Laura
Kalbag
Laura Kalbag is currently a designer from Brighton, uk who specializes in design for the web. She works with small businesses, individuals and startups to help create quality, expressive and useful designs. Kalbag has also spoken about several web topics at conferences throughout Europe.
Notable Projects
Mac or PC? Mac
You are obviously very busy with client work. How do you stay current with all the new w3c standards especially on Web type? I very rarely look at w3c standards specifically, as they can be difficult and time-consuming to understand. This means that I get the majority of my information by closely following people who are far smarter (and often closer to the technology) than I am. This is often just through Twitter, but also through rss feeds and attending web/typography conferences. I find the blogs of web font services also very useful in better understanding the platform’s capabilities.
How do you discuss purchasing webfonts with clients? Are they reluctant? Do they understand the importance of having higher quality typography? When I’m thinking about purchasing webfonts for clients, I take it on a case-by-case basis. If I think the client is likely to understand the importance of good quality typography, then I will discuss options with them and happily explain what a difference good typefaces can make. If I think they may be reluctant to pay for good typefaces, I will most often pay for the typefaces out of my own business costs, because I believe good typography is integral to good web design.
Do you or have you used Font Squirrel for creating webfonts? I’ve used Font Squirrel in the past. I have a lot of admiration for the concept of spreading good quality web fonts, and their generator is a very useful tool for optimizing existing fonts.
What is your type foundry of choice? This is a tricky one! At the moment I love HVD Fonts.
What is one thing you would like other web and graphic designers to know about webfonts? Not all web fonts are created equal! It’s well worth researching fonts that have been designed to work well on the screen, and checking how they render on multiple platforms before purchasing.
Do you know what hinting is, if so, in your words what does hinting do? I believe I do know what hinting is… Hinting ensures that the characters in a font render sharply on a display. The highest quality fonts tend to have been manually hinted to check that the characters are clean and crisp at many different sizes and weights.
If you had extra time in general what would you focus on? If I had extra time I would focus on improving the depth of my knowledge in subjects around web design. At the moment I particularly want to learn more about JavaScript and cognitive psychology.
How much coffee or tea do you consume on a daily basis? None! I’ve never been a big fan of coffee or tea. Until a couple of months ago I was addicted to high sugar energy drinks, but I’m now 100% caffeine-free!