Looking back. Building Ligatures. Moving forward.

When we (Veronika and José) began toying with the idea of starting a type foundry back in 2004, neither of us could imagine what TypeTogether would become. Our first bare-bones website, which only included a couple typefaces for sale and some sketches we kept in our notebooks and hard drives, was launched in the first weeks of 2006. It employed a green and ivory theme (what were we thinking?!) and had no fancy technical abilities, like testing our typefaces in the browser. Veronika was living in Colorado, USA and Jose was already back in Argentina after finishing studies in UK. Small-scale collaborative type design was rare. Remote collaboration for type design was unheard of. But we decided to try and make it work.

A lot of time has passed, and it is easy to miss it when running a business. Like most people, we tend to — and like to — continuously think about the next project, the next design, the next idea. Give us a goal and we’ll hit it. Give us a challenge and we’ll overcome it. But during a team meeting last year, when we suddenly realized it was our 15th anniversary, we all thought it was a perfect moment to stop and look back at the road behind us. To highlight the relationships we’ve built. To catch our breath. And then to move forward. This is what Building ligatures: the power of type is all about.

Why a book?
Humans are tactile beings and relational beings; while information is good, an experience with others is better. So, since the Coronavirus did not allow for a party like we held on our tenth anniversary, we still wanted to create something that was relational and experiential. We also recognised our interests and skills have crystallised over the years: non-Latin typefaces, education, technological advances, and the like. We wanted a format able to capture and condense these different spheres in which we thrive. This book is like a snapshot — a tangible object that captures a moment. It is also an editorial object highlighting interconnectedness, which is the main focus of our catalogue: solving modern design issues with typography through global relationships.

What is the book about?
It should go without saying that this book is about typography in a broad sense. Understanding it, using it, and inciting fascination for type. We would love for you to love type more! It is more so about celebrating collaboration and building community. It’s about the wonderful people we’ve gotten to meet and whom we now call our friends, and the importance of embracing and valuing cultural differences.

TypeTogether is less about some ethereal destination and more about being on a journey with great people from all walks of life. We’d love it if you would join us.

From our colleagues

Gerry Leonidas: “To put it bluntly, in 2006 there were not many manuals on running new digital service companies across time zones — let alone that the software used for this kind of work was either in its infancy or grossly inadequate, to say the least.”

Catherine Dixon: “For the past fifteen years TypeTogether has cultivated a network of expertise in type design for world scripts, expanding a core of collaborative partnerships with which they emerged from the University of Reading’s MATD course into a global collective of friends and colleagues. Together pursued a vision for excellence in editorial design that acknowledges diversity, and which is manifest in award-winning designs in 12 global scripts. Maybe it goes without saying, but this is an obvious outgrowth of a multilingual organization that values others.”

Pooja Saxena: “Multiscript typography is as much an exercise in specialised knowledge as it is in care and thoughtfulness. At TypeTogether, this translates into a willingness to learn from experts and local practices, and always striving to build global teams which build on each other’s strengths.”

Petra Černe Oven: “Seeing students and young professionals not as competition but as an investment into higher standards of global typography is a sign of a very balanced, self-confident, and generous team. At TypeTogether the collaborative approach to design was modus operandi long before it became a hot buzzword on social media.”

TECHNICAL DATA
Building ligatures: the power of type
Ed. Linda Kudrnovská, design Filip Blažek
Set in TypeTogether’s Bely and Lektorat 
Fedrigoni Arena paper
Printed by H.R.G., Czech Republic
248 pages; 156 × 232 mm
25 € / £21 / 28$ 
Order a copy