Settling on a name --with all its entendres, no matter how inadvertent--really helped inform the design concept. Types would refer to kinds--as in, "I want to be the type of dad who doesn't fall into stereotypical parenting traps."-- as well as to writing--as in, sharing finds, advice, and real-world experiences.
I wanted the site to have a business-like feel and to reference the typed page in some way. Also, I wanted the logo to use an actual typewriter typeface. Blame the X-files or Diet Coke if you want, but crusty old typewriter fonts are, annoyingly, everywhere. And besides, those old manual typewriters are from my father's grandfather's generation. O-L-D.
Instead, I went with the IBM Selectric II.ko
IBM's electric typewriter brought on a sea change of clean, corporate smoothness and revolutionized the production of business documents from the 60's until the advent of computers twenty-plus years later. Plus, it was a typewriter with balls.
The Selectric spawned the development of Courier, Univers, and a host of other fonts that are so ubiquitous we don't even notice them now. My mother dug out an old Selectric for me, and typed up the logo in Letter Gothic, designed by IBM's Roger Roberson. Then I scanned it in.
Daddy Types also uses Jason Kottke's Silkscreen, which he calls, rightly, "a small font perfect for web graphics."
