About

"I felt bad becasue I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no Bodoni."

This is our motto, strange as it is. No Bodoni is situated near Chicago, Illinois home to the Newberry Library which has one of the largest collections of typographic material in the world. It also holds a large collection of material printed by Giambattisti Bodoni of Parma Italy, second only to the Bodoni Museum in Parma.

Bodoni was a master type cutter with tremendous skill who was inspired by those around him. He recognized the work of John Baskerville and at one time was going to work for him. He was enamoured by Pierre Simon Fournier's work and sought to emulate his prodigious output of type punches (both men cut a nearly unbelieveable amount of them).

His own type designs were in the Romantic spirit, a class of type now called "modern" and similar to those of the Didot brothers in Paris. Yet Bodoni's work is softer and more appealing, something often lost in digital versions which make them too geometric. This is our goal, types that reflect our times but are not slaves to style or doctrine or theory. Unique types that speak with unique voices.

Who we are

Principal Designer
George Everet Thompson

In addition to being the principal typeface designer at No Bodoni Typography George also does the web development, writes our Python scripts, keeps the books, answers the email, cooks meals and occasionally does the ironing.

His interest in letterforms and written language goes back to the fifth grade when he gave class presentations on Egyptian hieroglyphs and Babylonian cuneiform. Lettering and logotype design were always part of his graphic design work. With the release of Fontographer he began designing typefaces and in 1987 founded No Bodoni Typography to market his typefaces. His work for No Bodoni has been featured in HOW, Publish and Serif magazines and “Indie Fonts II.”

Before retiring in 2008 George taught classes in graphic design, communication design history and typography at Columbia College Chicago for over twenty years. He also was Coordinator of the Graphic Design program for several years and the past few years served as Associate Chairperson of Design Practice.

Talks and presentations he has given include "Gutenberg's Box or How Johan Gutenberg Invented the Parking Space," “No Little Feet: a brief history of sans serif typography” and a talk on the early history of printing and typography in Chicago.

He also helped organize Chicago conferences for the Typocrafters and American Printing History Association and the Chicago by Design history conference sponsored by the Society of Typographic Arts.

He has published articles in the Journal of Communications, the Caxtonian, Chicago Artist’s News and co-authored, designed, printed and published “Five American Type Designers: Cynthia Hollandsworth, Kris Holmes, Zuzana Licko, Judith Sutcliffe and Carol Twombly.”

Prior to teaching he worked as a graphic / product designer for Good Design Assoc., Holt Communications and the Institute of Gas Technology. He also operated his own design practice designing and illustrating a variety of things from on-air graphics to annual reports, packaging and collateral for a wide variety of clients.

George holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, from Purdue University. He is also a member of Association Typographique Internationale, Society of Typographic Aficionados, Society of Typographic Arts, the Typocrafters, American Typecasting Federation and the Printing History Association.

In his spare time he paints and writes.

Consulting Designer
John Milton Thompson

Over the years John has been essential in providing advice, assistance and inspiration for George and No Bodoni Typography. It was John who coined the phrase “I felt bad because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no Bodoni.” For over thirty years John has operated his own successful design / advertising firm, Finegan Thompson, in Jackson, Wyoming.

John is the inventor of the “Invisible Man” design concept: “The client describes the Invisible Man to you and you make him a suit of clothes.”

In his spare time John skis, hikes and enjoys the outdoors with his wife. He also makes art which can be seen at littleboxbigbox.com.

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