Ruzicka Revisited

Ruzicka's wood engraving for the front cover of "An Exhibition of the Work of Rudolph Ruzicka," incorporating examples from his previous work (AIGA, New York, 1935). (Click for larger image.)

The grace, acuity, and modesty of Rudolph Ruzicka’s work was paralleled by the same qualities in the man, himself, from what I’ve read. Though humble and often shy in presenting himself publicly, he worked masterfully in many capacities: as an engraver, a book designer, a calligrapher, a letterer, and a typeface designer.

His work in those last two areas interests me most, since I work in their digital equivalents. I’m an independent typeface & lettering designer—you can see more of my work on my portfolio website, jesseragan.com. My impetus for creating this blog is to discuss and publicize my work in bringing some of Ruzicka’s dormant typeface designs to digital form. But I hope that this blog—and, eventually, a full-fledged website in this domain—will grow to serve as a more general tribute to Ruzicka and a celebration of the full breadth of his prolific career. He deserves more attention than he receives.

So please follow along—add the blog to your RSS reader, share on other websites (see below), or contact me with questions/comments or to receive updates.

Many thanks to Richard Ruane & Oka Tai-Lee for their technical help with the blog.