Rick Griffith: If Denver's letter connoisseur were a typeface, what type would he be?

This week's cover story, "Extra Bold," details local designer Rick Griffith's love affair with everything having to do with letters. It made sense, therefore, to ask his friends, family and colleagues what typeface Griffith most resembles -- and all of them were eager to weigh in. You can check out...

By Joel Warner

January 7, 2011

Audio By Carbonatix

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This week's cover story, "Extra Bold," details local designer Rick Griffith's love affair with everything having to do with letters. It made sense, therefore, to ask his friends, family and colleagues what typeface Griffith most resembles -- and all of them were eager to weigh in. You can check out visual representations of their answers below. So which type hits the mark? Jeremy Peterson, art director at Griffith's MATTER design studio: Reversed-stress slab serif "It's kind of a 'fuck you' to how type should be constructed, but it's beautiful and it works." Jessica Wurtzel, Griffith's wife: Mrs Eaves "It's a reference to classical ideas. It's modern and it's got a twist." Allison Clayton, MATTER designer: Poster Bodoni Italic "It's big and kind of funny-looking, but it makes a lot of sense." Nick Sherman, author of Woodtyper.com: Cooper Black "It has this history of being misused, it has a little bit of a cartoony feel, and it has a really bold and strong style." Jim Sherraden, manager of Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee: A round typeface "'Cause his head is round, and the cigarettes he rolls are round."

More from our Follow That Story archive: "Rick Griffith's 'Definition of Graphic Design:' Can you dig it?" Follow Joel Warner on Twitter @joelmwarner

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner