100 Years of Custom Fonts

It was 100 years ago that Monotype introduced its first custom font, and 100 years later as Monotype Imaging, we remain actively involved in the design and development of custom and bespoke fonts for a wide range of clients!

Veronese, Monotype’s first custom font

In 1911, Monotype introduced the font “Veronese” at the request of the publisher J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. Veronese was a Venetian style serif typeface drawn in the spirit of William Morris’s version of Nicolas Jenson’s fifteenth-century roman type known as Italian Old Style. The Veronese custom font was first used for a limited edition book of Lorenzo de Medici’s poems printed by Ballantyne Press for Dent in 1912. This was the first of many custom typefaces designed by Monotype for use with its hot metal typecasting machines to address the needs of its customers.

Even though technology has changed dramatically over the past century, our rich tradition of designing custom fonts remains vibrant. Today the Monotype Imaging team of talented type designers and font software engineers are actively creating a wide range of custom fonts for use in printed publications, corporate branding, on-screen reading, software applications and hardware devices.

You can find examples of Monotype Imaging’s custom font development efforts in everything from mobile phones and e-reading devices to airport check-in terminals, publications and product packaging. We have helped customers solve a gamut of challenges, from extending the language support in existing fonts to creating entirely new font families and then tuning them for crisp display in everything from PowerPoint® slide shows to websites and product user interfaces.

One recent project that we had fun working on was a custom font for Goodyear. The Monotype team worked with GSD&M, an Austin, TX based advertising agency to develop a full alphabet based on the letterforms in the iconic Goodyear logo. This custom font was used in the new Goodyear “More Driven” campaign and saved countless hours of hand lettering by the agency. The custom Goodyear font was used in engaging way with simple, bold statements over aggressive imagery with Goodyear® tires put to the test in a variety of situations.

Read more about Monotype Imaging’s custom font services.