Every graphic designer and typographer in the world has obviously heard of or used Helvetica. It is probably the most celebrated typeface in the world especially after World War II. Thailand, of course, jumped into the trend as well. And that was when the idea of a Thai typeface based on Helvetica was born.

So came ‘Manoptica’ in 1973. And it came at the right moment. Not only was it part of a trend, it was time Thailand had a modern typeface that would sit well with Latin Sans Serifs. What came as a mere flow of events turned out to be a milestone in the history of Thai Typography. Even Manop could not have foreseen that this was going to spark a new path in the design of Thai typeface that would run on until today.

The birth of Manoptica was a revolution. It tangibly altered the way designers understand and draw type. Pracha Sureevanont, a renowned Thai writer and designer, considered it a significant artifact. Once, when giving his thoughts on Kittithada, a very famous modern Thai typeface by Phanlop Thongsuk, Anuthin Wongsunkakon mentioned that without Manoptica having first set the course, it would have been immensely difficult for fonts like Kittithada to be embraced by society.

‘A computer is considered an expensive item, especially if its a Macintosh. However, that did not discouraged Manop from giving it away to Chaiwat Attayarat, a colleague and the head of computer layout department, to help him learn to design type. Chairat became one of the few fortunate people who learned directly and personally from Manop,’ Kajornsak Jindarak said with a bit of regret, as he was also very close to Manop but had little interest in typography at the time.

It was around 1982 when the Thai design industry leaped towards the digital era. Computer became the most

prominent design tool and sure enough, the use of dry transfer decals declined rapidly. However, there was still demand for the typeface. Thus, Saha Viriya, an official Apple distributor at the time, commissioned Manop to convert his typefaces to digital format. Additionally, Apple sent in their technicians to educate Manop on ASCII, which was the font standard at the time. ‘It was purely because of love that I agreed to learn to use a computer at such an old age,’ said Manop with a little laugh.

Although learning something so technical may be a bit demanding for an old man, the computer skills he acquired were a ticket to the digital type industry. Other tech companies, such as Epson, Agfa, and Linotronic, began commissioning him to develop typefaces in digital format. Even as technology advanced at an exponential rate, the veteran typographer continued to catch up with it.

One could consider Manop Srisomporn a typographer of three eras. He worked with dry transfer lettering to phototypesetting (or more commonly known as linotype) to digital typesetting. In fact, he was one of the first type designers to enter the digital world. Some may also include him in the pre-dry-transfer period, when there was no real technological management of type. Casually speaking, he had worked across four eras.

During the last years of his career, he spent his days at the newly founded advertising agency, Prakit Associates, or later known as Prakit FCB, and worked under Prakit Apisarnthanarak. Since he was naturally well-organized, socially capable, and technologically minded, he was positioned as the head of the computer department. This was where the development of many digital Thai fonts, including the huge Manop family began.

Here, at Prakit FCB, Manop Srisomporn had the opportunity to design fonts in several languages including Thai, Laos, Cambodian, Burmese, and Vietnamese for used in various agency’s projects. Additionally, he also developed picture and logo fonts, all for the convenience of the graphic designers and computer department. But perhaps his proudest work was the design of the typeface, Prakit 1-14, named in honor of Prakit Apisarnthanarak.

During his leisure time at the office, he would seek out colleagues with beautiful handwriting and ask him or her to write ก-ฮ (equivalent of A-Z). With the specimen, he would transform it into a usable font, all in ASCII format at the time. Typefaces such as Chaivat and Jang were created from this casual and friendly process.

Today, at the age of 70, Manop stated that he has offically retired and prefer to put any involvement with type design at rest. For a man who had spent half of his life crafting letters with love and enjoyment to just walk away quietly is quite heartbreaking. One could not help thinking that the efforts he had put in did not receive adequate compensation. However, the way Thai typographers could profit today is more or less built upon the road laid out by historic typographers such as Manop Srisomporn.

Regretfully, to compile all of Manop’s work is a difficult task. He said the hard drive of his beloved Apple Macintosh LC is dead and all the original files have gone along with it. The only digital versions left are found scattered among the computers at Prakit FCB. Though, not as complete as it should be, it at least offers us an opportunity to study some of his works.

Most of the things collected are from recent past and rarely from his early days of work. In any case, none of them have been seriously preserved, not even the easily manageable digital files. Manop mentioned that his works during the dry transfer era have been lend to writers and researchers but never returned. But why didn’t he reclaim them himself?

No matter where one looks, it all seem to root back to his retirement. Not only did he retire from his work, he retired from his life as typographer as well. Now, he’s just an ordinary happy old man who wishes to live in absence of design, spending the rest of his days traveling, visiting his son in the Netherlands, and occasionally taking a stroll, far away from the fast-paced city, in his slow and tranquil hometown of Payao.