Carolyn Porter | Carolyn Porter: Blog
Learn more about the book "Marcel's Letters" and the font P22 Marcel Script, which is based on the handwriting of conscripted WWII laborer Marcel Heuzé
Carolyn Porter, Marcel Heuzé, Marcel's Letters, Graphic Design, Font Design, P22 Marcel Script
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December 13, 2017

“New Font Tells a Story”: Profile by KMSP-TV

I received a phone call on Wednesday, Nov. 29. On the other end of the phone was KMSP-TV reporter Rob Olson, wondering if I would be willing to film a segment later that day. He had just seen a press release from UW-Stout, and wanted to learn more about my font and the book. I had a client call scheduled for mid-afternoon, so I wasn’t able to film that day. But, we agreed to film the next morning. Good news for me: That gave me an extra day to fret about being on camera!

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November 6, 2017

My two brown-eyed boys

One question that has come up at almost every book club I’ve visited with is, “What does Aaron look like?” His photo isn’t in the book, which seems to be a disappointment to readers.

He’s camera shy; that’s the official reason, anyway. READ MORE

October 18, 2017

Midwest Book Review

An absolutely engaging and inherently fascinating read from first page to last, Marcel's Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man's Fate is an extraordinary story—one that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book it finished and set back upon the shelf. ... Unreservedly recommended, especially for community and academic library collections...

– Julie Summers, Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

October 16, 2017

October 16, 1944: “…We have lived the great and glorious days of the liberation of Paris…”

October 16th, 1944

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson,

I have been waiting several days to be [sure] that the mail service had resumed operations. But Bob Ingalls will probably be back before this card reaches you and you will already know already all about us. However I am glad to tell you [my] gratitude for your thoughts and for your parcels. It is hard to imagine all the comfort and the pleasure I had and Hommer also when we got them: they brought along a bit of American atmosphere and the remembrance of the beautiful years I spent in U.S.A. and when one is behind the barbed wires this is marvelous!

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October 13, 2017

October 13, 1944: “…I do love & miss you & pray that we will be together soon…”

October 13, 1944
France

Darling Marie,

I’m enclosing a few lines to let you know that I’m still in the best of health & also pray to hear the same from you, my [loved] one. Today I’m going to answer a few of your letters dated Sept. 19th, 20th & 26th. Before I start, I want you to know it is really cold out here where I am & I understand it is also cold back home. Oh well, I guess there isn’t anything I could do about it.

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  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI
  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI, focus on John Downer
  • Carolyn Porter's 2012 TypeCon Type Crit, Milwaukee, WI, focus on Akira Kobayashi
October 6, 2017

2012 TypeCon Type Crit: Photo Evidence!

Photos: 2012 TypeCon Type Crit. Akira Kobayashi reviewing the test print.
Intense stares from John Downer and Roger Black (just looking at this photo brings about a wave of anxiety).
©May Chung

 

Several weeks ago, at the ATypI conference in Montreal, I met a delightful woman named May Chung; May is design professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. I don’t recall how we happened upon the topic, but we ended up talking about the 2012 TypeCon conference in Milwaukee. I mentioned I had participated in the Type Crit that year. May’s eyes lit up. She said she watched those critiques, though she didn’t remember the specifics of my critique (…why would she?!). May was holding a big SLR camera in her hand, and I asked her if she had, by chance, taken any photos during the 2012 Type Crit. Yes, she told me, she was certain she had photos from the 2012 Type Crit—though she made no promises whether she had taken any photos of me or during my critique.

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September 4, 2017

Interview with Ann Marie Ackerman, author of Death of an Assassin

 

CP: Congratulations on the release of “Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee” (Sept 1. 2017, Kent State University Press). This fascinating story would have been entirely lost to time if you hadn’t put together these German and American puzzle pieces — congratulations! Tell us a bit about the mystery you solved:

AMA: Thank you, Carolyn! Actually, it was two mysteries, one on each continent.READ MORE

  • TypeCon spelled out in balloons, TypeCon Boston 2017
  • Building signage with beautiful letters showing word "STREET", Boston
  • Beautiful engraved plaque, Boston, honoring John Pitcairn, Battle of Bunker Hill
  • "TypeCon 2017" printed by Richard Kegler
  • Carolyn Porter and Sairus Patel
  • Variety of fun rubber stamps at TypeCon 2017
  • Xandra Y. Zamora giving calligraphy demo, TypeCon 2017, Boston
  • 2017 TypeCon Type Crit with judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
  • Carolyn Porter's 2017 TypeCon Type Crit, Boston 2017 with judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
  • 2017 TypeCon Type Crit judges John Downer, Akira Kobayashi and Jill Pichotta
September 3, 2017

TypeCon 2017

I recently returned from five days in Boston attending TypeCon 2017, presented by the Society for Typographic Aficionados. It was five days jam-packed with lectures on type design, designers, type history, type across languages and cultures, along with time to connect with other type designers.READ MORE

August 21, 2017

Sad news from France

MARCEL HEUZÉ 1949–2017

Yesterday — August 20, 2017 — brought sad news from France: Marcel Heuzé, son of Marcel and Renée Heuzé, passed away.READ MORE

August 6, 2017

OTD August 6, 1944: The Daimler-Marienfelde factory was bombed

Library of Congress image USZ62-59134
Upper left: Before; Center: During. Lower right: After.

On this day seventy-three years ago, eighty-three Army Air Force B-17 bombers targeted Daimler’s Marienfelde factory. “The bombing is very effective,” the mission record stated, “and ten major [targets] are severely damaged during one of the best days that the Eighth [Air Force] experiences.”

If you’ve read “Marcel’s Letters,” you’ll know I scoured military mission records to find out how and when the factory where Marcel worked had been bombed. If you have the book, you can read the passage about the search—and this specific bombing raid—on pages 109–112. The photo above is first referenced at the bottom of page 110.

July 3, 2017

A Collection of Unexpected Interactions

This blog is a reflection on, and a collection of, unexpected interactions. This post will evolve and grow as time goes on. Come back again — I’m sure I will be adding more!READ MORE