Buffalo Rising Online

Jul 9th 2008, 7:31am By Alex Nye

Richard Kegler is to computer fonts as Indiana Jones is to archeology.

Like Indiana Jones, Kegler can make a seemingly humdrum topic like fonts seem extremely interesting. Kegler scrutinizes ancient scripts and historical writings for unusual lettering, which can all be transformed and preserved into digital fonts.

When he is not rummaging through texts, Kegler is also the creative director at P22, a “virtual” company in Buffalo that licenses fonts and typefaces to major publishers, in-house designers, and scrap bookers from around the world.

You may not know the name P22, but you have seen its fonts. Some of the company’s most treasured work appears in best-selling novels, on signs hanging in some of the most beautiful cities in the world, and here in the pages of Buffalo Rising.

“Walk through any book shop and you will see our fonts on covers of many books,” said Kegler. “We are even inside Harry Potter books. Drive through East Aurora and you will be hard-pressed not to see one of our fonts on signage. We see our fonts literally everywhere…sidewalk cafes in Prague, the chocolate section at Wegmans, and the title credits for the Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo.”

To remain fresh and innovative, Kegler literally digs through history to find interesting font forms and styles. The self-described “typographic archeologist” sifts through old pages in order to carry out P22’s mission “to ensure the accurate development of historical typefaces.”

“[That statement] means we take historical letter forms, like the script from the Declaration of Independence, and make it look just like the script on the document. But anyone can type words and make it look 200-years old,” explained Kegler.

What makes P22 special is that it takes that mission further. P22 seizes history and then celebrates it in a contemporary and relevant form. The company will adapt outdated lettering to make it more applicable to today. For instance, archaic letters written in a 9th Century text can become legible for someone in the 21st Century.

According to Kegler, P22 is doing well in Buffalo and has been able to give back to the city in a variety of ways.

“P22’s income comes from all over the world, but almost all of that stays in the WNY area. We had 9 local employees at our peak and sourced out our printing from local companies such as Petit Printing,” Kegler states.

Another major way P22 is giving back is at TypeCon2008: Punkt, which is a weeklong conference for those involved and interested in type design. It is presented by the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), on July 15-20, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Buffalo.

TypeCon2008 will offer six days of programming, with more than 70 of the most respected names in the business in attendance. There will be many special events at local museums and art galleries, including the Albright-Knox, UB’s Center For the Arts, Hallwalls, and the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora.

Now in its tenth year, TypeCon has grown to include type designers and distributors, software developers, writers, historians, book artists, printers and publishers. Five hundred delegates attend, representing companies from nearly every continent.

“This is a big event for Buffalo. Considering the last four host cities were Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and New York, I would say it is pretty important,” said Kegler.

A number of TypeCon events are free and open to the public. For those who are interested in more information, visit www.typecon.com.