The Awesome Behind the Awesome at 36 Point
Donovan Beery
Donovan oversees all creative development at Eleven19 Communications, Inc., where he also serves as an owner.
He received a bachelor's degree in Visual Communication & Design from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
His background in visual communications, web design, and creative concepts were put to good use when he was the chief web designer at Union Pacific and the corporate identity and web designer at Nexterna. He's lectured on web design at Creighton University, taught visual communications at Metropolitan Community College and proudly served seven years on the board of directors for AIGA Nebraska. In 2009, Donovan was appointed by Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey to a three-year term on the Omaha Public Art Commission.
Donovan's work has appeared in graphics publications STEP Inside Design, Graphic Design USA, and Coupe magazines, the books 100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers, and (briefly) A Designer's Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need. His work has been recognized with a couple Coupe International Design and Image Awards, multiple American Graphic Design Awards from Graphic Design USA, an Archive award from the Society of Typographic Arts, a Nebraska ADDY, and numerous AIGA Nebraska awards. His work is also included in the permanent collection of the Chicago Design Archive.
Nate Voss
Nate Voss is a designer, illustrator, talkshow host and design journalist. Working in Omaha since 2001, Nate served four years on the Board of Directors for AIGA Nebraska and currently teaches design for Metropolitan Community College. Nate has interviewed design luminaries such as Kit Hinrichs, Debbie Millman, Joe Duffy, Marian Bantjes, Chipp Kidd, and many others. Currently, Nate's work can be seen at Vossome.com, Huskerbooks.com, and, of course, at 36Point.com, where he maintains the thrice-weekly graphic design webcomic 1PT.Rule.
Nate's work has appeared in HOW, STEP Inside Design, and Graphic Design USA magazines, the books Fingerprint: The Art of Using Hand-Made Elements in Graphic Design, and (briefly) 100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers, and can also be found around the web, if you peek in the corners. His work is also included in the permanent collection of the Chicago Design Archive.
Nate and Donovan were two of the original Be A Design Group authors, where they launched the highly popular Be A Design Cast in 2005 with Tom Nemitz. In 2008, they founded 36 Point and launched The Reflex Blue Show.
Tom Nemitz says: "I will always think of Illustrator as the dickhead jock of the group." Myself, I consider Illustrator to be the Jeff Gillooly of design software. You know, Tonya Harding's BFF who took out the kneec
Prescott Perez-Fox says: I cannot stand the little differences! You're right, Illustrator likes to make its own rules. For example, why when you go to Preferences, does Illustrator refer to "User Interface" and put it almost
Clint says: Holy crap dude. You must, MUST make this card a reality.
Donovan Beery says: And then Nate returned the hazing to Omaha, and forced it upon me... the bruises are mostly gone now...
Mig Reyes says: I remember when Nate was over at the R29 HQ, still not on Twitter. And I remember the hazing, and the pressure, and the pain we inflicted on him into finally succumbing to the 140 character blessing/c
Jae says: Donovan, Thanks for the link and update. Just pre-ordered mine as well.
Kevin Fitzgerald says: I'm gonna say 'Me too! Me too!' to the devil's advocate. (Oxymoron?) Granted, I keep looking at House, and Veer, and Village, and a ton of other type shops. They do come out with some sweet faces, and
Bennett says: I'll be the devils advocate and also not touch the font pricing issue. Mid-way through college I had a layout and design class. A few of the students were already in the practicum class and therefore
Jason A. Tselentis says: Prescott, I especially like your actor analogy. It's a relatively good way to frame how designers can perform: flexibly moving from one genre (content area) to another, with the capacity to move betwe
Kevin Fitzgerald says: Aha! Conradica Black. EXTRA Black.
Ben says: Why yes I have designed/developed a font for use in a Flash application. And boy was it amazingly hard - probably the hardest work I've ever produced. Mad props to those who do it for a living... @Pr
Nicholas says: Nate, It seems like your issue isn't exactly with the price of a typeface, but simply that you don't have the option of buying just a face over an entire family. Is this correct? It seems like it, a
Prescott Perez-Fox says: I never have, but I'm sort of doing it now. Basically, I'm retooling Gill Sans, which is a bit of a project. The S is the most annoying character by far. H is easy. I definitely have massive respect f
Ryan says: This is so great. I laughed. Out loud. I haven't designed a full typeface yet, but I have created custom letterforms for specific purposes, not usually used again. Although it takes much more time
Donovan Beery says: The book is now available for pre-order on Amazon here. I ordered mine this morning.
Thomas Jockin says: Nate, If I'm a smart designer and I know what type I want to specify for a job, and I don't want to buy the whole package every time, I should be able to do that. It's an albums vs. singles argument,
Nate Voss says: Thomas bringing the math! Your price assessment of Archer is right on the money. But it breaks down without the option to purchase them individually. Hell, I might even go up to $10 a typeface if the
Clint says: I totally agree, and never thought of it that way. The first far-sighted font foundry who is bold enough to set up their business model this way (iTunes for fonts) will dominate the market squeezing o
Thomas Jockin says: Nate, a couple of points: 1) Let's say you wanted the entire Archer family on 2 computers (40 font files x 2 = 80). On the H&FJ site the price is listed: $478.00 $478.00/80 = $5.975/font. It's abo
Adam says: I'm not sure I fully agree with you on this one. Have I been in the situation of not being able to afford the best face? Of course. How ever I think it brings quite a bit of value to our industry and