Chank Diesel

In a world of post-punk distressed-font meisters, Chank Diesel’s work stands out because of his range—and his humor. Diesel’s labors of love have been seen by millions, and are archived at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum as “an important example of contemporary typography.”

“I think I made about four dollars from that Taco Bell deal,” says Diesel, who didn’t even know that his most popular font, Mister Frisky, had been picked up by the fast-food conglomerate until he read the writing on a nacho box. “I went to a manager, and he gave me a bunch of cups and placemats.”

The name Chank? Although he grew up as Charles Anderson, he was called nicknames like Spanky, Chank and Chanky. Chank stuck.