Responses by James Edmondson, founder, OHno Type Co.

Background: With Lizy Gershenzon and Travis Kochel from Scribble Tone, we were trying to make something interesting for graphic designers who are especially passionate about typography and typeface selection. By offering in-progress versions of really beautiful typefaces, we were trying to connect type designers and type users, letting them both benefit from the communication.

Highlights: The font versioning. We thought a lot about what information was necessary to convey. Obviously the extent to which the character set is complete is very important, but we also wanted notes about spacing quality, hinting and other details that most type users might not really know about. By educating our customers about what work goes into typefaces, they’ll be more likely to understand why they’re expensive.

Challenges: There was a lot of work to be done before it was ready to go. Once everyone was on the same Slack channel, it was easy to get enthusiastic about the work. However, working in isolation too long can deprive me of the much-needed energy to check items off my to-do list. My role was primarily on the art direction, curatorial and social media side of things, and not specifically product focused.

Favorite details: Our collection. We are so thrilled to have a community of a dozen type designers that are doing amazing things. Most of the projects are interesting things that MyFonts isn’t currently flooded with, which makes it a unique set of offerings.

Technical features: The payment box is interesting; you can license the type traditionally, or just use it to throw a couple bucks to the designer. It lets our community work a little bit like Kickstarter or Patreon, but tailored to the needs of type designers. To be in the service of designers and type users, we have to operate in a way that is sustainable to the type creators. Our revenue split is among the most generous in the industry, and we do our best to treat our designers well.