TypeTogether began as a remote company and still works this way. While one of our people are getting some sleep, another is just starting their workday. So the core team reconnects each year at a work retreat in an invigorating location.
This year we returned to a spot we have visited before: Vallfort in the mountains of Spain. Once there, we enjoyed the fabulous landscape, being surrounded by vineyards of the Penedés wine region in Cataluña, Spain, and were able to accomplish a lot together. We again set aside time for workflows, specific upcoming projects, and evaluate the Gerard Unger Scholarship entries in-person for the first time ever! Most importantly, we had a great time together as always.
Top from left to right: Tom Grace, Joancarles Casasín, José Scaglione, Veronika Burian, Pooja Saxena, Elena Veguillas, Yorlmar Campos, Cecilia Brarda, Stuart Brown, and Linda Kudrnovská. Bottom left to right: Douglas Arellanes, Rabab Charafeddine, Liu Zhao, Patrycja Walczak, Felicia Priscillya, Joshua Farmer, and Tiki the Traveler.
Almost everyone arrived today by plane, train, and Veronika’s penchant for treating all vehicles as Formula 1 racers. Hugs and greetings were spread all around, Tiki the Traveler grabbed a sunny spot, and although we could not find the neighbourhood dog from last time, we made friends with the resident cat. Rooms were chosen, we set up work areas, and had a great meal. We recently added one new member to the team, client liaison Stuart Brown, and finally got to meet him in person.
We got right to work! After coffee! And breakfast! And a second coffee! (I mean, jet lag is real.) We discussed possibilities for merchandising, revisited the graphics and communications workflow, and had a couple solo meetings. Yorlmar also gave us an introduction to an exciting new project from a well-known designer we will be publishing later this year.
Today seemed to focus around the Primarium website, upcoming Primarium book, and other related plans. We also discussed some marketing and design details that are more about making small corrections than a complete overhaul.
Tools are only as good as their usefulness, and use comes by understanding what they can really do. Since Joancarles is our master of software and coding, he gave a masterclass on Github’s strengths and the opportunities it affords a remote company like TypeTogether.
That afternoon Liu Zhao introduced us to the Hanzi alphabet and how it can be taught to young learners. Zhao is one of the few experts within the typography world who is also a Hanzi specialist, and we are fortunate to have her as part of our team.
Our annual meeting is jam-packed with productive work, learning, and serious conversations that set the calendar for the next year and beyond. So midweek we usually plan one day to explore the countryside, visit the beach or museum, or something like that. Some of the team went into town to grab gifts for loved ones back home or just meander, and the rest took care of some business, caught up on a few tasks if they preferred, or relaxed.
We discussed the transition to our new branding we’ve been working on for some months now with Thoughtful Standard, followed by the website overhaul we have planned for later this year.
The afternoon was reserved for (privately) evaluating the Gerard Unger Scholarship finalists. Just imagine the top dozen type design projects spread out over a large outdoor table with all of us giving our defences of each and voting for the winner and merit awards. A lot of preparation and rationale goes into promoting which typeface we each think deserves to win, and it’s always great to share our perspective with the rest of the team.
Type-based ephemera always has fans, so we’ve been looking at creating some printed or fashion pieces. Keep an eye out for them later this year.
We are constantly evaluating — and raising — our internal expectations of what belongs in a character set. Some of the team looked at our Pan-African character set to make sure it’s up to those standards and is truly useful for customers and clients across that continent.
Spain was as beautiful as always and our villa supplied jealousy-inducing views, comfortable common areas for spontaneous conversations, and the seclusion necessary to make great headway on projects. This morning we all said hopeful goodbyes as we headed back toward Barcelona and our awaiting flights. And, invigorated and thankful for such a wonderful team, we picked right back up the next week with our remote cycles of work.
Speaking of, we have some incredible work coming up. You’ve already seen our rebrand coming together, and soon we will be able to unveil our new website. We’ve cemented the rest of the year and made solid plans for the next almost-two years. You can expect expansions, new work targeted for specific categories, stellar type in use, and continued educational content. You expect a lot from us, so it’s always “productivity as usual”.
Remember that super-secret announcement we hinted at last year? Yep, that is continuing right on schedule — and it’s still a secret. In the meantime, later this year you can enjoy the book celebrating Gerard Unger, the scholarship made in his name, the amazing designers who have been awarded with it, the documentary about Czech typography and design (in English, available on streaming services soon), and our new Playwrite typeface for handwriting instruction around the world. And there’s much more on the way!
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Together, our goal is to make your design choices easier and your designs higher quality with greater aesthetic value. We want to create positive impact through the written word. So thanks for being part of our extended family and allowing us the benefit of working hard with you.
All our best,
TypeTogether team
TypeTogether is an indie type foundry committed to excellence in type design with a focus on editorial use. Additionally, TypeTogether creates custom type design for corporate use. We invite you to browse our library of retail fonts or contact us to discuss custom type design projects.
