Interviews with Paul Robb

During the design process, we wanted to create something fresh and innovative in how the forms and shapes communicate together.

The font is represented throughout the world via Monotype and T26 font distribution and hopefully enjoyed by other designers in their projects.

Each of the fonts requires around 3 months of design and engineering.

It was a design/sketch that seemed to gain a form, that we felt needed to be brought to market.

The font is widely available with licensing handled by the relative companies.

We started our foundry in 2020 and this font fits perfectly in our retail fonts distribution.

I think everything we see influences our execution of a design

Our foundry designs fonts by designers for designers.

The design concept was to create large open counters with great contrast.

I'm not really sure. But as the font designs progress they seem to naturally have forms that the name changes until that balance of name and form is visually correct.

Sketchbooks, and then engineered in Glyphs

It's form and flow.

Technology is fundamental in the development of each engineered typeface

Probably the biggest problem is dedicating the right time to each stage.

We love to have our design pied reviewed as it stimulates the process to continue our development.

Every part of the process is a learning exercise to create new and more complex systems

Thank you!

Harmony in languages, especially when used together, for example, international signage, newspapers, etc., basically where they would appear together and need to be one continuous communication.

I would love to start specializing in corporate brand typography Winning that award is an award from my peers, so after a lot of months of work is it satisfying that they see the merit in the work.

Because it was a self-generated font it took way too long, especially the concept of interchangeable geometric shapes, but the original idea for the form took around 4 weeks.

Originally it came out of an old conceptual project that I needed to resolve into a commercial typeface.

I would love to start working with another company to create an extended family, even a variable version.

Basically a love of letters and seeing those forms come to life in the shape of words.

All type design is an influence as I love old signage and letters in the street, to a beautifully crafted letter from font foundries.

Corporate branding would be my target. Companies need to be authentic and to be that you need to stand out from the crowd, and have an original font does just that.

The idea for shared geometry, they are integrated and work together.

The idea monk, comes from the origin of the project, they were the diffusers of communication and I wanted to retain that idea of dialogue.

Illustrator, Fontographer & Glyphs

Shared geometry, because as I said lots of fonts now have Arabic versions, but they tend to be stepchildren, sometimes a sanserif font will have the Arabic version in calligraphic style, I wanted the same feeling in both sets.

We worked in the studio as a team, I am lucky to have passioned people who shared my vision.

At the final stages, it is crucial to the development, but original sketched fonts were the beginning.

I knew what I wanted to express in the harmony between languages, but I wasn't sure that it would be possible, especially the idea to develop an Arabic font, with such a strict design narrative.

We won an award last year, so this is our follow up.

That I can get lost sometimes in perfection, which probably slowed to production.

I finished University when there was the transformation from paste-up to digital, I think it's that making beautiful typography that pushes me on.

I chose, much to my father's disbelief, so I had to put myself through University, by working and supporting myself.

I'm a brand designer, type designer, and art director. I would love the time to concentrate 100% on my type design.

Push yourself, be humble, learn to accept your mistakes, work with great people, and never-give-up.

That magically extra mile they go to gain the perfection in the form and the emotion it stimulates.

For me, it's about the narrative, how the design envelopes a clarity of vision and excellence in execution.

Good design value is immense and helps deliver both cultural and economic returns.

it would have to be to concentrate 100% on my type design.

It would have to be a full mega font family with serif, sanserif, and display fonts. What a dream to develop a structure so complex and unifying at the same time.

For me, it would have to be the passion of the realization of an idea and having fun doing it.

Design legends that made the most impression would have to include, Josef Muller-Brockmann, Otl Aicher, Wolfgang Weingart, Jan Tschichold to name a few.

I love great work, that makes me think... I wish I would have thought of that solution.

Probably the one I am currently working on is my favorite and the greatest feeling is when the client is on board and the market response is positive.

Lots of research, lots of reading around the subject and lots of long hours.

Creating a system.

My biggest supporter has to have been my business partner and wife who has supported me through University and the last 30 years.

The enjoyment of analyzing and realizing projects.

Hard work and dedication have to be the accepted principle and this work is not 9-5!

Work should be presented from initial concept sketches, through to the final execution, clearly and concisely.

I have new Typefaces in production and a rebranding system with a mega-type family that I am designing

To collaborate with the best design agencies and businesses around the world developing personalized type solutions.

Original ideas and systems that communicate immediately.

All design helps create solutions to better understand our world.

A mega-type family that I am designing. It is such a challenge to make the system work together.

I enjoy what I do and that is the most important thing because it creates design magic.

Creating sustainable systems that last!

It has to be sustainable in all its forms. More research with systems that are perfect and lasting.

It could be a week or as we guide clients for decades to grow and change.

Research and reading around the problem.

Always listen to the market, the client, and the team.

Great research and experimentation!

It is always there throughout the process. But technology doesn't have the design solution only the means to realize and execute it!

Fortunately, I started on the Mac in the early 90's and haven't looked back! If someone hands me a PC I have no idea how it works!!!

All design is about the human factor and everything about it is to design an emotive response. It is critical in communicating a space, an object, or a concept, so for me, it is a fundamental consideration.

Where can I get the typeface!!

I wish i came up with that solution!

We work in teams and I believe in experimentation. I love to see designers experimenting to see how far that can push themselves and the project.

I was lucky to work with some great designers in my formative years after university in London, so their experience and energy pushed me in the direction and vision I have now.

Conceptual subjects, sociology, and human-centered design subjects.

Lots of time and energy! Young designers must understand this is not a 9-5 environment!

Eric Gill, I would love to have seen how he drew his letterforms.

Awards for me are about pier recognition, and having the fortitude to continue.

My favorite part of the year has to be late June and early July, with the light and heat of my Italian summer. It recharges my batteries!

I once lost my diary and turned up a week late for a job interview, apologized about my situation, and got the job! As it turned out it was the position that created my career. So my advice is never to give up and believe in your abilities.

Personal projects in the early morning and late evening when the studio is quiet!

I would always draw, and when I was 7 won a completion designing a poster for an ice cream brand, of which the prize was free ice cream for the summer. Now after that who wouldn't want to continue on a creative path that pays in ice cream!!!

Let's hope society can save this place we all call home!

Thank you very much!

Opened in 2000, we are an independent graphic design and type design studio specializing in bespoke solutions for our international and nationally based clients.

For me, it's about creating systems.

Branding and type design, for me is the most stimulating. Helping to develop design business structures and seeing the results.

Probably the graphic works of Franco Grignani and his simple black and white flowing designs, he was the designer for the Woolmark.

The first thing I designed was during my final year of University when I was asked to do some lable, it was a terrible job, but I gained so much experience.

I prefer creating typographic systems and designing typefaces which, in the end, become the main part of the visual identity.

First thing in the morning or last thing in the evening when the studio is at its quietest.

It would have to be typography, I like the idea that letters have the power to become identities.

I love complex systems, creating something fresh and exciting, and enjoying the project as it reveals itself.

It's bittersweet for me because I see areas where I would have loved to have developed further, but I have to be realistic and un with it.

A complex idea made simple, but it has to be well communicated and understood by both the designer and client

I have to ask myself is it groundbreaking, and contagious?

To help change the attitudes of clients and raise awareness, especially today where plastics can be replaced with intelligent design solutions.

I believe it's becoming more about individual intelligent solutions.

We participate in various design exhibitions linked to design competitions.

I think inspiration comes from experience and emotions, sometimes it seems to take forever, other times its an immediate gut feeling and sensation.

I was heavily influenced by the new wave of typography from the mid-1980,s and early '90s postmodernism, where typography became an integral part of communications and have always pushed that ethos in my work.

I live in a small city in Italy, having moved from the hustle of London. I believe it does affect my work as I make the time to enjoy the process of working in the tranquility of our studio, helping to plan through the process. Today I don't think it matters where you are, it's about developing the experience and emotion.

We work directly with the top management and owners of companies transforming their input and passion into our designs. That could be remote or onsite, whatever the situation.

There has to be a feeling between client and designer, a resect that both parties can work and breathe independently. Listening works both ways and I believe that the relationship has to be genuine and authentic for the project to succeed.

My design process is about finding the simple solution through the noise and confusion of the problem. That could mean working it through with various designs and solutions or using a design system when the team is working remotely from the client.

My Eames chair, my shower, my car, my juicer, my kettle

7.00 am breakfast with the family, 7.30 am studio (where I'm the only one, I can design or go through my email ) 9.00 studio opens, coffee and team meeting to plan our day, 10.00 am - 13.00 designing/meetings online. 14.30 - 19.00 designing/meetings online/shooting in our studio. 19.00 - 20.00 my personal time in the studio where I will be experimenting or creating some personal work.

Meet great people, experience as much as possible. Look to work with only people that inspire you and can stimulate your work. Believe in yourself and never give up, remember that it's only when you push yourself that great results are obtained.

Helping to create new brands and refreshing old ones is a challenge, but the buzz that I feel when it is talked about by consumers is such a positive! A negative one is about respect, and how that can change during a long relationship.

Never give up perfecting a design, until the presentation!

This might sound strange, but the number of young designers that can not draw is a big problem. The ability to explain your ideas articulately and visually is a must to help a client become involved in the process. Sometimes a simple sketch in a meeting helps every one to get on board and helps everyone to understand the project quickly.

I have a large library that I continually refer to, with old design books on wood type and obscure design papers that stimulate my process. As for programs, we use all the normal for a design company to help realize the project, but for me, it's about creativity, and we'll use whatever means is necessary.

That is a difficult one... Most times I go way over the time allocated to a project experimenting and pushing the creativity along the way. It drives my business partner wild, but it's about the right solution for the problem, and it needs to work, so for me, it has to be done.

It really varies and involves lots of factors, the most important of which is time to market. But if I can I like to invest time in experimenting.

When can we have that ready? It is the most common.

Working in London during my formative years, lots of energy (that I still have), and working with great creatives, in agencies and companies.

We have quite a few companies in the luxury beauty, luxury fashion, government, and retail industries. But we love a challenge so we are open to all possibilities.

I would have to say that brand systems are the work that inspires me the most. The reason is simply that it brings all the design disciplines involved together, design management, typography, graphic communications, art direction, film production, etc... and it's that mix and teamwork that truly inspires me.

We have some number of brand identities to start on in the coming months and some well-established brands that I want to reinvigorate.

We always work as a team with at least one central person that holds the project together.

I always have around 2 new fonts that have been designing that I would love to push forward and get in production...

Through our website or directly paul@salt-pepper.it, or 039 3295685928 to say hi to talk about brand systems and type design!

Thank you for your time!

Custom fonts are part of our DNA, especially with this project, as we needed to communicate a reactional feeling of the moment. They give a more personal approach to creating a sensation for communication.

Absolutely. The feelings were so strong, and the people of each of the towns were affected differently. We needed to have that personal approach within the layouts. It was almost an interpretation of the territory and how it was now moving forward, holding on to its cultural heritage.

We only have the power to change tomorrow, and holding on to the cultural essence was a perfect tool to display all that was not damaged, and remains an internal part of the populace. Not all the territory was affected in the same way and it was important to have a marketing tool that was progressively positive to display the Irish heritage.

We wanted to focus on elements that could live together and create a system that worked together. The idea of developing the type into paper sculpture was sensitive to the photographs of the territory.

They needed to give that sensation of personal emotion, remaining sensitive to the specific town. A personal feeling developed as an emotive expression.

The cover was a simple solution. This extremely black surface with the design, and screen print, developed the idea of light out of the darkness. A book has to be held and experienced, so the design needed the tractability of a delicate, elegant paper that when touched gives a positive emotional experience.

Most of the cultural photographic content was internal shots, so the light and shadow were prevalent. The idea of bending a typeface to create that movement was developed. It reflected the idea of light and shadow and the idea of the earth flexing.

With the help of the branding, the book and exhibition were styled to work together. It gave the project a sense of positive participation, helping the populace to reflect on the future, using their cultural heritage as a catalyst.

Although we only received a Bronze A' Design Award, the book was shortlisted for the Italian Compass d'oro and won golds in other competitions. This exposure helped the overall brand to communicate and promote the region internationally. It also demonstrated that branding a region can be executed at an emotional and visceral level, creating an emotional branding system.

Each typeface we design has its original research, development, and final form. At that point, it's character starts to emerge and it starts to have its personality, allowing us to experiment with layout and form.

Mostly it's about experimenting with the simplist's written forms. We design fonts that answer specific design and branding projects, and the more we experience, the more we experiment. Those experiments allow us to create something new and visually appealing.

The proportions and shape of the typeface take a lot longer to develop. The period from June to September was for designing the stylistic forms and developing the engineering of the complete family.

We engineered the form to have a robust character and adapt for various branding projects. As it is a retail typeface, we are exceptionally proud when we see it used by designers for branding, editorial, and digital projects.

Each typeface has its personality and persona. Today a brand requires the ability to be distinctive and have an authentic visual language, so hopefully all that use the font family enjoy individual forms.

The font family origins as a stylized San serif, so that base and historical reference create a solid structural base, allowing the shapes to pinch and move throughout the various glyphs. Without that historical reference point on which to develop the design, I don't believe the design would be as successful.

We have been design partners for over 30 years so it is a natural process, where we reach separately and develop together. Working together means different points of view and a collaborative approach.

When we test the engineering of the designed fonts, we attempt to push their usage through various applications. "Should it be branding or packaging or editorial font?" are always our thoughts when we start the testing phase. We love to push an editorial font family in another direction to experiment with the forms.

My advice is to research and experiment as much as possible because only with that experimentation new avenues of investigation are created. Not all experiments work, and sometimes is good to know the wrong direction for a project. But, sometimes the experiment is perfect for a future project. Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment!