As Carter shared highlights from his prolific career, he divulged how the music of the John Coltrane Quartet had a profound influence on his early typographic years. Growing up in a British “typographically privileged home” with his father a typographer, Carter was full of self-confidence starting out. But a trip to New York opened his eyes to a new world of mind-blowingly talented graphic designers that shook his confidence to the very core. But after seeing the John Coltrane Quartet perform night-after-night with such intensity, pushing themselves harder rather than coasting on their successes, gave him the emotional lift he needed to embrace his fears, move to New York, and become the extraordinary typographer he is today. Image courtesy Monotype Imaging / Jim Wasco. Photo 5 of 7 in Matthew Carter's New Typeface by Stephanie Orma

Matthew Carter's New Typeface

5 of 7

As Carter shared highlights from his prolific career, he divulged how the music of the John Coltrane Quartet had a profound influence on his early typographic years. Growing up in a British “typographically privileged home” with his father a typographer, Carter was full of self-confidence starting out. But a trip to New York opened his eyes to a new world of mind-blowingly talented graphic designers that shook his confidence to the very core. But after seeing the John Coltrane Quartet perform night-after-night with such intensity, pushing themselves harder rather than coasting on their successes, gave him the emotional lift he needed to embrace his fears, move to New York, and become the extraordinary typographer he is today. Image courtesy Monotype Imaging / Jim Wasco.