Type & tattoos with Dan Rhatigan
Seeing words: Letraset, zines, maximalism and why fonts feel different

What happens when letterforms become part of your life story?
In this episode of Seeing Senses, typographer and educator Dan Rhatigan joins Sarah to talk about how letters move from page to body, from analogue to digital and from work to play. Dan brings a joyous sense of curiosity to the craft of type. He shares how making comic books as a teenager set him on the path to typography, how Letraset taught him to trust his eyes, and how his tattoos have become a living archive of type history.
Dan reflects on his work at type foundry Monotype, his zine projects and his fascination with the tactile side of design. He shares how hands-on making changes how we see, think and feel. Why a little imperfection can bring designs (and designers) back to life.

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Listen if you’re curious about:

• How a love of comic books led to a career in typography
• What Letraset taught a generation of designers about precision and play
• How physical, hands-on processes change creative decision-making
• What it’s like to manage one of the world’s largest font libraries
• How type design trends reflect the mood of the moment
• Why Dan’s tattoos make him unforgettable in summer

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Key themes & takeaways:

• Maximalism as joy: Type is for play, not perfection
• Zines and community: DIY publishing as sensory storytelling
• Creative constraint: Limited tools lead to unexpected ideas
• Flow through physicality: Movement and making reignite creativity
• Analog memory: Letraset and letterpress evoke embodied learning
• Type tattoos: A living archive of letterforms and meaning
• Cyclical trends: Why soft, emotional typefaces return in uncertain times
• Font choice as power: Every visual decision changes how words feel

Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for visual references and tattoo photos.

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Guest:

Dan Rhatigan is the Senior Creative Foundry Director at Monotype. He is a renowned typographer with eclectic experience as a typesetter, graphic designer, typeface designer, and educator. He went from an MA at the University of Reading to senior roles at Monotype, Adobe Fonts, Type Network, and The Type Founders. He publishes his own typefaces and collaborations through Bijou Type, and a long-running zine, Pink Mince.

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Bonus for multi-sensory thinkers:

Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for updates and extras.
You’ll find sense-hacking experiments and book recommendations from the guests. Become a paid subscriber to support the making of this podcast.

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Host:

Sarah Hyndman is a designer/researcher, author and speaker. You can book her for a Seeing Senses talk, workshop or event. Sarah is the founder of Type Tasting, curator of The Sensologists and author of the bestselling book Why Fonts Matter (Penguin/Virgin).

Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye.

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Theme music by AudioKraken. Typeface Magnet, Inga Plönnigs.

#Typography #Tattoos #TypeDesign #SeeingSensesPodcast #MultiSensoryThinking