1. Matthew Carter's most used typefaces are the classic web typefaces Verdana and Georgia and the Windows interface typeface Tahoma, as well as other designs including Bell Centennial, Miller and Galliard.
20 Facts About Matthew Carter
1. 2.
Matthew Carter is the son of the English historian of printing Harry Carter and cofounded Bitstream, one of the first major retailers of digital typefaces.
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Matthew Carter grew up in London, the son of Harry Matthew Carter, a book designer and later historian of printing.
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Matthew Carter is one of the last people in Europe formally trained in the technique as a living practice.
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Matthew Carter enjoyed the experience, and decided to move directly into a career in graphic design and printing.
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Matthew Carter eventually returned to London where he became a freelancer.
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Under Linotype, Matthew Carter created well-known typefaces including Snell Roundhand, a script typeface and Bell Centennial, intended for use in the Bell System's phone directories and to celebrate its anniversary.
8.
Matthew Carter advised IBM as an independent consultant in the 1980s.
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Matthew Carter however did receive extensive criticism for its strategy of cheaply offering digitisations of pre-existing typefaces that it had not designed, often under alternative names.
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Many of Matthew Carter's typefaces were created to address specific technical challenges, for example those posed by early computers.
11.
Matthew Carter knew Wolpe early in his career and helped digitize one of his less-known typefaces for a 1980 retrospective of his work.
12.
One of Matthew Carter's more unusual projects was a typeface, Van Lanen, for the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum.
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Matthew Carter has taught on Yale University's graphic design programme since 1976.
14.
Matthew Carter designed the university's corporate typeface, Yale, at the request of John Gambell, the University Printer.
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Matthew Carter has said that this was the first time in designing a typeface that he focused more on capital than lowercase letters, since he knew that on the building signs the lettering would be in capitals.
16.
Matthew Carter has won numerous awards for his contributions to typography and design, including an honoris causa, Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Art Institute of Boston, an AIGA medal in 1995, the TDC Medal from the Type Directors Club in 1997, and the 2005 SOTA Typography Award.
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Matthew Carter is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale, has served as chairman of ATypI, is a member of the board of directors of the Type Directors Club, and is an ex officio member of the board of directors of the Society of Typographic Aficionados.
18.
Some of Matthew Carter's designs are in the collection of the St Bride Printing Library in London.
19.
Matthew Carter was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to typography and design.
20.
Besides Matthew Carter's commercially released typefaces, many of his designs have been privately commissioned for companies for their own use.