These odd scratchings, the most minute details of which can have staggering implications, may be the crowning achievement of human culture. They have the power to raze mountains and raise civilizations, to thrill us with adventure and fill us with despair. Type serves and defines us, from the time we learn the letters of our names until the final moment when the inscription marks our passing.

So preparing this issue has granted us many moments of revelation, as well as plenty of fun. We are fortunate to have here as our resident type authority Allan Haley, who kindly agreed to guest-edit this issue’s special focus section. He has assembled a fascinating and timely group of articles surveying today’s typescape, with emphasis on the new and novel.

The type coverage begins on page 44 with Haley’s interview with the multitalented Erik Spiekermann, who provides his views on graphical perspective, the three aspects of good type design and even his five personal-favorite typefaces. That’s followed on page 50 by an overview of Arabic typography from Mourad Boutros, whose decades of accomplishment in design and branding in the Middle East and elsewhere certainly qualify him to share deep insights into a field of growing interest to Western designers. Next, Allan returns on page 56 to discuss rumors of the death of Arial that are cropping up with the introduction of the new ClearType Collection from Microsoft.

Hermann Püterschein makes his annual appearance in these pages with reviews of four significant new fonts (including a new offering from the amazing Hermann Zapf) on page 60. John Langdon—who has attained what for a typographer amounts to popular fame, due to his work’s appearance in Dan Brown’s novel Angels & Demons—shares his secrets for creating the curious typographic doppelgängers called ambigrams on page 66. And on page 72, Monotype Imaging’s Vikki Quick explores new typographic territory in “Type for a Mobile Space.”

Laura Shore of Mohawk Fine Papers is cited by many designers as the “ideal” client. Sean Adams examines her approach to working with and getting the most out of design contributors in his interview on page 78. Our favorite philatelic commentator, Alyson Kuhn, weighs in with a review of the new “Art of the Stamp” exhibition at the U.S. National Postal Museum; read her explanation of how design is practiced for the smallest of settings on page 86. Terry Lee Stone profiles the work of Atlanta-based Culture A.D., who is carving a niche in marketing to black audiences, on page 94. The Dutch designer Melle Hammer is little known in the Americas, but has created a significant body of work while balancing ethics with the practical realities of design practice; Aaris Sharon presents an overview of Hammer’s work on page 102.

The poet Noah Eli Gordon said that “language is a translation of grace.” When typography is practiced with knowledge and intent, that grace is preserved for the reader in such a way that a message is miraculously tendered. Strange and powerful magic, indeed.