"Typefaces have a viral quality," says Hoefler. "It's always amazing to see where they wind up and how they transform the things they inhabit." Adds Frere-Jones: "When you're designing a typeface, you're not really making a product. You're building a machine that will go and make other products." As modern as its approach is, the firm's aesthetic is rooted in the past. "A conversation with Hoefler and Frere-Jones is an instant education, not only in letter design but also in history, fine art, literature and music," says Michael Bierut, a partner at the global design agency Pentagram and a frequent client.

Such context is important. Whether it is Sumerian hieroglyphs on clay tablets or cybertext on the Internet, the written word is made up of assembled shapes, and the tiniest details—the contour of a serif, the slope of a curve—can evoke mood and emotion as concisely as the message itself does. Thus each of Hoefler and Frere-Jones' creations has a history—and a future. Says Hoefler: "These fonts will be around, not as artifacts but in use, for centuries after we're gone."