Carol Twombly

Book excerpt: This study is a fascinating inside look at digital type design, the rather mysterious career of one of its most important practitioners, and the history and culture of Adobe Type, with additional insight into other type designers of the digital era. It is difficult to imagine a graphic designer in the last quarter century who is not familiar with at least some of Carol Twombly's typefaces. Yet many of those who use her fonts today would be hard pressed to name their designer. Twombly studied at the Rhode Island School of Design under professor Charles Bigelow, and she also studied at the Bigelow & Holmes studio. She joined Adobe Systems in 1988, when the company was hiring young designers for the newly launched type department. During her ten years at Adobe, she designed some of the most recognizable and popular typefaces on the market today, including Trajan (1989), Charlemagne (1989), Lithos (1989), Adobe Caslon (1990), Myriad (1991, with Robert Slimbach), Viva (1993), Nueva (1994), and Chaparral (1997). In 1994, Twombly won the Prix Charles Peignot, given by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) the first woman, and second American, to receive the award. Having achieved international recognition, Twombly was uncomfortable being in the public eye at conferences and in Adobe marketing materials. She also grew dissatisfied with changes at Adobe and with her evolving role at the company. In 1999 she left both Adobe and her career to pursue other artistic interests. Nancy Stock-Allen is a graphic designer and a blogger on subjects related to design, type, and women in design history. She was formerly Professor of Graphic Design and department chair at the Moore College of Art and Design. She interviewed and corresponded extensively with Carol Twombly and many of her associates and colleagues in writing this profile of a woman who rose to the top of a field historically dominated by men, at a time of barrier-breaking and technological revolution.