I trust my gut because you just know when things are working and when they're not. I'm also careful not to over-design-that's a great way to lose your statement. My philosophy is to use common sense design principles coupled with my natural artistic instincts. I approach each font individually, stay objective and solve my design problems truthfully. You're a much more spontaneous artist dealing in substance and manipulation, and very adept at capturing the essence.ĭan: I think good design is firstly about achieving objectives, not necessarily imparting myself. J.A: I'm right there with you on the creative liberty part-my own type designs thrive on philosophical freedom. I think this can be said of any typeface-I find letterforms in general are quite beautiful. By their very nature the resulting character sets naturally become art in their own right. Or in the case of pop culture-inspired faces, it's challenging to extrapolate an entire alphabet based on a handful of letters. For the most part I'm generating letterforms for projects that haven't been conceived yet.
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They're also a free creative release from the conservative retail and corporate work I do for a living. They're a form of personal expression and self-exploration, and if people also get practical use or enjoyment from them so much the better.įont-making has proved to be the ultimate marriage of all my creative sides. Some fonts have been suggested to me by friends and family, or may have been a response to some need I've perceived. There's really no explaining what may fascinate me from one minute to the next, or spark an idea. My fonts are made up of little bits and pieces of my childhood, things I love and admire or things from my environment that have struck me-all sorts of things.
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Their strong visceral quality-tension & dynamism-makes them very eye-catching most fall into overlapping categories of popular & underground culture: comic books, golden era (1940s - 1950s) science fiction and fantasy, pulp magazines, music, classic TV shows & cult horror movies.ĭan: I've totally embraced the old adage Do what you know. J.A: You're not a conventional type designer in the linear abstract sense, but an illustrator-artist drawing expressive fonts.
I also released the base font, called Floraless, if anyone's interested in creating similar faces using that as a starting point. Potland is obviously inspired by fonts like Daisyland, Heartland and Calaveras. I followed the thread and discovered this face was searched for in earnest but no one could find it, so I created my own version. Sweet Leaf is my take on a font as described by some dude from Holland looking for a similar lost font on ABF. The first one, Spliffs, was suggested to me by a ‘chronic’ friend of mine for use in invitations to an annual lost weekend he hosts. J.A: -three marijuana-themed fonts don't necessarily indicate a pot smoker-ĭan: -no. Probably because I'm a big guy with a ponytail and my arms are heavily tattooed. In spite of my far out fonts, I'm not really a pot smoker, although everyone assumes that I am.
This has proven time-consuming but ultimately will be worth the effort.
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I haven't made a new one in a while but I've been busy upgrading many of the faces to full extended character sets. I also do a little free-lance work for an agency called FPM Marketing in Hamilton-mainly retail & corporate work.Īll the things I do, including making fonts, have been part of my own personal journey of discovery and self-expression.įontmaking is mainly an extracurricular creative outlet for me and I don't make any money with it. Currently I'm the graphic designer and illustrator for a company called Timber Specialties Co, in Campbellville, Ontario. I'm a graduate of Mohawk College for Graphic Design, and Sheridan College for Interpretive Illustration. We also have a son named Kevin who's grown-up and out on his own now. I now live in Hamilton, Ontario with my wife Kathleen and our daughter Jenna and our four cats. To begin with I was born in 1964, in Montreal, Québec, Canada. J.A: That's kinda difficult to argue with.ĭan: I'm not even going to try.
I'm told by my friends and family I don't blow my own horn enough, and that if I don't participate in this interview they'll kill me. J.A: He's big, he's Canadian, he's made over a hundred eye-catching display fonts, and until now Dan Gauthier has remained largely unknown to the font-loving public.ĭan: I'm not really a shy person but I am very modest, unassuming and down-to-earth. C O S M I C A L C H E M I S T - a conversation with Daniel Gauthier back to Gaut Fonts
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