The other day my son said something that resonated with me. He was practicing his printing skills -- he's six years old. He referred to what he was doing as drawing words, not writing, spelling or printing. What a simple yet accurate description. Isn't that what good typography is?

The act of writing is content creation, but laying out type is refinement of the display of the words. Much like drawing, typographic execution is important to communication. From now on when I'm thinking type, I'm drawing words too.