In our time, the process of writing and editing are conflated. We operate in a simultaneous process of writing and re-writing through omnipresent screens – many of us cannot relate to the struggle of taking out a new sheet of paper and inserting it into a typewriter to start over. Instead we work comfortably in the age of command-Z. With Affix, designers can pull from the essence of an earlier era combined with contemporary proportions and striking details. To be a writer (or perhaps a designer) is also to be a kind of editor – working through a constant process of selection and omission, of highlighting and crossing out, in order to let the most important moments – stand out.

In the development of letterforms for typewriters, a key part of the process was one of adaptation – designers who initially drew type for companies like IBM and Olivetti were often contractors who relied on in-house designers and engineers to adapt their drawings to production requirements. With reference to this history, it is fitting that Affix was initiated as a strict monospace set, before being reworked and finished as a proportional font, capturing the mood of these sources while rejecting their methodology. Due to their past usage, monospace typewriter fonts are embedded with a connotation of archives, libraries and systems of documentation. A range of catalogues of metal typewriter faces were examined at the onset of the project in 2019, with the goal of capturing a specific sentiment, rather than reviving a single source.