Streaming on Twitch

I think it’s common knowledge at this point that all the fonts you will ever need just show up on your computer when you purchase it. These fonts have always been in existence. From the moment the first computer was turned on, the binary code aligned to make sure that you were able to express yourself in the perfect office sign with Algerian and Rage Italic… right???

It’s quite fun to see the reaction others have when they ask me what I do for a living. The easy answer is, “I run my own graphic design company”. For most people that answer will describe enough of what I do without confusing them. The one Michael likes to give is, “She makes letters.” This commonly is enough to confuse them and they don’t know how to move forward with questions, so they leave it at that. Which is fine with me. 🙂 Since I am almost always uncomfortable talking face to face with people, the answer I choose not to give is anything close to I am a typographer or I make fonts, because this leads to an hour long conversation where the other party walks away knowing even less about the situation than they did in their ignorance.

How do you make money doing that if fonts are free? How long does it take? Have I ever seen your work? How do you come up with new ways to make letters? Doesn’t that bore you?

The answers to which are:
They are not free.
Longer than you would think.
Obvs.
… It’s art, I am an artist, it’s like … a whole thing.
Almost never.

There is another sub-group of people that have expressed interest in learning how I do … what I do. The concept of drawing a letter is simple enough, but how do you make it usable? What about other languages? Ligatures, alternates, kerning, open type coding, file types, all these things can be complicated and overwhelming at first, and I am not really sure I even know the correct answers to everything. I just know how I do it and what others have said is the right way.

For those that have no idea what it means to make a font, as well as those that are interested in learning more, I am going to attempt to start streaming on Twitch and Facebook for my next font. If you would like to join me (starting next week) live on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-4pm CST, you can help me make a font. I will be answering questions, showing tips, taking suggestions and most likely being awkward and talking about Avatar. For this font, I will only be working on it live on stream, so you can see the whole process and even help name it. If it goes well, we may do more!

If it sounds awful to watch someone write letters on to a computer, that’s ok, you can just come say hi or not come by at all. But for those elite few, make sure you follow my channel on twitch to get notifications.

www.twitch.tv/brittneymurphydesign

If you have any questions or something you would like to talk about while Streaming on Twitch, please contact me.