Cyrus Highsmith (born 1973) is an American typeface designer, illustrator, and author. After graduating from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

in 1997, he worked at

Font Bureau The Font Bureau, Inc. or Font Bureau is a digital type foundry based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The foundry is one of the leading designers of typefaces, specializing in type designs for magazine and newspaper publishers. History ...

in Boston as Senior Type Designer until founding his own type foundry, Occupant Fonts, in 2016, distributing alongside his former employers via the Type Network service. Some of Highsmith’s most well-known typefaces are Zócalo, used by the Mexican daily '' El Universal'', and the Antenna series, which was used in several magazine designs as well as by

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and the official

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

website. Other clients for custom fonts include or have included ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

Martha Stewart Living ''Martha Stewart Living'' is a magazine and former television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of ...

'', ''

La Prensa Gráfica ''La Prensa Gráfica'' commonly known as ''La Prensa'' is a daily newspaper published in El Salvador by Grupo Dutriz. ''La Prensa'' is a mainstream metropolitan newspaper, and became one of the first newspapers to print in color in Central Ame ...

'' of

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'', and ''

Men’s Health ''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands. Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...

''. His typefaces Prensa and Relay won the 2001 ''Bukvaːraz!'' award, organized by

ATypI The ATypI () or Association Typographique Internationale (the International Typography Association) is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to typography and type design. The primary activity of the association is an annual fall confe ...

(the International Typographic Association) in 2001. In 2015, Cyrus Highsmith received the

Gerrit Noordzij Prize The Gerrit Noordzij Prize is given to type designers and typographers for extraordinary contributions to the fields of type design, typography and type education. The prize, initiated by Anno Fekkes during the 1996 ATypI conference in The Hague, i ...

by the

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague The Royal Academy of Art (KABK, nl, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) is an art and design academy in The Hague. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (part of the Confrerie Pictura), the academy was founded on 29 September 1682, m ...

. In addition to typeface design, Highsmith has been teaching at his alma mater, the

, since 2000, while also lecturing and taking part in juries in North America, Japan and across Europe. He is the author of ''Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals'' published by Font Bureau in 2012. With his own imprint, Occupant Press, he publishes children’s books and other prints. In 2016, Highsmith founded Occupant Fonts in Providence, Rhode Island, which continues to publish his typefaces designed while at Font Bureau as well as new releases. In September 2017, it was announced that Occupant Fonts had been acquired by the Japanese type foundry and thenceforth functioned as their Providence drawing office, with Highsmith as its creative director, overseeing RISD graduates June Shin, Marie Otsuka and Cem Eskinazi. The first two releases in cooperation with Morisawa are Citrine and the Latin-character range of A1 Gothic (both derived from his typeface Allium), published that same year.

List of typefaces

Books

Text and illustrations

* Highsmith, Cyrus, & Occupant Fonts staff. ''How to Speak Rooster''. Providence (Rhode Island): Occupant Fonts, 2018. * ''Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals (Revised Edition)''. Princeton Architectural Press, 2020. * ''Apple Bear Cat''. Providence (Rhode Island): Occupant Press, 2013. * ''Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals''. Boston: Font Bureau, 2012.

Illustrations/Picture book

* ''Ari Inu Usagi'' (''Ant, Dog, Rabbit'' – a

Japanese alphabet The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most pr ...

book). Tokyo): Bunkeido, 2016. https://common.bunkei.co.jp/books/2991.html * ''Ikko Ni-hon San-biki'' (''One Apple, Two Tulips, Three Rabbits'' — a book of

Japanese counter word In Japanese, counter words or counters (, ) are measure words used with numbers to count things, actions, and events. Counters are added directly after numbers. There are numerous counters, and different counters are used depending on the kind or s ...

s). Tokyo: Bunkeido, 2017. https://common.bunkei.co.jp/books/2955.html * ''Apple Bear Cat'' (' — a book of

ABC word ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

s). Tokyo: Bunkeido, 2014. https://common.bunkei.co.jp/books/3062.html

About

KABK The Royal Academy of Art (KABK, nl, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) is an art and design academy in The Hague. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (part of the Confrerie Pictura), the academy was founded on 29 September 1682, ...

, ed. ''Products of a Thinking Hand'' (Gerrit Noordzij Prize exhibition book). The Hague: Uitgeverij de Buitenkant, 2018.

References

External links

Inside Paragraphs on Good Reads
* http://www.unostiposduros.com/cyrus-highsmith-sobre-sus-clases-de-tipografia/
Highsmith at the Klingspor Museum website
* http://luc.devroye.org/showcase-cyrushighsmith/ Cyrus Highsmith’s typefaces * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Hs3qJ3hJM Highsmith’s sketchbook {{DEFAULTSORT:Highsmith, Cyrus American illustrators 1973 births Living people Rhode Island School of Design alumni Artists from Milwaukee American typographers and type designers