Kent Lew

Type design & font production. Designer of Whitman, Haffner, and Clarimo type families. Has worked with Font Bureau, Carter & Cone, and Morisawa.

Public Key

npub13myr7g8lyewemw6utrskypxr5ehz8g26agl7ejvlmdsfa8yne6jq4uwt2w

NIP-05 Address

kentlew@typo-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgajplyrljvhvahdw93ctzqnp6vm3r59dw50lvex0akcy7njfuafqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qwsydgr

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub13myr7g8lyewemw6utrskypxr5ehz8g26agl7ejvlmdsfa8yne6jq4uwt2w

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-06-12 00:45:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 Saw this also and I sooo wanted it too. But just can’t shell out right now. 😔 Hope it goes to an appreciative home.

2026-06-11 00:05:35 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qecv Now it just occupies valuable font menu dropdown space. 😉

2026-06-11 00:04:10 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…edye @nprofile…qecv “Out with the old, in with the new!” Or wait … was the point “Out with the new, in with the old!”? 😆

2026-06-10 23:07:41 UTC

Timeless question: “Can it be ... that there are too many type faces for printers and advertisers? It appears, upon inquiry, that there are. It appears that a goodly number of discriminating compositors *agree* that a few faces of type are worthy of valuable case room and that a great many others are not; that, among the types in their cases, some few earn their way, while many gather the dust of oblivion ...”
#nevent1q…nw64

2026-06-10 12:57:00 UTC

While rummaging around in some old files looking for something else, I stumbled across these old marker sketches. (Who remembers making marker roughs? ✋)
These would have been concepts for a Font Bureau 20th-anniversary campaign back in 2009. If I had to guess, this would probably have been a full-page ad in Eye (or maybe Print, or CA?)
I can’t actually say whether either of these was produced. I don’t recall making up final art, and I didn’t have any tear sheets in that file. So probably not?
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/725/862/733/419/414/original/89317c08bfd6bf2c.jpg

2026-06-05 17:20:00 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cqgf Did you happen to catch the barely perceptible instructions to any A.I. hoovers, down in the footer? You have to look close. Not that it’s meant for any of us to read, though, anyway. 😉
@nprofile…uvqd
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/698/610/164/052/949/original/bb8189e707e230f8.png

2026-06-04 01:19:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cqgf @nprofile…d2kf Wow, she really goes deep! (Hence “rabbit hole”, now I get it.) This was really impressive. And a darn shame she didn’t get to James in time. Glad to know Dave Farey’s still kicking around though!

2026-05-29 13:30:08 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…nykv @nprofile…mrzw FWIW, I have one I like that is basically a magnifying dome paperweight. You have to hold it against the screen, though; doesn’t really focus when held at any distance. I don’t remember what power it is.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/658/084/714/779/917/original/d6787480cb1af013.jpeg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/658/085/449/585/168/original/702e85d2075ed5c3.jpeg

2026-05-21 14:54:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…nram @nprofile…qecv Found it again: the 1923 ATF showing of Century Oldstyle (pg. 192) — in the 8pt showing there are four wrong-font d’s.
Compare the d’s in “produces”, “versed”, “minds”, and “student” (fourth & fifth lines) with the one in “received” in the sixth line which is correct.
You can also confirm the correct weight stress from examples seen in other sizes.
I’m pretty sure those errant d’s are from Clearface.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/613/118/572/402/237/original/25a64fb972c2c84c.jpg

2026-05-21 00:17:25 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qecv I once noticed a more subtle error in the 1923 ATF where a wrong-font “d” (I think it was) was mixed in a type showing. I’d have to look back to see if I could find it again. I seem to recall it was a Century (Oldstyle? Schoolbook? Expanded?)

2026-05-14 14:07:58 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 @nprofile…fk9u https://typo.social/@onpaperwings/116195583995682223

2026-05-09 01:53:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qecv @nprofile…4neu @nprofile…c56z @nprofile…w44f So glad to be able to see this talk online, Stewf. I was bummed not to be able to make over to Boston when you were out here.

2026-05-04 13:54:11 UTC

I was meeting with @nprofile…j074 last week and, naturally, we veered off on a tangent about our favorite shared interest: all things Linotype.
My focus has generally been “American” Linotype (i.e. Mergenthaler Linotype Co. or MLCo.), and the types developed here under C. H. Griffith’s direction.
But I was lamenting that some interesting typefaces cut at “British” Linotype (i.e. Linotype & Machinery Ltd. or L&M), under the direction of Walter Tracy, seem to have never made it over to this side of the Atlantic.
1/

2026-04-28 18:28:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lwfy @nprofile…gt58 Yeah, I realize that “Banner” has more limited familiarity beyond the old Font Bureau world. Never occurred to me that newer folk might have a completely different response to “Display” though.
Probably all name-based sequences are going to have weaknesses due to different perspectives/interpretations. 🤷‍♂️

2026-04-28 14:55:49 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lwfy @nprofile…gt58 I had similarly pondered a naming scheme that would incidentally fall into alphabetic order. I was trying to use common designations that tend to have some general, relative consensus. Here’s what I had come up with as a potential:
Banner
Display
Heading
Subhead
Text
Tiny
XSmall
The small end is not entirely satisfactory, but there’s not a lot of alphabet left after “Text”. 🤷‍♂️

2026-04-08 23:27:13 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 Bon voyage!

2026-04-08 17:12:41 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 @nprofile…mj28 🤯

2026-04-06 18:09:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…uvqd @nprofile…cm8h My wife has taken up keeping worms (indoors) to supplement her composting efforts. Certain conditions do need to be attended to. Her first attempt failed. But the current “herd” seems to be getting along now without too much fussing.

2026-03-20 23:07:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 Cute. But what about “Ligatures On/Off”? 🫤

2026-03-19 23:19:27 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…edye 😿 Hope all works/ed out.

2026-03-08 17:23:30 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8clk Now see, I cannot listen to extended spoken word or music with lyrics when working on type, no matter the phase. I think that’s largely due in part to how my brain is functioning in seeing lettershapes and constantly associating phonemes & words. Especially when kerning. So lyrics interfere with some of those same synapses, I suppose.
That said, I often enjoy Steve Reich or Philip Glass while kerning. But Mozart, Haydn, et al. while drawing. (No one who knows me will be at all surprised, probably. 😆)
@nprofile…ahkr @nprofile…ale9

2026-03-03 18:50:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8clk Wow, that is interesting.
“hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, you say? — hmm, better throw a bunch of commas and comma accents at it for good measure!”
Kinda dig that running backward lambda. Looks almost Tironian. 😆

2026-02-09 20:39:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8clk How would one even go about trying to pronounce that!? 😶
(Pretty, though!)

2026-02-09 18:28:49 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j074 Somebody has been hoarding those stamps for quite a while! Pretty special that they decided to finally use them on a package to you.
(That Sciences stamp was designed by Antonio Frasconi, for any bibliophiles who know that name.)
cc: @nprofile…chzs

2026-02-06 19:16:50 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…edye FWIW, I have an alt like that in a WIP sans-serif, which I have named *I.legible*.

2026-01-08 01:06:13 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wguy Hey, I just started getting Mastodon notifications on the iPad again. Didn’t update either the app or system. Maybe some server setting changed, then got fixed?

2025-12-23 16:56:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…z59l Happy sette pesci!

2025-12-23 16:38:54 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…l8pm No offense to any of the namechecked foundries, but ... 🥱 😴

2025-12-21 14:24:36 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…y9zx @nprofile…24as Interesting that you all characterize that one title container as “goblet shaped”. My first impression was of a stylized lyre, which I certainly associate more with poetry.

2025-12-19 15:35:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…t9uc @nprofile…kd8c https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/

2025-12-04 20:20:28 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ukmn @nprofile…auj3 I don’t think U+1D1A is supported in SF.

2025-12-02 20:56:58 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…feqs Yup. Stopped a few weeks back (or maybe more like a month or so?). Annoying.

2025-11-08 00:19:26 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ukmn Its only real purpose.

2025-10-29 23:40:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…l8pm Because of the nuisance? Or are you concerned about compiled size/structure?

2025-10-14 23:18:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ukmn Bravo, John! Great stuff, all. (Especially thrilled to see Sitka commercially available.)

2025-10-08 21:47:51 UTC

Back home now and worn out, but glad to have made the trek across the state to see Matthew’s talk at @nprofile…yakj last night. Also got to catch up with some folks from the good ol’ FB days.
(And thanks again for the dinner, Michael. Such a generous fellow.)
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/340/690/279/345/754/original/fa3d230773748f27.jpeg

2025-10-07 12:45:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…jlpt I learned it as “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Meaning: promote the benefits to the customer, not the features. Predates Mad Men, though everyone from that era would probably have known it and sworn by it.

2025-10-06 14:52:54 UTC

The recent launch of an online version of D. B. Updike’s *Printing Types* by @nprofile…2gn5 with its apt and totally excellent use of Linotype Monticello, got me reminiscing about a favorite book that I designed back in 2004 also using Monticello (but licensed directly from Carter & Cone):
*Wild Moments* is a collection of short essays by Ted Williams that originally appeared as a monthly column in *Audubon* magazine, chronicling the seasons with brief observations on the natural world.
1/3
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/327/772/011/232/560/original/7dd30777b4aa138e.jpg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/327/772/534/151/216/original/e5a465257bf98682.jpg

2025-07-27 23:30:07 UTC

My siblings and I practically wore out our mother’s Tom Lehrer albums growing up. I bet my sister still has the sheet music in her piano bench. (And I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother could still play many from memory!)
Such a brilliant lyricist and satirist!
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk8.oh6W.EP_M_pSjYnfb&smid=url-share

2025-07-27 19:55:30 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…98sm @nprofile…yakj Nice! 😍
I think the closest I can get in terms of provenance is my set of Postscripts on Dwiggins inscribed by Dorothe Abbe to Ed Karr.

2025-07-16 00:19:36 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 @nprofile…lfwc I could probably get you from that D-shape Firewire to Thunderbolt. But I don’t suppose that would get you any closer to where you need to get. Especially if PC. 🤷‍♂️
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/860/022/313/825/062/original/efc80a0e9aa7144b.jpeg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/860/022/854/954/107/original/f9e3dc7ecc94e4c4.jpeg

2025-06-22 15:34:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 Hmm, in CS6 the WRC does not produce those wide gaps. (Which is why I said what I said about "works as intended".)
[It also doesn’t do any substitutions for lowline, in any case.]
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/727/740/681/388/926/original/a780e092a0232626.png

2025-06-22 13:45:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 FWIW, I can confirm this is an old bug, as I am reproducing it in Indd CS6 v8.0.2 (ca. 2014).
But, of course, the degree of atrociousness varies between original composer and World-Ready composer. The latter being not-as-obviously-bad in limited tests.
In fact, Adobe might claim that it works as intended with World-Ready. You might check with your bug-reporter to see which composer they were/are using.

2025-06-21 20:54:46 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 Yeah, not likely Adobe will be highly motivated to fix. But, again, in the interest of public documentation, perhaps worth filing?

2025-06-19 23:57:43 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…98sm @nprofile…yakj Fred was gonna be my next guess. Did he draw that large?

2025-06-03 13:46:15 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zu0l @nprofile…cu2p In which case, by "scarce" they must mean ominpresent.

2025-05-19 18:17:55 UTC

*DrawBot bug alert*:
While running out extensive proofing texts, I realized that GSUB and GPOS are not being applied to FormattedString() if it runs to more than three pages.
OTFeatures and, most importantly, *kerning* only get applied to the last few pages, and not the initial pages.
Issue filed and confirmed: https://github.com/typemytype/drawbot/issues/585
@nprofile…jzgx identified the bug as part of CoreText.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/535/838/238/599/060/original/c149bab976990b84.png

2025-05-19 17:59:40 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lmuj Haven’t bothered to add up my TIME subscription over the past ten years and compare to the original license.
Probably got a few more years left. 😜

2025-04-29 19:01:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…4u37 @nprofile…ryax @nprofile…zu0l I used these graphic screen effects a fair bit when I was a young designer, too — but analog! 😆
There was a “mezzotint” screen that a local printer in my college town had, and I loved spec’ing that for images on b&w posters.
(Basically a coarse, stochastic modulation.)

2025-04-02 17:20:36 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…unvw Hey, is that closeup from one of the fitting proofs using the Peronnik story?

2025-03-23 12:55:30 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…36n0 Pure coincidence; been that way for a long time. Some collateral materials as well. I remember noticing a decade or so ago when I first started monitoring my SSA record more closely.
(Although it looks like a lot of more recently updated publications have ditched it. 🤔)

2025-03-12 00:07:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…c7yt @nprofile…mjt5 Interpreting U+0332 more literally is how I’ve been approaching it in my WIP thus far. Looks a little ungainly on narrow letters, but from what I can tell at FirstVoices, the only such common occurrence is l̲ in St̓át̓imcets languages?
I’ll have to think more about a more nuanced approach with varied width and how to generate connecting behavior where appropriate.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/146/533/483/798/413/original/b479c17d91346a2c.png

2025-03-11 18:57:40 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 I did then go on to read about your various approaches to handling these combining lowlines. And of course I double-checked the source to confirm that all thicknesses and alignments are equal of course.
I see now what you’re seeing between s̱ and ẕ.
So in the d̲z̲ sequence are you substituting d+uni0332 with ḏ and similarly with ẕ and then introducing the connector? That would explain thinner rendering of precomposed glyphs not matching thicker rendering of positioned connector

2025-03-11 17:26:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…mjt5 I’m curious about this rendering of the double combining lowlines in the d̲z̲ combination.
I assume it’s not intentional and is an artifact of Mac interpreting whatever you’re applying to make sure the separate lowlines combine.
Doesn’t show up so distinctly in the t̲s̲ combinations (but still subtly visible in the subpixels).
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/144/949/957/702/629/original/f5cab56a3b9e4a3a.png

2025-03-10 12:39:45 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qx50 @nprofile…fayr I agree with Erik. To me, Blond suggests something just slightly lighter than Regular, but not lighter enough to be Light.

2025-03-07 15:47:23 UTC

More from my WAD/Lino files:
Since Linotype working drawings were all done to the same overall size of 10" high, the relative scale varied from size to size. For example, something that was destined to be 0.0125 inches in the final matrix would be drawn at 0.801" on a 12pt drawing, but would be drawn much larger at 1.667" for a 6pt one.
To facilitate this, special sets of brass scales were made up for the Drawing Office workers. Here is an image of four such scales: 12pt, 9pt, 8pt and 6pt.
1/
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/121/921/208/305/024/original/3cb81baa3ca6a1b9.jpg

2025-02-27 18:26:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qx50 The nice thing about sixes is how readily the 60° angles create alignments and symmetrical lattice that underscores the Fediverse symbolism.
However, that DejaVu example from the site is waaay too cramped, imo, for a proper asterism. Tighter than most historic examples I’m used to, anyway.
But @nprofile…wdfz is the real asterism aficionado. (And her logo, coincidentally, is fives. So what do I know. 🤷‍♂️ )

2025-02-27 14:44:44 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qx50 Hmm. I was going to advocate for hexasterisks for an asterism because of the threefold nature of the geometry, but I can see that pentasterisks might create some interesting relationships.

2025-02-01 14:02:10 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…6lh3 Is that character in top red diamond of the opening still upside down on purpose?