I think type designers think a lot about process, because things take so long. You’re working for years on something and you really have to plan ahead in a special way. You do have to feel like you’re in control of the process.

As a type designer, you’re going to be working on for years on a project, and you want to be sure you’re doing it the right way so that you’re not setting off now worrying if you’re going to lose three months of work when you realize you did something wrong. Things can be very tedious.

For example, kerning can be a very tedious process. You think about it as, «I have to look at everything. I have to look at every single combination of glyphs» and it can feel insurmountable. There isn’t just one way to kern a font or proof all of these combinations of glyphs, designers have run into this same problem made new tools to help when they thought of a better way. So you think a lot about process as a type designer and the tools that you use influence the process.

Andy Clymer.