KW: What classes do you teach at School of Visual Arts?

EB: I teach a range of classes for beginner through advanced designers. For instance, “Beginners Typography and Design” is for the kids who don’t even know what a serif is; and for the more experienced people in continuing education, I teach “Making Type Talk.” A lot of people don’t realize when you key a word up to an inch high, it is not going to look the same and the spacing is awful. So they learn about those issues. Basically, I teach them how to do my job. That’s what you are supposed to do.

KW: And, how di.erent is a typography student today, compared to when you were a student at the Workshop School of Advertising Art?

EB: There really wasn’t typography when I was a student. Typography was considered something that was done at a type or metal shop. It was a lot more mechanical. It used to even cost something like $120 an hour. Now most designers can keyboard their own type or fix it and make it look nice. It’s not a do-all, it’s a do-nothing. It’s garbage in, garbage out. The computer people who’ve put fonts on there are now so experienced in the kerning programs … even the old fonts have been revamped. Typography is better than ever. Even in the hands of a bad designer, it is not that bad.

KW: I hear you are never satisfied when creating. What does that mean? And if that is really the case, how do you stop or call something done?

EB: I’m never satisfied. No matter when it’s finished, I still say, “should-a, could-a, would-a.” Design is personal. If you like it, then it’s good. I mean, Lawrence Welk music is the worst, but in a movie I saw recently, you see a family from middle America sitting around the television and singing along like it’s the best thing in the world.

KW: At a recent event, you mentioned that certain typefaces take you back to very specific moments in your life. I imagine this is due to countless hours at the drafting table. What typeface took you the longest?