TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri May 3 10:25:40 EDT 2024

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ABOUT

VersaType [Jim Ford]

Versa Type is Jim Ford's foundry. Jim graduated in graphic design from Columbia College in Chicago. He received his BFA in Graphic Design in 2005. Jim lives in Delavan, Wisconsin. He joined Ascender Corp in 2005, and Monotype in 2013.

At Ascender, he co-designed Ayita (2006), a decorative sans family, with Steve Matteson. Pokerface (2009, Ascender) is an industrious mixed-case display font devised on the theme of playing cards. Captain Quill (2008, Ascender Corp) is calligraphic. Moire (2008, Microsoft) is a sans face. Jimmy Crack Corn (2009, Ascender) is an ordinary handwriting font. Ford's Folly (2010, Ascender) is a felt tip pen face. He also made Artcraft Pro (Ascender). Dempster (2010, Ascender) is a geometric sans with angular terminals; it was reissued in 2016 and Steve Matteson's name was adeed to the list of designers. He also designed the Segoe Chess Font (2006, Ascender, with Steve Matteson). He co-designed Segoe Mono in 2012 with Steve Matteson at Ascender.

In 2013, Jim joined Monotype as a type designer. The Halloween font Wolfsblood was designed in 2013. In 2014, he created Quire Sans (a humanist sans) at Monotype.

In 2015, he designed Esca (Monotype). Richie (2016, Monotype) is a brush script typeface inspired by the work of Czech type designer Oldrich Menhart, who liked angular calligraphic outlines.

Posterama (2016, Monotype) is a 63-font set that pays homage to the 20th century. Its base set is Posterama Text (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic). Additional subfamilies include Posterama 1901 (art nouveau), Posterama 1913 (abstract art, as seen at the Armory Show, or 1913 Exhibition of Modern Art), Posterama 1919 (Bauhaus), Posterama 1927 (related to Metropolis, The Jazz Singer and Paul Renner's Futura), Posterama 1933 (art deco), Posterama 1945 (constructivism and Russian propaganda), Posterama 1984 (sc-fi and video game era, with a bit of George Orwell thrown in), and Posterama 2001 (inspired by Stanley Kubrick's science fiction movie).

Still in 2016, he designed Ernie, a funky animated typeface, intended as a complimentary serif design to Freeman Craw's fun retro hit, Ad Lib.

Typefaces from 2017: Beefcakes (butcher shop type), Masqualero, a display typeface family with a luxurious look and a sparkly smooth finish: Like the legendary jazz song of the same name, Masqualero is haunting and sophisticated. Drawn as a tribute to Miles Davis, its letterforms are as beautiful as his Masqualero composition. I approached drawing the letters as if they were marble sculptures.

Typefaces from 2018: Hideout (a sturdy typeface family inspired by the flared serif lettering of antique tobacco tins), Alfie (a casual script).

Typefaces from 2021: Guzzo (an informal, humble and naive sans family with 18 styles that takes its name from American artist Jeremy Pinc, aka the painter Guzzo Pinc; Guzzo channels the quirky, funny and poignant qualities of his paintings).

View Jim Ford's typefaces.

EXTERNAL LINKS
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INTERNAL LINKS
Commercial fonts (small outfits) ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type scene in Illinois ⦿ Calligraphic typefaces ⦿ Type scene in Wisconsin ⦿ Chess fonts ⦿ Horror fonts ⦿ Art Nouveau typefaces ⦿ Bauhaus and type design ⦿ Type design and constructivism ⦿ Art deco typefaces ⦿ Sci-Fi fonts ⦿