Customizing your typeface
Type design is never one-size-fits-all. Over the years, TYPETR has worked with a wide range of clients to adapt and extend existing typefaces to fit very specific needs. Custom work can include, for example:
Extending Existing Typefaces
Targeted changes that build on what’s already there.
- Adding letters to existing TYPETR typefaces, such as missing characters for specific languages, technical notation, or specialized editorial use. Custom logos can also be added under a predefined key.
- Expanding type families with additional weights and widths, including optical variants when needed.
- Adding or extending OpenType features, such as advanced figure sets, stylistic alternates, language-specific behavior, or contextual features.
- Respacing existing TYPETR typefaces to a predefined spacing system, allowing typeface replacement within corporate identities without legacy documents reflowing.
Coverage & Cross-Script Design
Making type work consistently across languages and writing systems.
- Bridging Latin and CJK type design, aligning the glyph set, proportions, color, and rhythm across scripts.
- Adding or refining glyph coverage for multilingual and international use.
- Designing script-specific refinements while maintaining a unified typographic voice.
Custom Glyphs & Functional Additions
Extending fonts beyond letters and figures.
- Designing custom glyph sets, such as icons, arrows, UI symbols, editorial marks, or brand-specific symbols that live inside the font.
- Creating variable font axes, either by extending existing axes (weight, width, optical size) or by defining custom axes for specific use cases.
- Integrating functional glyphs for specialized workflows or applications.
Variable Fonts & Technical Adaptation
Adapting typefaces to modern production and usage environments.
- Creating and extending variable font axes, from standard axes like weight and width to custom, project-specific ones.
- Adapting typefaces for specific environments, such as screen use, print constraints, low-resolution output, or large-scale signage.
- Optimizing fonts for performance, rendering, and long-term technical stability.
Systems, Processes & Tools
Designing not just type, but how type gets made.
- Consulting on typographic systems, including hierarchy, naming conventions, and long-term font strategy.
- Designing the type design process itself, setting up workflows, production pipelines, and quality-control methods tailored to a client’s organization.
- Developing custom tools and scripts for font production, testing, spacing, OpenType feature generation, and version management.
- Auditing, refining, and future-proofing existing fonts.
Education & Knowledge Transfer
Sharing expertise in ways that fit your context.
- Custom type design education, tailored to individuals, teams, or institutions, focusing on specific tools, methods, or stages of the design process.
- Advanced type design education through teaching, including participation in the Cooper Union course series “Advanced Type Design: Open Studio”, for designers who want to deepen their practice in an open, research-driven environment.
As always, projects start with your wishes. Tell us what you need—or what problem you’re trying to solve—and we’ll propose a clear plan and a quote. Custom type work at TYPETR is a collaborative process, built around short design cycles and working closely with the client rather than simply for them.
