Educational Articles

Staying up to date on changes within the type industry and pivoting your business accordingly is a vital part of running a successful foundry. We’ve seen many changes in technology over the years: from hand-set type to machine typesetting, and on to photo composition and digital type. As we stepped away from physical materials, the possibilities of distribution and licensing have been evolving at a rapid pace. And it’s our job to keep up!

Designing your first typeface is a great challenge, but continuing to evolve past it is a moment of freedom and growth. It’s easy to get attached to your first shapes; the first time you see them in text, it’s exhilarating. Having spent over a decade in the industry, I’m excited to take you on a deep dive into my journey, reflect on those early days, and share lessons I’ve learned along the way.

There is no easy way around it; writing about fonts is a challenge. Even with years of experience, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve used thesaurus.com trying to find an alternative to the word “unique” while describing a new typeface or specific glyph. Explaining the visual aspects of a non-tangible product is hard and figuring out how to differentiate your typeface from thousands of others takes dedicated time and effort.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a type designer is reaching the point where you get to play with your brand new typeface and create some engaging promotional graphics. This is your chance to show the world just how stylish, intricate, and versatile your fonts can be. First impressions count, and, in a highly competitive arena, having impactful imagery is perhaps your best chance to persuade potential customers from perceiving your fonts as a “maybe” to becoming a “must have”. 

If you find the abundance of jargon surrounding search engine optimization (SEO) intimidating, you’re not alone. But you don’t have to be an expert to use SEO to improve your brand’s visibility, generate more sales, and grow your business.

The right pricing is an essential part of a successful font release, but establishing the ideal price for a font can be challenging. Although it costs almost nothing to produce additional copies of a font file, it’s much harder to create a high-quality font than most users realize. A single font file may represent months or even years of dedicated effort! How can the price of a digital file truly reflect the blood, sweat, and tears that went into its production?