Tired of Type

One of the things I have to deal with as a designer is an endless amount of type.  Whether it be the layout of a curriculum or a textbook or even a kid's book, there is type.  Curriculum = lots of type.  Guess what I work with the most?  Curriculum.

Now, here's the catch: I love type and I hate type.  I love to make the type perfect: getting rid of as many of those annoying little hyphens that spawn like rabbits throughout the type (without leaving too much white space behind); creating styles that automatically do most of the busy work; making each layout work within its spread.  All that is very enjoyable and I would do it all day long.  What I despise about type is that it is never-ending, it lives on like a cockroach after a nuclear holocaust.  Once I believe that it is beautiful and exactly the way I want it to be, someone adds or subtracts text, leaving a once beautiful layout dripping with blank spaces of imperfection.

When this happens, and I have this great desire to run away and work for Disney, I turn to the calming feel of a pencil in my hands and the enjoyable sensation of a graphite tip scratching the surface of paper (or a wacom pen on a tablet...same thing).

I made this poor guy during one of those times at work, and he has taken on some of my emotions.  He's just as tired of type as I am.