macintosh as a life-changer

In 1984, when the Apple Macintosh computer went on sale, Zuzana bought one and began experimenting with digital fonts. That same year, Rudy and two Dutch artist friends founded Emigre magazine. From the third issue onwards it was typeset entirely using Zuzana’s fonts. The exposure of Zuzana’s fonts in the Emigre magazine eventually lead to the establisment of the Emigre digital foundry in 1986, solidifying the connection between her fonts and the magazine’s wonderfully bizarre look. Licko’s claim that typefaces such as Helvetica and Times Roman are not intrinsically legible, that they become legible through repeated usage, inspired her famous saying: “We read best what we read most.” This set off a discussion within the world of type design that filled many issues of Emigre and is referred to in design history books as the “Legibility Wars.”