Figure 2.(TOP) Barber worked with Benguiat for three years on these fonts. (BOTTOM) The Ed Script typeface from House's Ed Benguiat collection also uses opentype substitution features to create clean connections between key characters.

EB: I spent more than a year doing Edwardian Script. That was very difficult to do. The alphabet has no kerning program and it must connect perfectly. It’s gotta fit. It doesn’t pay to do it that long, but you do it because you love it. With any artist, it’s like you’re dead if you’re not performing. I don’t see a waiter in a restaurant saying that … or a garbage collector. I don’t know, maybe they do. My point is you have to keep working.

KW: Have you ever gotten to a point where you feel discouraged or feel that your work is meaningless? You know, like a midlife crisis in terms of your profession?

EB: No, but I have wondered on some projects, when I’ve almost finished designing a typeface, “What do we need this for?” I might have a good idea and work like crazy, and think it is something that is going to sell, only to find it’s a piece of garbage.

KW: I know you redrew The New York Times logo. Was there a great deal of pressure given it’s such a heavyweight brand? How do you redo something so recognizable to the mainstream, so it is fresh?

EB: This is unbelievable, but the biggest change was so simple: I took the period away from the end. Legally speaking, The New York Times is a statement and should have a period. On old New York signs, before telephones especially, you’d read: James Jones, Attorney at Law. Period. Anyway, I took the period away and they lost about 1,000 subscribers just from that. It took about a week of eight hours a day, but I was looking for the feeling it had before. In terms of music, it’s like a bossa nova: You know what it is supposed to sound like and you can ruin it by going too far off-key. You’ve got to keep the rhythm. Like Kellogg’s, Hershey’s, or Coke—and believe it or not, I’ve changed that about eight times already.

KW: Why did The New York Times logo have to change in the first place?

EB: Well, the first thing a new art director wants to do when he [or she] jumps in is change the logo. Come to think of it, I don’t know what you’d do if you were the art director of the Catholic Church. What could you do with the cross? I recently changed New York magazine’s face and no one knows the difference.

KW: So what else are you working on?

EB: On and o., I’ve been working on a book about my life beyond typography. The State Department wants a new font for its tech orders. But today, I’m doing bookkeeping. Life is fine. There’s an old song that goes: “Oh, shoobie-doo, life is fine, boop.”

To see House Industries’ entire Benguiat collection visit www.houseindustries.com.