Designing typefaces isn’t reinventing the wheel. The end result has to look mostly the same as all other typefaces, or people wouldn’t be able to read it. Most of the variation in design ideas is influenced by technology, materials and tools, informed mostly by history, with a bit of modern problem-solving and contemporary aesthetics.

Type design scratches a couple of specific itches in my brain. It appeals to [my] obsessive, super-detailed, anal-retentive side. At the same time it provides a massive creative outlet, where I feel like I’m actually creating a new, functional thing.

Jackson Cavanaugh.