Daniel Swartz – Wood Type, Letterpress Prints, and 0.918 Inches – Ep30

Daniel is a dad, designer, and speaker who specializes in letterpress design and printing. After 14 years, he lost his career in 2020, so his family relocated back to the 5th-generation farmland he grew up on in rural Indiana. There, his growing interest in typography turned into a small letterpress studio called Hoosier Type Company. Daniel does everything. He sources antique wood type, carves new letterforms when he can't find what he needs, and creates prints of his designs, which he eventually sells on Etsy—from the same garage where his grandfather used to paint. Also, all of his designs are handcrafted in small batches and proudly made in the Midwest.Tune in for a talk about wood fonts and their measurements, locking up a design on his flatbed letterpress, and how working with antique materials comes with compromise. Follow Daniel on Instagram @hoosiertype.co, buy one of his prints on Etsy, or book him for a type talk or workshop on his website.Ink, Paper, Sweat, & Hope.Questions for this interview.Does speaking to an audience about your career and what you do become a bigger part of your journey?You're introducing a new wood font to your collection. Can you explain what you're doing to those blocks and why you're treating them before you print some proofs?Can you help us understand what terms like '8-line', '10-line', or '15-line' mean?What does the term "scheme" mean in the context of wood type?Why would you want multiple blocks of certain letters in a wood font?Can you explain why the "type high" measurement is essential and the exact measurement you're looking for?Can you tell us what else is inside a chase besides the wood type?How do you make sure the placement of woodblocks is level, straight, and aligned?How do you explore ideas with digital fonts before setting wood type?When you create digitally, and the final output will not be letterpressed, what specific features or characters do you look for in a font or font family?Do you think good typographic taste is something that can be taught and learned?What are some of the compromises you make with letterpress, and how do they influence your designs?Why should people care about wood type? How can the everyday average designer benefit from learning about letterpress design and printing? ---If you LIKE what you hear, please subscribe and keep listening. Sharing this episode with someone is the best way to support the podcast. If you LOVE what you hear and want to help me keep the interviews coming—consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi.Also, I'm always looking for questions from listeners. If there's a burning question you want to hear answered on the podcast, please email it to me at [email protected] @studentsofdesignpod on Instagram for updates, episode drops, and behind-the-scenes content.The music you hear on the podcast is Accident by Timothy Infinite and PUSH !T by Nbhd Nick.studentsofdesign.simplecast.com