The Lifetime Achievement Award is given in recognition of a distinguished individual who has made a profound and long-term contribution to the contemporary practice of design.
Matthew Carter (born in London in 1937) is a type designer living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His career in type design has spanned the transition from “hot” lead type to “cold” digital type.
At the age of 19, Carter spent a year in The Netherlands where he learned the art of punch cutting at the Enschedé type foundry. By 1961 Carter was able to use his skills to cut his own version of the semi-bold typeface Dante.
Carter returned to London where he became the typographic advisor to Crosfield Electronics, distributors of Photon phototypesetting machines. Carter also designed many typefaces for Mergenthaler Linotype. Working with Linotype, Carter created well known typefaces such as the 100-year replacement typeface for Bell Telephone Company, aptly named Bell Centennial.
In 1981, Carter and a colleague Mike Parker created Bitstream Inc. This digital type foundry is one of the largest suppliers of type. He left Bitstream in 1991 to form the Carter & Cone type foundry with Cherie Cone.