Cyrus Highsmith

{{Short description|American type designer}}

Cyrus Highsmith (born 1973){{cite web|title=Cyrus Highsmith|url=http://www.myfonts.com/person/Cyrus_Highsmith/|website=MyFonts|accessdate=23 December 2017}} is an American typeface designer, illustrator, and author.{{cite book|first=Neil|last=Macmillan|title=An A-Z of Type Designers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxV4qEolEo8C&pg=PA105|year=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-11151-7|pages=105–6}}{{cite news|last1=Rawsthorn|first1=Alice|title=The Look of Letters|work=The New York Times |date=5 December 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/arts/06iht-design6.html?_r=0|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Middendorp|first1=Jan|title=Space and Rhythm|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/space-and-rhythm|website=Eye|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Heller|first1=Steven|title=Rebel Without a Caslon: An Interview with Cyrus Highsmith|url=https://www.aiga.org/rebel-without-a-caslon-an-interview-with-cyrus-highsmith|publisher=AIGA|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Palino|first1=Christian|title=An Interview with Cyrus Highsmith|url=http://typographica.org/on-typography/an-interview-with-cyrus-highsmith|website=Typographica|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Garcia|first1=Mario R.|last2=Reibstein|first2=Reed|title=Cyrus Highsmith: An interview with one of America's top type craftsmen|url=https://garciamedia.com/blog/cyrus_highsmith_an_interview_with_one_of_americas_top_craftsmen/|website=Garcia Media|accessdate=23 December 2017}}

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997, he worked at Font Bureau in Boston as Senior Type Designer{{cite web|last1=Middendorp|first1=Jan|title=Creative Characters: Cyrus Highsmith|url=http://www.myfonts.com/newsletters/cc/200902.html|website=MyFonts|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Jockin|first1=Thomas|title=Inside Paragraphs: An Interview with Font Bureau Type Designer Cyrus Highsmith|url=https://medium.com/type-thursday/inside-paragraphs-6c7629d6d2b7|website=Medium|date=30 January 2016 |accessdate=23 December 2017}} until founding his own type foundry, Occupant Fonts, in 2016, distributing alongside his former employers via the Type Network service.{{cite web|url=https://occupant.typenetwork.com|title=Occupant Fonts on Type Network|author=|date=|website=Type Network|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-23777.html|title=Occupant Fonts|first=Luc|last=Devroye|date=|website=Type Design Information|accessdate=23 December 2017}}

Some of Highsmith’s most well-known typefaces are Zócalo, used by the Mexican daily El Universal, and the Antenna series, which was used in several magazine designs{{cite web|url=https://fontsinuse.com/type_designers/79/cyrus-highsmith|title=Cyrus Highsmith - Fonts In Use|author=|date=|website=Fonts in Use|accessdate=23 December 2017}} as well as by Ford and the official Star Wars website. Other clients for custom fonts include or have included The Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart Living, La Prensa Gráfica of El Salvador, ESPN, and Men’s Health. His typefaces Prensa and Relay won the 2001 Bukvaːraz! award,{{cite web|url=http://www.tdc.org/news/2001bukvaresults.html|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130918002911/http://www.tdc.org/news/2001bukvaresults.html|url-status=dead|title=Type Directors Club : News : bukva:raz! Results|date=18 September 2013|archivedate=18 September 2013|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fontshop.com/people/fontshop-team/fontlists/atypi-bukva-raz-2001-award-winners|title=ATypI Bukva:raz! 2001 Award Winners|author=|date=|website=FontShop|accessdate=23 December 2017}} organized by ATypI (the International Typographic Association) in 2001. In 2015, Cyrus Highsmith received the Gerrit Noordzij Prize by the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague.{{cite web|url=https://www.artandeducation.net/announcements/106866/cyrus-highsmith-receives-the-2015-gerrit-noordzij-prize|title=Cyrus Highsmith receives the 2015 Gerrit Noordzij Prize - Announcements - Art & Education|author=|date=|website=www.artandeducation.net|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Witman|first1=Bob|title=Amerikaan krijgt Noordzijprijs|url=https://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/amerikaan-krijgt-noordzijprijs~a3887170/|website=de Volkskrant|accessdate=23 December 2017}}

In addition to typeface design, Highsmith has been teaching at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, since 2000,{{cite web|url=http://www.risd.edu/academics/graphic-design/faculty/Cyrus-Highsmith/|title=Cyrus Highsmith|author=|date=|website=www.risd.edu|accessdate=23 December 2017}} while also lecturing and taking part in juries in North America, Japan and across Europe.{{cite web|url=https://competition.morisawa.co.jp/en/judge/|title=Judges - Morisawa Type Design Competition 2016|author=|date=|website=competition.morisawa.co.jp|accessdate=23 December 2017}} He is the author of Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals published by Font Bureau in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.printmag.com/featured/inside-cyrus-highsmiths-new-book-a-typographic-classic-in-the-making/|title=Inside Cyrus Highsmith's New Book, a Typographic Classic in the Making - Print Magazine|author=|date=5 June 2012|publisher=|accessdate=23 December 2017|archive-date=21 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121125856/http://www.printmag.com/featured/inside-cyrus-highsmiths-new-book-a-typographic-classic-in-the-making/|url-status=dead}} With his own imprint, Occupant Press, he publishes children’s books and other prints. In 2016, Highsmith founded Occupant Fonts in Providence, Rhode Island, which continues to publish his typefaces designed while at Font Bureau as well as new releases.

In September 2017, it was announced that Occupant Fonts had been acquired by the Japanese type foundry {{ill|Morisawa (company)|lt=Morisawa|ja|モリサワ|vertical-align=sup}} {{cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/morisawa-acquires-us-based-occupant-llcs-all-licensed-fonts-brand-300520208.html|title=Morisawa Acquires U.S.-based Occupant LLC's All Licensed Fonts, Brand|date=|website=www.prnewswire.com|accessdate=23 December 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/9899226-morisawa-acquires-u-s-based-occupant-llc-s-all-licensed-fonts-brand|title=Morisawa Acquires U.S.-based Occupant LLC's All Licensed Fonts, Brand|author=|date=15 September 2017|publisher=|accessdate=23 December 2017}} and thenceforth functioned as their Providence drawing office, with Highsmith as its creative director, overseeing RISD graduates June Shin, Marie Otsuka and Cem Eskinazi.{{cite web|url=http://en.morisawa.co.jp/about/news/3651|title=Morisawa Opens Latin Type Designing Office in U.S.|date=9 September 2017|website=Morisawa USA Inc.|accessdate=23 January 2018}} The first two releases in cooperation with Morisawa are Citrine and the Latin-character range of A1 Gothic (both derived from his typeface Allium), published that same year.{{cite web|url=http://www.morisawa.co.jp/about/news/3603|title=モリサワ 2017年の新書体を発表 (Morisawa Announces New Typefaces for 2017)|date=28 July 2017|website=Morisawa Inc.|accessdate=23 January 2018}}