Duration: I started drawing type in 2006 while working as a graphic designer. I’ve drawn custom fonts and logos for clients since 2008 and I launched my foundry, MCKL, in 2012. 

Staff: Having a company of one allows me to oversee all aspects of design, but I collaborate with a variety of designers and illustrators, as well as other foundries like Village, House Industries, and A2-Type. 

Education: I went back to school to study graphic design after completing my degree in fine arts. When I moved to New York, I took type design courses with Ed Benguiat at SVA, and then honed my drawing and spacing skills with Hannes Famira. But the best education has come from drawing everyday, collaborating with clients and sharing work with an amazing community of type designers. 

Influences: I collect type specimens of all kinds—old American foundry books, phototype catalogs from the ’70s and PDFs of rare specimens. Once you’re sensitive to type, you start to notice everything, and then inspiration surfaces in unlikely places, from the lettering on coins to old subway signs. I also love to travel, and it’s not unusual for me to make everyone stop every five minutes, so I can photograph a hand-painted billboard or stone-carved inscription. 

Environment: I share an office with several talented designers (and a couple of dogs) in Minneapolis’s North Loop neighborhood.

Philosophy: Draw as much as possible. I want to make fonts that solve problems, and that designers will find useful.