1985: Madonna launched her first road show, the Virgin Tour; Ronald Reagan, at age 73, took oath for a second term as President; The Cosby Show was a hit TV series; Joe Montana took the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl victory over the Miami Dolphins; and—with the introduction of desktop publishing—purists predicted the death of typography.

Twenty years later, Madonna is still recording albums and touring, Ronald Reagan is no longer with us, The Cosby Show is in reruns, Joe Montana is retired, and typography—despite the bleak outlook in 1985—is still very much alive.

Fact is, typography has probably never been healthier. We have more—and better—fonts than we’ve ever had. We also have software that will allow us to create the best typography since Gutenberg thought up the idea. Life is good for lovers of type. To celebrate, STEP has dedicated a special section of this issue to fonts, type, and typography.

Read on and you’ll learn why David Berlow designed a new version of Franklin Gothic, what furniture arranging has to do with Robert Valentine’s career as a typographic designer, what Typeradio is all about, why book designer Barbara Hodgson loves Fournier Italic, what Dr. Hermann Puterschein thinks of some of today’s newest typeface designs, who won this year’s Type Directors Club competition—and much more.

We had fun putting this special section together—and we hope that you have as much fun reading it.