#4 Morris Fuller Benton (Franklin Gothic)

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Titans of Type

Joshua Rose

7 episodes

1 week ago

Befriend history's most influential type designers. I study their lives, careers, and influence in search of ideas you can apply to your own work. "When you are trying to teach the great concepts at work it helps to tie them into the lives and personalities of the people who developed them. I think that you learn economics better if you make Adam Smith your friend. That sounds funny, making friends among the eminent dead, but it is way better than just giving the basic concepts." - Charlie Munger Titans of Type is a masterclass in the history of graphic design, type design, and printing.

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#4 Morris Fuller Benton (Franklin Gothic)

Titans of Type

1 hour 7 minutes 18 seconds

1 year ago

#4 Morris Fuller Benton (Franklin Gothic)

What I learned from reading The Bentons: How an American Father and Son Changed the Printing Industry.⁠⁠

Morris Fuller Benton was the most secretive type designer in the world, and while having designed over 200 different typefaces, is not widely known. Join me in this conversation as we study the life, work, and influences of Morris Fuller Benton and his father, Linn Boyd.

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(2:24) ⁠⁠Rolls-Royce: The Magic of a Name⁠⁠ by Peter Pugh

(5:08) List of types designed by Morris

(6:41) Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson

(7:26) Introduction to Linn Boyd Benton (Father)

(13:32) Linn Boyd's personality

(18:21) Introduction to Morris Fuller Benton (Son)

(23:27) ATF merger of 1892

(24:05) Stanley Morison: His Typographic Achievement by James Moran

(25:23) Morris at Cornell

(26:20) Morris joins Linn Boyd at ATF

(28:55) ATF relocates from NYC to New Jersey

(29:20) Morris at home and in the community

(36:34) Morris Fuller Bentons professional career in type

(37:07) ATF's Free Typographic Library and Museum (compiled by Henry Lewis Bullen)

(38:36) Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead⁠⁠ by Jim Mattis

(41:32) The type family

(48:07) Three parameters within which the type designer must work (by Herman Zapf)

(50:07) Franklin Gothic

(52:46) News Gothic

(55:31) Cheltenham type family

(59:46) Cloister Oldstyle (the gold mine of this book for me)

Typefaces designed by MFB:

Bank Gothic, Benton, Cheltenham, Clearface, Cloister, Franklin Gothic, Hobo, News Gothic, Schoolbook Oldstyle, and many more.