Talk:
Typographic Excellence!
with Tracy Ma
Typography’s role in editorial design is different compared to its role in advertising or branding. Instead of dictating that something is “worth one’s money” or “promises to make one’s life better”, typography is used in editorial design to help tell complicated stories about injustice, inequality or misappropriations of power in the world.
In order to tell those stories, Bloomberg Businessweek makes no distinctions between “good” typefaces and “bad” typefaces, and sees all typography as ingredients in the makeup of the visual culture that surrounds us.
For the art department, the magazine is also a record of our own questioning of today’s visual culture and how it helps to perpetuate the problems we expose. On top of making difficult stories more entertaining or easier to understand, we ultimately hope to teach readers how to look at the world, how to be more mindful of the way visual culture works persuasively around them.
This talk took place Friday, June 17, 2016, at 3:00pm as part of the main Typographics conference schedule.
About Tracy Ma
Hong Kong-born, Canadian graphic designer Tracy Ma is the deputy creative director of Bloomberg Businessweek. She grew up in Toronto after moving there in 1996, and graduated from York University with a bachelor of design with honors in 2010. After graduation she worked briefly at Toronto Life magazine. In 2011 she joined Bloomberg Businessweek as a guest designer for the “Year In Review” issue, where she worked closely with then creative director Richard Turley and graphics director Jennifer Daniel. She continued to freelance with the magazine for a year and a half until she officially joined as assistant creative director in early 2013. With Richard Turley’s departure for MTV in the summer of 2014 she was promoted to her current role.
At Bloomberg Businessweek she oversees the weekly production of the magazine from cover to cover. She also leads the art direction for the magazine’s annual Design Conference.
Her work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club, the Society of Print Designers, D&AD, Print magazine’s “20 under 30” and Complex magazine’s “25 Young Designers to Watch”. She lives in Chinatown, New York.
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