Year on year, the landscape of type design becomes ever more dynamic and vibrant, as new voices emerge and established ones continue to innovate. And 2024 is no exception, promising a year filled with exciting releases from foundries and type designers we know and love. As 2023 comes to a close, we decided to highlight some typefaces and foundries that have caught our eye, compiling them into a handy list.
These practitioners not only craft beautiful fonts perfect for day-to-day graphic design work, but they also delve into the unknown and embrace the weird and wonderful. With the latest tools and software, from open-source code to generative AI, they imbue their discoveries into their type design practice. Their typefaces are crafted with the meticulousness of experienced typeface designers, infused with eccentricity, wordplay, and the unexpected. From elegant serifs to bold sans-serifs, from playful scripts to experimental display fonts, they showcase a diverse range of styles and approaches that will leave you inspired by the possibilities that the field offers.
Our Type Designers List
The Designer’s Foundry (TDF)
The Designers Foundry (TDF) work across graphic design and typography, offering high quality, accessible, and conceptually interesting typefaces. A creation of designer David Einwaller, their latest release, Gatch, brings playfulness and generous forms to the genre of geometric sans-serifs, featuring a uni-width system and a fully defined uppercase geometry with variable font technology, offering infinite combinations and versatility in display roles.
Felix Pfäffli and Robin Eberwein
Ease, as its name implies, is a breezy and playful font. Designed by Felix Pfäffli and Robin Eberwein (Lucerne-based Studio Feixen), the sans-serif gives designers the choice of how far you want the smoothness (of the edges, inner corners and outer corners) to go. With a dedicated hub to the seven styles (including Geometric A+B), the website is an absolute delight to delve into, promising as much fun as the type family itself.
Minjoo Ham
Working independently in Berlin, HyperType.xyz’s Minjoo Ham creates multi-script font families for corporate clients and foundries alike. Having trained in Seoul, she not only spreads her expertise across Hangul and Latin scripts, but also kindly shares her insights and advice on her instagram account for aspiring type designers to learn from.
Zin Nagao
Japanese designer Zin Nagao and his independent, experimental type foundry Foznt are a must-have for your 2024 radar. Filled with joyful nostalgia and boundless curiosity, his portfolio of typefaces give us a window into his wonderful world; featuring experiments across Latin and Japanese scripts that pay tribute to various forms of media such as the 8-bit world of retro video games.
NaN
Known for their “beautiful collection of weird typefaces,” NaN – led by Luke Prowse – is showing no signs of slowing down. This year the Berlin-based foundry has published several exciting projects such as their custom typeface with Pentagram’s Luke and Jody Hudson-Powell for Cohere, and WalkieTalkie fonts with Koto, highlighting their vigour and aptitude in the rising realm of variable fonts. Stay tuned for plenty more in 2024!
Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Andrea Tartarelli
Designed by Zetafont’s Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Andrea Tartarelli, Milligram is “a fine and bold homage to the Akzidenz Grotesk that never was.” Not only that, the sans-serif family is a response to the numerous variations of Helvetica-but-not-Helvetica. Coming from brand design and editorial backgrounds, the Florence-based foundry bring their design know-how to every typeface they design.
Giulia Boggio
As we look back at 2023, how could we fail to celebrate the newest ALT.tf typeface, ALT Riviera, and the designer behind it: London-based designer Giulia Boggio (she/they)? What began with the unconventional choice of developing the symbols first, ALT Riviera is a sturdy grotesk typeface integrated with the playful and expressive characteristics woven into its original symbols. The official type foundry of our sister brand You Creative Media, ALT.tf is a beacon of unique, forward-thinking, and inclusive design in the type design space.
Superior Type
Superior Type is a Czech Type Foundry who boast a selection of stunning serifs such as Lenora Grade and Epika Serif. Drawing inspiration from art, sculpture, and architecture, the foundry is renowned for their versatility and aptitude, catering to a diverse range of organisations, products, and publishing needs.
Fátima Lazaro
Currently based between Paris, France & Mexico City, Fátima Lazaro celebrated her graduation from the Esad Type programme by publishing her first typeface family, Cardone. Since then, she has collaborated with several notable foundries and creatives such as Alice Savoie (Frenchtype), Roxane Gataud, Prototypo†, and 205TF (Typographie Française). Currently, she divides her time between NaN, her own typographic practice, and her involvement in the cycling project NVAYRK.
Daria Cohen
Daria Cohen – an independent type designer based in Berlin – brings a new take on the Grotesque genre with Zangezi Sans. Its brutal yet elegant appearance and playful letter transformations make it a unique and captivating typeface, perfect for bringing a touch of drama to your designs. It is available in Extended Latin, Cyrillic and Greek (Regular only).
Diana Ovezea
Diana Ovezea is a Romanian-born type designer and typographer, currently living in Amsterdam. An alumni of KABK’s Type and Media course, Diana has extensive experience in planning, developing, and proofing font families, as well as designing type specimens. She is the founder and senior type designer at Blast Foundry, and is Lead Designer at CoType Foundry.
Phillip Neumeyer
Self-described as a “Berlin based one-trick pony, professional ballet dancer, mediocre type designer and wannabe dark mode lover,” Phillip Neumeyer creates custom and retail typefaces as an independent type designer.
Family Type
Family Type, based in Sydney, focuses on the design and development of retail and custom typefaces. They utilise technology to enhance type design and typography, offering captivating and versatile options.
Off Type
The quirky sibling of Pangram Pangram, Off Type offers a collection of well-made and playful fonts. Their vibrant and eclectic designs draw inspiration from various sources, resulting in unique and eye-catching typefaces that are crafted to the highest quality.
Stefanie Vogl
Founder of OMFD Official, Stefanie Vogl dedicates her practice to graphic design, art direction and type design. Her works balance modern aesthetics with rhythmic motion, evoking emotion and captivating viewers. For the Berlin-based creative, emotion is key to the development of her experimental fonts, exemplified in the sweeping caligraphic curves of Autark.
Simon Charwey
Simon Charwey is a logo and brand identity designer who specialises in indigenous African design systems and African symbology. He is dedicated to decolonizing design education and championing the inclusion of diverse cultural perspectives in the field. Alongside his work in design academia, Charwey also manages the Instagram account @africandesignmatters, a directory of the works of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Afro-Caribbean and African creative people.
TypeAraby
TypeAraby is an experimental platform launched by the Graphic Design Department at VCUarts Qatar, dedicated to the preservation, education, promotion, and evolution of Arabic typography and type design. It aims to advance the field of Arabic typography while maintaining its traditional calligraphic roots and engaging with creative communities through events, workshops, exhibitions, and publications.
Ali Asali
Ali Asali is a designer, educator, and Ph.D. candidate based in Tehran, Iran. With a focus on type design, he brings his exploratory and research-led approach to the field and contributes to the development of emerging designers through lectures and workshops in Experimental Perso-Arabic Type Design & Lettering.
Ibrahim HamdiIbrahim Hamdi
As a typographer and type designer, Ibrahim Hamdi creates visually striking typefaces and typographically-led designs. Embellished with an array of luxuriously liquid, chromatic textures, his 3D design work showcases his technical expertise and ability to create captivating designs in Arabic and Latin scripts
LeedoType
LeedoType – Based in Seoul, LeedoType is a type foundry that combines type design, engineering, and education. Their versatile typefaces cater to a diverse range of design needs.
Browse some of our past year lists in our typeface design section.
