An essential part of the Big Spaceship culture is constant cross-disciplinary learning between our designers, developers, producers and strategists. On that note, strategist Nathan Adkisson had a lively instant messenger conversation with senior designer Able Parris about one of Able’s favorite topics: typography. Here’s what they discussed.

Nathan Adkisson: What are your thoughts on digital vs. print typography? Are they really as different as people say, or are they just two sides of the same coin?

Able Parris: There are definitely digital-specific problems, but understanding (and mastering) typographical hierarchy will get you through most problems whether it is print or digital. What I find more important (or at least more interesting) is the emotion that a design conveys. Typography plays a huge role in that for me.

NA: Not to stereotype (too much), but have you noticed any significant differences between people who work primarily with digital type and those who work with print? Is there anything they could learn from each other?

AP: Great question. We’re in an interesting time right now where print designers are now designing for the screen and Web designers are starting to publish print magazines. It almost doesn’t even make sense. What I would like to see in future (digital) designs is not better typography or a more print-like layout, but better interactions overall. I know that’s kind of a vague request, but I’m of the conviction that most designers can create a striking layout, but that’s not the problem of the future. We’re accessing the internet on tiny devices and large screens now where the designer has little control of the layout, and most visitors to those pages couldn’t care less about it. What they are looking for is a pleasurable way to browse, search, and consume the content of that domain.

NA: So it sounds like graphic designers and interaction designers are going to become even more similar, because “analog” design projects are becoming rarer and rarer. It’s not just about styles and weights anymore—it’s also about browsing and searching. Sounds like a new skill set . . .

AP: Indeed. This is something book designers and wayfinding designers are already familiar with, though. I’m confident that they’ll be a great contribution to the digital world. But designers that see websites as interactive postcards really scare me. They want everything to line up a certain way, and they want all the content to stay within a confined set of dimensions. All the interaction is meant to happen within that space. But it can’t happen that way. Luckily, we have the ability for content to “overflow” online. We can scroll down to infinity. We can even scroll left and right! It may seem silly to even point it out as a problem, but trust me, this is still an issue. And we’re almost in 2012.

NA: What’s your take on Adobe’s acquisition of Typekit?

AP: What I hope is that it will make it easier for designers to diversify their typographic palette. Right now, designers are greatly limited by the typefaces they own. It’s not easy to sell a client on a new typeface when it’d cost you a thousand dollars just to play with it. And what if they don’t want it? Purchase another one? So having Typekit’s catalog right in Photoshop could be invaluable.

NA: What do you think the next frontier looks like for type?

AP: It’s quite possible that we’ll be able to tailor our experience even more than we are able to right now. With tools like Readability and Instapaper, we can read articles later in apps where we have a bit of control of the settings. For instance, I prefer to read light grey text on a black screen when reading on my iPad, but I prefer black text on a white background on my iPhone. I save articles to Instapaper to read while I’m commuting on the subway and I can read it offline in the style I prefer. There are also more elegant RSS readers available these days that display content beautifully. For instance, I really like what Feedly is doing. But what if we could tailor our browser experience? What if we didn’t have to import it into another application? And as we’ve already discussed, the digital space is fluid. And it’s growing. I think the challenge of the future is to make it more pleasurable to find that content and consume it, and typography will be at the forefront of that frontier.

NA: What do you wish more non-designers knew about typography so that we can produce even better work? In other words, how can you help us help you?

AP: When I was younger, I played trumpet in a jazz band. I bring it up, because what makes great jazz is when the musician breaks the rules. When they do the unexpected. When you listen to a trained musician who knows all the rules and knows how to break them, you want to listen to their music over and over again. The same is true in design. Taking risks in design is what makes design interesting, but designers are usually making something for someone else. We need to develop a relationship strong enough that you will trust us when we say the payoff will be worth the risk.