Type resources for designers and brand owners

Featured article.

Monotype's font pairing tool is shown, displaying a serif and sans serif font paired together.

Have you ever cooked a meal at home and been delighted to find the perfect ingredient to complement your recipe? Maybe you forgot you had cilantro, crushed peanuts, or lemon juice, and it’s just the thing you needed to elevate your dish.

What’s new.

Monotype’s company desktop license empowers cloud access to brand fonts.

Long gone are the days of zipping up folders of font files and sharing them across your organization, or even messier, embedding fonts in documents in the cloud in hopes that the design remains intact. We recently announced an expanded set of licensing rights which allows all employees within an organization to access Commercial Production Fonts in their desktop environments. 

Creative Characters S2 E8: Andrew Krivine and Michael Worthington.

This week we’re welcoming Andrew Krivine, author and punk rock collector, alongside Michael Worthington, faculty at CalArts and co-founder of Counterspace. The creative duo is here to tell the tale of how they co-created the largest exhibition of punk and new wave graphics ever shown on the West Coast.   

Monotype x Limerick.

Over the past four years, we’ve been lucky to forge a reciprocal partnership with the Limerick School of Art & Design / TUS in Ireland. Both Creative Type Directors Tom Foley and Emilios Theofanous have now participated in workshops and modules at the leading fine art, design and creative media school. This year’s students were asked to write a message platform for one typeface and build a marketing plan and design assets to promote it in digital or print media.  

Font resources for brands.

8 Common mistakes to avoid when choosing brand fonts.

When you’re a designer, it’s thrilling to create a new brand or update an existing one. You get to be creative! Strategic! You get a chance to make your mark!

In addition to deciding on a color palette and imagery style, you get to choose foundational typefaces for your brand. But font selection should not be based on looks alone.

How an increased focus on digital transformation has changed customer branding expectations.

Today’s designers are faced with a multitude of new challenges when it comes to designing for a digital world. Customers expect constant communication, have short attention spans, and expect brands to keep up with emerging technology. Learn about the branding challenges to advance your digital strategy and forge ahead.

What creative leaders need to consider in a brand refresh.

You’re at your desk reviewing your emails, and getting ready to kickstart a new design project tomorrow. You’ve read over the project brief, and you have a team call coming up to go over the project guidelines. It’s an exciting challenge, but you’re not sure where to begin.
 

Get inspired.

Creative Characters S3 E3: Getting into the ‘heavy stuff’ with Aaron James Draplin.

We are thrilled to have Aaron Draplin on the podcast this week and to dig into the “heavy stuff” with him – existential musings on life and building a career, the importance of hanging on to your inner kid, and the “weird little spot” he’s in as he approaches 50 turns around the sun.

7 Typographic rebrands that worked wonders.

Today’s brands must keep up with a fast-paced digital world and navigate a “new normal” that’s still emerging from the worst of the pandemic. The last few years shifted everyone’s digital expectations, how brands operate, and in some cases, impacted their business models. Moreover, issues like biodiversity, sustainability, diversity and equity, and brand activism are all booming. So how does this all impact brand building? These macro shifts are greatly influencing how companies position themselves, the services they offer, and how they communicate with their customers.

Font expertise from the Monotype Studio.

Typography terms and definitions.

From alternates to X-height, this list of typography terms and definitions covers just about everything you’d want to know about fonts and typography.

What are font superfamilies and why do we need them?

Font superfamilies are vast collections of type that can meet a multitude of needs without compromising on consistency. But what defines a superfamily, exactly?

All resources.

Creative Characters S3 E12: From magazine to brand design with Warby Parker's Sarah Olin.

As Art Director at Warby Parker, Sarah Olin works on everything from retail design to TV commercials to fashion campaigns. Her story is one of adaptability, and with the design landscape rapidly changing, it feels fitting for the moment. Listen to her podcast episode for more.

Five takeaways from Brand Talks San Francisco.

Last week, Monotype descended on San Francisco for our first in-person Brand Talks event in the golden city since 2019, read on for our thoughts following the event. 

4 popular book cover design trends in 2023.

In this article, get a peek at recent and upcoming book releases in a variety of genres to get a sense of what typography styles are trending in publishing right now. This post is a guest piece from our friends at Reedsy, a website that connects authors with publishing professionals.

Meet the 2022 Beatrice Warde Scholarship recipient: Doah Kwon.

We caught up with Doah, who graduated in May 2023 from the School of Visual Arts with a BA in Design, with Rhodes Family Award and Honors. Doah talked about her type-driven design style, a recent project using machine learning and motion, and some of her biggest design influences. 

Creative Characters S3 E11: Goodbye, zombie bosses: Making WFH work for creatives with Upwork's Patrick Holly.

Upwork Executive Creative Director Patrick Holly joins us this week to talk about the benefits and challenges remote work presents for creatives, how he keeps his global team connected and fulfilled, and why the days of “adult daycare” and ‘butts in seats” should be relegated to the history books for good.

Creative Characters S3 E10: Finding the “feels” with Picsart’s Scott Walker.

In this week’s episode, Monotype’s Bill Connolly sits down with Scott Walker, Executive Creative Director at Picsart, to learn about his own design process, which began in a print shop and has led him to work with some of the world’s most popular brands.

The cloud has changed the way companies license fonts. Here’s why you might need to make a change, too.

The way we work, including how we use and share fonts, has changed dramatically in the past couple of decades.

Creative Characters S3 E9: Studios we love: the stories of CoType, Naïma Ben Ayed Bureau, and XYZ Type.

This week’s episode is a triple threat. Monotype Executive Creative Directors Charles, Phil, and Tom spoke with Jesse Ragan and Ben Kiel of XYZ Type, Mark Bloom of CoType, and Naïma Ben Ayed Bureau, respectively, highlighting some of our favorite studios and designers making great type today.

Foundry Stories. From Monotype Fonts.

If you’re here, you likely use, appreciate, and maybe even love type. You might have a favorite (or least favorite) font. Like any good piece of art, each font has an origin, a story, and a team of passionate creators that brought it to life. How much do you know about the designers and creators of those letterforms? Hear from some of our favorite designers about how they got started, what inspires their work, and how Monotype helps deliver their designs to your screens.