TYPO Talks » Blog Archiv » Rod Cavazos: Life Inside a Type-Obsessed Design Lounge

Rod Cavazos: Life Inside a Type-Obsessed Design Lounge

Rod Cavazos kicked things off in what seemed to be his typical, unorthodox style by asking his audience to turn on their cell phones and jack up the volume. If your phone rings, you get a prize. He also made it clear that he was not at the conference to uplift or inspire his audience. He claimed he was only at TYPO for show and tell, but that’s arguable. Rod was charming and his talk was undeniably inspiring.

Photo Credit: Amber Gregory

Rod launched his company PSY/OPS 17 years ago under the lordship of a trans-dimensional alien (his words). Over the years, the company has developed their own collection of type and collaborates often with other designers. Rod firmly believes that collaboration produces better work than what can be created by an individual alone.

While most designers and type nerds may be familiar with PSY/OPS from the work they’ve done for clients like EA Sports, KFC and Madonna, Rod and his team particularly enjoy engaging in “labor of love” projects and occasionally creating pointless, yet gorgeous work.

Watch the video

Rod CavazosGlyphic Immersion: Life Inside a Type-Obsessed Design Lounge

In the spirit of fun, Rod shifted the focus of his talk to the PSY/OPS offshoot Glyfyx. Glyfyx has created a letterbuilding game called Alphabuild, a game that was made primarily for kids, but skill levels can be changed to interest older “kids” as well. As Rod admitted, they play often at PSY/OPS and it gets competitive. And he doesn’t always win.

A few other fun projects Glyfyx has graced the world with are

Plushtype: an alphabet of pushies made out irresistibly tactile fabric
Bitmap building blocks: because children of the 21st century need to experience the joy of jaggy type
Sonic Alphabet: Letters broken down into morse code-style forms which results in each letter being its own song. It’s catchy

Rod ended his talk appropriately by demonstrating the Sonic Alphabet with the songs of Erik Spiekermann, LOL, and Neville Brody.

Rod Cavazos

Rod Cavazos is Principal of PSY/OPS, an independent type studio epicentered located in the heart of San Francisco. Since founding the company in 1995, Cavazos and his team have designed and produced typefaces for a slew of corporate clients, and collaborated with a veritable wagonload of letter artists and foundries. Cavazos serves as Adjunct Professor of Type Design at California College of the Arts and as CEO [Chief Ebullience Officer] at Glyfyx Inc. When not working on a font he can be found working on another font.

Speaker page

—

Rod Cavazos is Principal of PSY/OPS, an independent type studio epicentered located in the heart of San Francisco. Cavazos serves as Adjunct Professor of Type Design at California College of the Arts and as CEO [Chief Ebullience Officer] at Glyfyx Inc. When not working on a font he can be found working on another font.

— posted by Brooke Francesi