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Handwritten letterforms are the main inspiration for these 11
new ITC Fontek typefaces, which draw on influences from Ori-
ental calligraphy to spontaneous scrawls. TEXT BY JOHN D. BERRY
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ITC PeAey-/% ALLYt®TM
NE NEW YORK-BASED DESIGNER,
John Peter, brings a deep love of type
and a long experience with how it's
used to the design of ITC Peter's Miro.
Peter was art director of McCall's mag-
azine and serves as a consultant in the
magazine business in the United States
and Europe. In 1947, with artist Thomas
Coryn, he designed one of the maga-
zine's first exclusive typefaces that was
developed for the phototypesetting
process. Peter says that "the calligra-
phy of artists has always interested
me," and he has collected samples of it for many years. When it came to ITC Peter's
Miro, he wanted to have fun. The typeface is inspired by the letters used by Joan Miro
in his paintings. "No one used letterforms more frequently in his work than Joan Miro,"
says Peter. But, he continues, in this typeface "considerable liberty has been taken
with his original letters, and missing characters have been added." ITC Peter's Miro is
intended as an homage to the master, and a playful extension of one aspect of his
work. The letters are a very simple script, irregular and apparently crude, but bursting
with uncontrollable energy. Peter wants graphic designers to give full play to their
creativity when using the typeface, so he provides two complete versions of the alphabet
(Peter's Miro and Peter's Miro Too) in both upper- and lowercase. Although very
few of the letters actually connect, they do flow together freely, and, as Peter points out,
"They lend themselves to ligatures." They also lend themselves to being filled in, here
and there, with bright colors, as Miro often did in his own art. This way, the letters keep
the impact of black, the most powerful color for text, but they offer a home for color
in their interior spaces and details. Some examples of this can be seen in recent issues
of Architectural Digest, where Peter's type has been used for headlines. Peter says
that Peter's Miro wasn't created out of a perceived need or a market niche, but because
he "just wanted to do it." He hopes some other people will have fun with it, too.
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