We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Monica Maccaux about their original and creative Typeface design work. Monica Maccaux is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original typeface works.
Monica Maccaux ("MM") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Motorix Typeface. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
MM : I wanted to see how much I could push the way language looked, while still maintaining the basic rules of legibility. The goal was to stretch or push the boundaries of counter spaces, and work outside the traditional expectation of what typography looks like.
MM : This was my first typeface, so my goal was to complete a family, and also create alternative letterforms to create a huge amount of variations within the typeface, to give the user more control over how it looked and how they used it.
MM : I hope to keep selling it through PSY/OPS Type Foundry, and continue to raise awareness of it to others so it gets more use.
MM : From grad school to working with PSY/OPS, about 5 years.
MM : It was based off of a type workshop in grad school, that evolved and changed over the course of the 5 years. It was self-driven, and a creative pursuit, for fun.
MM : The typeface is currently with PSY/OPS Type Foundry, for sale through their licensing.
MM : I always wanted to design a typeface, so this was my first attempt at it. I also wanted to design something unexpected, and that broke some of the type rules.
MM : Sibylle Hagmann was my mentor for the Beta version of this typeface, and then I worked with Rod Cavazos at PSY/OPS to further develop it.
MM : Designers who are looking for a futuristic, musical funky typeface.
MM : The alternative letterforms. There are 5 different variations for each uppercase, lowercase, numeral, and punctuation in each weight, with pre-set stylistic sets which gives the user thousands of combinations to play with. There is a lot of versatility.
MM : The name was derived from trying to describe the typeface. This is the hardest part, and I had help from PSY/OPS to help come up with a name. It elicits electronic music, and humanistic forms.
MM : Pencils, paper, FontLab Studio, Adobe InDesign for testing.
MM : The alternative letterforms and stylistic sets available for each weight.
MM : Sibylle Hagmann in the beginning, and Rod Cavazos in the end. PSY/OPS helped with the production and finishing of the typeface, and some design help.
MM : The type program (FontLab Studio) aided in designing and the final output and coding of the typeface.
MM : I mostly looked at typefaces in existence, and wanted to design something different from those.
MM : It was a long process, and many rounds of changes and tweaks. It also took a while to find a foundry or 'home' for the typeface, and someone to collaborate with. Designing a typeface takes years, so patience and perseverance is key.
MM : I was researching design competitions and the A'Design Award came up. I thought it would be great to compete in an international competition.
MM : My skills in the font program improved, along with the understanding of how long the process takes from sketch phase to release of a typeface.
