
Design Can't Rely on Logic: Troy Leinster on Type Design and Human Perception
From Design Notes by Liam Spradlin
September 9, 2025 · 45 min · Season 3 · Episode 10
About this episode
Troy Leinster discusses the importance of type design and trusting human perception in the design process.
In this episode, I reconnect with my former instructor, type designer and design coach Troy Leinster. Troy shares his journey from graphic design to type design, and explains why learning to make letters makes you a better designer. We also dig into the importance of trusting the human eye over geometry, the productive friction of sketching by hand, and how understanding calligraphy builds a stronger perspective on type design. Troy discusses why, in the age of AI, the most important thing a designer can do is put their personal touch on the work.
People in this episode
Host: Liam Spradlin
Guest: Troy Leinster
Topics covered
- type design
- human perception
- graphic design
- calligraphy
- AI in design
- personal touch in design
Keywords
- type design
- human perception
- graphic design
- calligraphy
- AI
- design coaching
- sketching
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: type design, calligraphy
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