Last Thursday I was honored to accept a last minute invitation from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design to lunch with Matthew Carter and Roger Black (thank you Mary Alice Bankert!). Carter and Black were in town last week as part of the Penny W. Stamps Speaker Series – one of the best things the School has done for the Ann Arbor community.

Both gentleman have had long distinguished careers, are obviously good friends, love to talk, and are actively pursuing their craft. Yes, you can design after age 30. Thank goodness!

Matthew Carter, type designer, now in his 70s was recently awarded a Macarthur genius grant. Enough said.

Roger Black first earned recognition for his work with Rolling Stone and The New York Times. And he was a co-founder of Font Bureau. He is still the go-to-guy in publishing in all mediums. Early on he embraced “computer design” and now has a trio of companies that deliver templating and web fonts:  Treesaver, Webtype, and Ready-Media. He’s received some flack about templating, but says it is simply system design and designers still have to apply the brand and content.

Thanks again UM!

Posted by Christine Golus, March 12, 2012