20 Type Designers & Resources

Written By Guest User

Type design is multifunctional. From making words legible to evoking emotion to crafting a consistent visual identity—effective typography holds the viewer’s attention without distraction. Curated font pairings can make websites and presentations more dynamic and approachable. A logo that incorporates good typographic elements deepens consumer loyalty and gives audiences a way to connect with your brand. 

We love an opportunity to showcase creative talent. This freshly curated list includes a range of perspectives from 20 type designers and foundries who are taking creative risks and shaping the type scene. Here’s who we think you need on your radar:

  • Hailing from Colombia, Bastarda is a design studio that specializes in innovative fonts and unique type branding. Some of their fonts are free!

  • Nickerson is an NYC-based graphic designer that’s created a collection of unique typefaces for $45 or less. He typically launches new releases for free for a limited time only, so be sure to follow his Instagram to stay up to date.

  • Connary Fagen, Inc. is an independent type foundry that creates soulful typefaces with an eye towards extensive and inclusive language support.

  • Franziska Weitgruber is a Type and Graphic Designer based in Italy. She designs retail and bespoke typefaces (futurefonts.xyz), logos and corporate designs, letterings, posters, and more.

  • Future Fonts is a platform for experimental, high-quality fonts in progress—featuring emerging type designers, and well-established foundries worldwide.

  • Jamra Patel is a Portland, Maine-based type studio that works independently and with design studios, agencies and manufacturers to create solutions with letters and typefaces that are knowledgeable, full of character and expertly crafted. They recently developed a 10-script, 5-weight font family for the most prominent writing systems of Africa. The font family, Kigelia, is the first of its kind for a continent with the largest language density on Earth.

  • Jo Malinis is a graphic designer and instructor based in Manila, and she’s also the founder of Type63, an online initiative dedicated to promoting and celebrating type design and typography by Filipinos.

  • Laura Meseguer is a freelance graphic and type designer based in Barcelona. In addition to creating custom lettering for brands of all sizes, she creates and sells her fonts and offers classes and workshops.

  • Lynne Yun is a NYC-based type designer, educator and technologist. She is a co-founder of Space Type, a studio practice operating at the intersection of type and technology. She also recently co-founded Type Electives, an online design school shaping the future of type.

  • Margot Lévêque is a French bespoke type designer and calligrapher based on NYC, Lévêque runs a design studio and type foundry—working with clients like Nike, Vogue, Ariana Grande, and Lil Nas X.

  • Mirna Pierre is a Florida-based graphic designer with a focus on identity, editorial & type design. She designed the display typeface, View for the 2020 AIGA Orlando SPOT Mentorship Program to celebrate Black graphic designers in history, past, present, and to inspire future designers.

  • Natalie Rauch is a type designer from Berlin who brings a refreshing, friendly, and humanistic approach to the art of typography. Check out her Instagram page for inspiration.

  • Sahar Afshar is a Typeface designer, researcher, and mentor from Iran. Since 2015, she has been working as a font developer with various clients and foundries.

  • Shauna Mae a graphic designer from Canada with a special focus on the art of typography and hand-lettering. She also runs in the Instagram account @alphabetdivisionwhere she hosts 100-day lettering challenges.

  • TDF is a hand-picked international team of type designers who strive to provide all designers with a quality resource of curated typefaces that is constantly evolving.

  • TYPE01’s mission is to champion and support the exciting creative craft of type and design. Covering a wide variety of topics, they use type as a gateway to open up important conversations and consistently spotlight the current and future generations of talented creative humans from all parts of the world. Digital drops, interviews, tutorials, and a range of useful articles makes this a hub of info for anyone interested in exploring typography.

  • Typesenses is an independent type foundry and lettering studio founded by Argentinian designer Sabrina Lopez. They create original typefaces that stand out in the retail market by combining historical perspective, calligraphy skills and digital accuracy.

  • VTF was created in 2010 by Frank Adebiaye as a logical continuation of his blog about typography and type design with a focus on distributing free and open source typefaces. Their team of 10 creates custom type treatments for clients and they offer workshops and have held exhibitions globally.

  • Tré Seals, founder of VocalType, decided to find a way to increase diversity and empathy in the design industry. “I knew I couldn’t just change the demographics or the education system. So I tried to figure out a way to introduce a non-stereotypical piece of minority culture into the design itself, starting with the basis of any good design — typography.” Each typeface created by their foundry highlights a piece of history from a specific underrepresented race, ethnicity, or gender.

  • Yarza Twins is an award winning design agency based in London and Paris. While they’re more of a full service agency, their love and expertise in crafting custom typographic solutions is evident throughout their work.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out this post by TYPE01. Thanks for reading!

Blog cover art by Mirna Pierre.

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