Commercial type is undergoing a quiet renaissance. While AI and digital tools reshape parts of the design landscape, the appetite for custom, high-craft typefaces and typographic systems is still a driving force behind the scenes. Brands no longer just want a font off the shelf, they want ownership, sovereignty, and a distinct voice that machine-generated mediocrity simply cannot touch.
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Creative Capital Founder Thomas Lambeaux to take a deep dive into what it really takes to build and sell type today, why agencies are launching internal type divisions, and how independent foundries can survive and thrive in a shifting commercial landscape.
Here are 5 key takeaways from our conversation:
1. The Rise of In-House Foundries & Custom Type Equity
Design studios are setting their own boundaries by building in-house type design teams and creating proprietary font catalogues. Rather than treating type as a last-minute asset sourced externally, agencies are embedding font creation into their core branding workflows. At the same time, major brands are shifting away from generic licensing toward total ownership. What started as a purely financial calculation, avoiding recurring licensing fees on large-scale rollouts, has transformed into a strategic branding imperative.
Amber: “It makes sense why design studios are setting up their own foundries in house… Brands always want custom type because they want to own their intellectual property. They want something unique, so there’s really an appetite there.”
Thomas: “The driving force for custom fonts was originally financial, big brands realising they wanted a more financially interesting solution. But along the way, they realised there’s also ownership and sovereignty in owning your own typeface. In the end, it’s what your customers see every day. It’s your identity, as important as a logo.”
2. AI Will Wipe Out the Middle Ground
As generative AI tools mature, they quickly absorb low-tier design tasks and flood the market with “good enough” baseline assets. However, this shift elevates rather than threatens intelligently built type design. AI relies on existing datasets and structured prompting, leaving a gap where true creative vision, cultural nuance, and intentional “human error” reside. To remain competitive, foundries and designers must push past mediocre standards.
Amber: “I think with AI, it’s getting rid of the mediocre—that ‘okay’ strip in the middle on the scale—because AI can essentially do that. You really do have to hone your craft even further now… luckily, I don’t think AI is going to be able to touch type design in the same way once you take away human creativity and ideas because there’s so much knowledge and understanding of the way a human hand writes letters that informs the shapes.”
Thomas: “Machines are going to be able to do the low-tier and middle stuff. So you’re going to come to a foundry or a designer because you want the artist, the human error that you can’t get from the machine.”
3. There Is No “One-Size-Fits-All” Licensing Model
The commercial type industry has long suffered from overcomplicated licensing structures. Between counting pageviews, seats, devices, and channels, purchasing a font often feels like navigating a legal battle. While some large players push for uniform standardisation, independent designers and global enterprises operate under entirely different constraints. The key to successful commercialisation isn’t forcing every buyer into the same box; it’s designing frictionless, adaptable models, such as all-media licenses based on company size, that lower the barrier to entry while capturing fair value.
Amber: “By having too many metrics and overcomplicating the product, you create barriers to access. Amazon’s one-click purchase is about removing time and effort… Type foundries often lead strictly with their craft rather than focusing on how easy or hard they make it for clients to buy.”
Thomas: “No one has yet cracked the single best pricing model, because there are too many unknown variables. What an independent designer buying a font wants won’t be the same as what big brands need. The big topic is making sure you have a pricing model that fits your client base, not just what feels right internally.”
4. Commercial Type Isn’t Pitching, It’s Facilitating Human Connection
Commercial type is purchased out of emotional connection, aesthetic appreciation, and brand alignment. Rather than treating type as a commodity to be pushed onto agencies, effective selling is about playing the role of a facilitator. By bringing type designers face-to-face with creative teams through interactive workshops, brands experience the creative potential of a typeface organically. When clients uncover the creative possibilities themselves, the sale happens naturally.
Amber: “You prove the creative possibilities first, which allows a brain to connect with it emotionally.”
Thomas: “We’re not selling necessity, we’re not selling food or clothes. We’re selling branding, which is purchased out of affection. You don’t want to show up at a meeting and just sell fonts. What I do is organise workshops, taking designers and putting them in front of agencies or cultural institutions like The Met, MoMA, or A24, letting them do their magic.”
5. Long-Term Value Beats Short-Term Margins Every Time
A common trap is prioritising immediate transactional margins over long-term brand equity. When dealing with custom requests, focusing purely on short-term profitability can mean several things. For example, I recently did a talk for a company that, after developing a custom font with just a single weight/style, now, after using it for a few months, feels boxed into a corner because they have such limited options. Investing budgets into maximising product quality pays dividends far beyond a single project’s margin.
Amber: “When you receive an inbound inquiry, one model doesn’t fit all. You might have a project with a lower budget but high visibility, so you make a gesture to get the typeface out there into the world.”
Thomas: “When you get that budget, it’s about taking it and seeing what is the best possible product you can build, instead of asking ‘How much margin can I make?’ Short term, you might make less, but the quality of the work will build long-term value.”
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