"It usually hits after a few too many late nights obsessing over a custom logo, followed by the inevitable question: how hard could a full alphabet really be? A little under a decade ago, I leapt on this very thought by enrolling in the condensed Type@Cooper program - 162 in-class hours packed into 12.5-hour days, four days a week, for five weeks - where I spent hours, nay, days, agonising over the bowl of a lowercase 'O'."
"To contemporary brand builders, typography has become one of the most defining aspects of what makes a brand feel like a brand. It's the connective tissue that unites campaigns, products, and digital touchpoints - one of the few visual constants in an era of sprawling, global identities. That wasn't always the case. For most of the 20th century, branding treated typography as background, not backbone."
Custom type has surged as a branding priority, promising control, originality, and ownership, and altering type design culture and economics. Many brand designers experience a pull toward type design, investing intensive training and obsessing over details like the bowl of a lowercase 'O', only to realise full-scale type production requires specialised skills. Studios seek greater dominion over typography without becoming full-time foundries, preferring bespoke letterforms that can be big, weird, or emotional. Typography now functions as connective tissue across campaigns, products, and digital touchpoints, replacing mid-century neutrality where typography often served as background rather than backbone.
Read at Itsnicethat
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