across the twin worlds of media and entertainment and includes radio, television, film, theatre, web, live & studio production.”

Lauren says: “He is a truly gifted writer and with all things communicative, he’s one of a kind; the kind you are glad to have as friend. I cannot emphasize enough how truly talented he is at what he does. Chatting with him is always a pleasure.Thanks again Dan for the interview, it was quite an honor and a lot of fun.”
Visit His Website | Follow on Twitter @obsrvationalist