The pen behind the fonts

Lolita Harper

Her wavy blond hair is tied loosely back in a ponytail. She is

relaxed, in a T-shirt and pants, sitting crossed-legged on her living

room floor. Her demeanor is expressive, and she laughs and moves her

hands while she talks. She is an artist who has transformed brush

strokes into alphabetical formulas that the Microsoft era takes for

granted.

Teri Kahan, a Costa Mesa resident, is one of the few artists in

the world who creates type fonts. You know, the dozens of options to

chose from under the “format” in your Word program.

Artists such as Kahan create new styles of lettering, formulate

them and sell them for various designers and other professionals to

use in marketing materials. Because “font” is such a widespread word

now, most people don’t know the origin of those stylized alphabets.

Kahan does. She has been in the industry since before big computer

companies made it so commonplace.

She designed the lettering the Lexus car company uses to brand its

automobiles. That was in the 1980s, before computers were a household

item.

“Now, that was a lot of work,” she said.

Kahan got a calligraphy set when she was a child and just took to

it, she said. Throughout grade school, she won awards for penmanship

and took lettering classes at Newport Harbor High School.

“That’s when they had those kind of classes in school,” Kahan

said.

After high school, she trained classically at Orange Coast College

and UC Irvine. Kahan taught courses at Golden West College for a few

years but now focuses her attention on younger students: The

fifth-graders at Victoria Elementary, where her twin sons attend. She

volunteers as a part time art instructor because “kids just don’t get

enough art” so she forces the issue.

“I like to teach them how to hold the pen, how to move it along

the surface, in a free, uninhibited motion,” Kahan said.

Kahan said her style is very flowing and expressive, unlike

static, boxy font types. Many of her fonts are inspired by the ocean

-- the ebbs and flows, the curves of the waves and the curves of her

letters. The slants and the movement of water inspire her art.

“Water themes just abound in my work,” Kahan said.

While Kahan is one of the few women in the world who participate

in the type font industry, she said she is partial to hand-lettering.

She recalls earlier in her career when companies were willing to

budget for handmade graphics and logos instead of relying on

computer-sculpted graphics.

“I love the spontaneity of the stroke,” Kahan said. “It is always

a surprise how the letter is going to end.”

In the computer age, Kahan works hard to digitize her freehand

styles. She starts with her handmade brush strokes and scans them

into the computer. Using a special program, she plots the points on

the various letters to make a rough shape that tells the computer

where to automatically fill in with black. Because computers are so

precise and pragmatic, it is a frustrating process to try to

formulate art, she said.

“By now, you’ve created it, and you just want the stupid computer

to do it, but it doesn’t,” Kahan said, while demonstrating the

point-plotting process on her laptop. “You still need a person to go

in there and make it right.”

For example, her type font called “Puamana” is very rustic and

requires dozens of plot points to illustrate the jagged points in the

lettering, where the stroke begins and ends. When a letter is done by

hand, you can see where the stroke began because it is darker and has

more ink. At the end stroke, the color is lighter because the ink is

less and the brush if lifting.

About 200 hours of work goes into each type font, she said. Often,

she takes her laptop out to the beach and works on the sand.

Growing up in Newport Beach and then living in Hawaii for a number

of years, Kahan said she cannot stay away from the ocean. She loves

to surf and holds deeply the Polynesian philosophy of Huna, which

stresses empowering yourself.

Self-empowered, the free-spirited and smiling Kahan works at her

skill diligently, transforming her creative brush strokes into logos,

marketing designs, package lettering and graphic design. While the

craft has moved into the technological field, Kahan believes it is

her classic art training that gives her an edge.

“It’s a very unusual talent,” Kahan said.

Local entrepreneur Rebecca Hall, who has worked on collaborative

projects with Kahan, said her unparalleled style comes through in all

her work.

“Design firms recognize her unique talent,” Hall said. “The logos

and lettering she creates have meaning and influence, all trapped

into a small space. She really gives thought to what it means and how

it should be used.”

The mother of two graciously accepts the compliment, giving all

credit to innate aptitude.

“It is just a wonderful skill, and I have a master talent in it,”

Kahan said.