Sixty-five designers created sixty-five numbers to honor the Type Directors Club’s 65th anniversary. They’re all available in a new book.
Here is what some of the designers had to say about their contributions:
#4 — Ed Benguiat: “After days of sketching and drawing I hated everything I did. ‘Why did I even get involved?’ It started to become an obsession with me. Maybe I should call TDC and tell them, ‘My brain fell out. Why don’t I just make a beautiful 4 and get it over with?’ Okay! Please forgive me, I know I could have done better, but ‘THIS IS IT.’”
#9 — James de Vries “I made an “anti-aliased” nine from Lego blocks. It is 27 dots by 27 dots (nine dots x nine dots x nine). Lego was first marketed in 1955, the ninth year of the TDC. Once I realized nine meant ‘nine’, not ‘nein’, suddenly the world was all nines; Cloud 9, Route 9, Nine West, agent 99, Neunundneunzigluftballon, Nine Inch Nails, etc. Stencils, pencils, spirals, matrixes and blocks. Nine is my new favorite number. Congratulations TDC.”
#42 — Erik Speikermann: “In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adam a large computer is faced with the question what the purpose of our existence is, the meaning of life. After years of computation, the machine comes back with the answer: ’42′. As I just received the TDC medal for lifetime achievement, to get an invitation to supply a number for the anniversary book is like getting a call from a good friend. You answer it immediately and look forward to the conversation.”
#51 — Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich: “The first thing that came to mind when I saw the number was Area 51, the military base in Nevada, center of conspiracy theories and UFO sightings. It resonated with me because I am a resident alien as well. Hello, mothership! The first time I got into the TDC Annual a voice in the back of my head kept saying ‘We accept you! We accept you! One of us! One of us! Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble!,’ as in the movie Freaks.”
See all the numbers by these designers in the book:
1 — Ken Barber
2 — Shinnoske Sugisaki
3 — Patrick Bittner
4 — Ed Benguiat
5 — Debra Bishop and Lilian Cohen
6 — Cyrus Highsmith
7 — Ryan Pescatore Frisk and Catelijne van Middelkoop
8 — Gerard Huerta
9 — James DeVries
10 — Michael Beirut
11 — Marian Bantjes
12 — Graham Clifford
13 — Seymour Chwast
14 — Rodrigo Sanchez
15 — Garth Walker
16 — Olaf Leu
17 — Emily Oberman and Bonnie Seigler
18 — Akira Kobayashi
19 — Ale Paul
20 — Alex Isley
21 — Niklaus Troxler
22 — Sharon Werner
23 — Neville Brody
24 — Louis Gagnon
25 — Charles Nix
26 — Dave Farey
27 — Niessen & de Vries
28 — Daniel Pelavin
29 — Rubén Fontana
30 — Gabriel Martinez
31 — Janet Froelich
32 — Jakob Trollbäck
33 — Ivan Chermayeff
34 — Nancy Rouemy
35 — Underware
36 — Park Kum Jun
37 — Nancy Harris Rouemy
38 — Emigre
39 — Kit Hinrichs
40 — George Lois
41 — Massimo Vignelli
42 — Erik Speikermann
43 — Erkki Ruuhinen
44 — Sonya Dyakova
45 — Louise Fili
46 — Jean Francois Porchez
47 — Milton Glaser
48 — Henrik Kubel
49 — Paula Scher
50 — Bai zhiwei
51 — Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
52 — Sumner Stone
53 — Carin Goldberg
54 — Fred Woodward
55 — Oswaldo Miranda (Miran)
56 — Joe Duffy
57 — Gail Anderson
58 — Alan Peckolick and Tony DiSpigna
59 — Mirko Ilic
60 — Design Army
61 — Matthew Carter
62 — Woody Pirtle and Lucas Pirtle
63 — Adrian Frutiger
64 — Jessica Hische
65 — Hermann Zapf
