Type foundries derive their name from the pre-computer graphics era when the art and craft of designing typefaces fell to skilled craftsmen who meticulously designed font families by hand. In 1448, Johann Gutenberg, an accomplished metalworker, cast those letters into single pieces of rectangular metal, and along with formulating the ink and developing the printing press, began to produce precise impressions of printed letters onto paper. The invention of the printing press is still considered one of the most important inventions in the history of modern civilization.
Today’s type foundries craft typefaces out of ones and zeroes rather than molten metal. Type designers often get their start within graphic design agencies or institutions, eventually deciding to specialize in typography, and the craft of designing typefaces.
At YouWorkForThem, we represent the curated work of 320+ separate creative and award-winning font foundries from around the world.
Here are a few of the diverse designers that consistently rank in the top five of Google search results:
P22 Type Foundry is located in Buffalo, New York and specializes in historical letter forms that were previously unavailable in a digital format. P22 works with museums and foundations to develop accurate historical letter forms from art, science and history. Of particular interest are their Da Vinci, p22 Bayer Universal and Marcel fonts. This design house has become the go to source for iconic fonts from the Bauhaus Movement and The Arts and Crafts styles.
Tour de Force Type Foundry is a one of a kind independent boutique font foundry located in Central Serbia, and was founded by two Serbian designers – Slobodan and Dusan Jelesijevic in 2009. They have successfully produced fonts that are utilized worldwide across multiple cultural and design environments. Their fonts display the classic European standards of craftsmanship and perfection in detail that distinguishes their selection of fonts. Their most popular fonts are Lumier, Publio and the whimsical Fartitudo.
Suomi Type Foundry, founded by veteran font designer Tomi Haaparanta, creates extensive type families giving users a wide variety of choices; most fonts are available with an average of seven weights. Their library ranges from simple text setting fonts to more elaborate fonts for brand design. A wide range of contemporary fonts like Toffee, Cider and Tame are popular from this design group.
Miller Type Foundry was established by Richard Miller in 2009 and specializes in modern, unique fonts. Their military-look font Project Fairfax is a unique stencil typeface that comes in sans, regular and slab styles. You will find a wide selection of unique stencil fonts from this design house.
With over 40,000 fonts and 104,000 stock graphics available for download, YouWorkForThem is the original, one-stop creative marketplace. You’ll never pay a subscription fee for our WebFont licenses, and many of our fonts are available for multi-linguistic applications. Contact us to discuss your licensing needs today.
