Mark Simonson has been thinking about letters and drawing letters for as long as he can remember. Not so much as building blocks of language, but for the particular and peculiar forms they take on in the physical world.

The idea of making fonts started when he was studying graphic design in college in the mid-seventies when he became aware of type design as a thing one could do. He practiced and dreamed about type design for years while working as a magazine art director or designing packaging and brochures.

Making fonts wasn’t a full-time job for Mark until he was well into in his forties. He likes to think that the years he spent as a designer using fonts gives him an appreciation for what designers look for in a font. It also taught him that fonts are tools for making things, not ends in themselves. His attitude about licensing reflects this, so you won’t find restrictions in his license for things like using his fonts in logos or on t-shirts.

Mark released his first font, Felt Tip Roman, in 1992, and began selling his fonts on MyFonts in 2001. Since then, his one-man foundry has seen great success with well-known, best-selling fonts like Proxima Nova, Mostra Nuova, and Coquette.

Mark feels lucky to be making a living doing something that was at one time only a pipe dream.