Virtual Memories Show 662:
Rian Hughes
“I’m never bored. I’m very lucky because I get up in the morning and I’m full of the possibilities of what I can do that day. And I’m very, very lucky because what I do seems to have some kind of audience.”
Multi-hyphenate Rian Hughes rejoins the show to celebrate his new Kickstarter, TYPERACTIVE: Thirty Years of Device Fonts (closing November 20, 2025)! We talk about designing and publishing a catalog-collection of every font he ever designed for his foundry, how the Kickstarter has proved a lot more successful than he was expecting, seeing one of his fonts showing up on Poker Face, and how typography means designing a form without content. We get into the history of type design and how he approaches new design with respect for his precursors, the serendipity that led to one of his best-known fonts, how he balances commercial work with pushing the limits of design in personal projects, the artist’s trajectory from inspired amateur to spent expert, how he knows when one of his fonts has been ripped off, and his take on AI in illustration and type design. We also discuss his new novel and how it fits with XX and The Black Locomotive, the pros and cons of advertising work, designing the new EC Horror comics, the next Kickstarter he’s considering, how he used to keep three different portfolios until he realized it was All Rian and integrated them into one, why his creative mind leaves him with zero interest in meditation, and more. Give it a listen! And go support TYPERACTIVE!
“I don’t think, ‘What is the audience?,’ I think, ‘What is it I fancy doing and how can I sell that and make that into a functional project?'”
“There are two aspects to type: what it says, and how it says it.”
“I always to try to design things that aren’t just windows into a world; they’re objects that come from that world into your world.”
“One of the most beautiful things about type is how specific and evocative it can be. If I showed you a bell-bottomed, rounded font from 1969, you’d be transported right back there.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Rian Hughes is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, typographer and sometime comic book artist who has worked extensively for the British and American publishing, music, advertising and comic book industries. He has written and drawn comics for 2000AD and Batman: Black and White, and designed logos for James Bond, the X-Men, Superman, Hed Kandi and The Avengers, collected in the Eisner-nominated book Logo a Gogo. He has published two novels, XX and The Black Locomotive. His font foundry, Device Fonts, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025.
Listen to our 2020 and 2023 conversations.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Rian’s home on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface, but I got crazy static on the line so I used my Zoom H2n backup. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Rian by someone else. It’s on my instagram.
