Dave Coleman

Dave drew constantly as a child. He discovered graphic design soon after leaving school, and started a small practice with a friend, taking on clients, and learning the ropes. After 6 years of logos, flyers and websites, and a one-year stint at a design agency, Dave realised he was fatigued, and began moving back to his more playful, illustrative roots. At the same time, he developed a relationship with letterforms, writing the names of his subjects whilst working as a caricaturist. This combination of a love for code/systems/order and illustrative/expressive shapes lead him to discover the joy of type design.

After a few years of practice and experimentation, Dave attended the first instalment of TypeParis, in 2015. This was a chance to learn far more than he could hope to on his own. So profound was the program’s impact, that he asked to be allowed to return the next year, to wring more value from the experience, and knowledge from the instructors. Jean François agreed, and Dave has returned each year since, reporting, assisting and constantly learning.

Dave’s TypeParis 2015 student project, Buffon, is now a retail typeface, available on Lost Type. He has also released Macabre, on Future Fonts. He lives in the Blue Mountains of Australia, with his wife Laura, daughter Isla, and son Felix. They are planning to move to Spain to enjoy the scenery, language, pacing, and rich typographic culture.

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