Hoefler & Co.

Hoefler&Co. (H&Co) is a digital type foundry (font design studio) in Woburn, Massachusetts (formerly New York City), founded by type designer Jonathan Hoefler. H&Co designs typefaces for clients and for retail on its website.

Hoefler&Co.
FormerlyHoefler Type Foundry, Hoefler & Frere-Jones
IndustryGraphic design
GenreTypeface design
PredecessorsHoefler & Frere-Jones, Hoefler Type Foundry
Founded1989
FounderJonathan Hoefler
Headquarters
Woburn, Massachusetts (formerly New York City)
,
United States
Number of locations
1
Key people
Carleen Borsella (formerly)
Tobias Frere-Jones (formerly)
Sara Soskolne
Andy Clymer (formerly)
ProductsArcher, Gotham, Hoefler Text, Requiem, Surveyor, Whitney
ParentMonotype
Websitewww.typography.com

The company was founded in 1989, initially focusing on editorial commissions for publications such as The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Harper's Bazaar, Wired and Condé Nast Portfolio, and commissions for companies such as Tiffany & Co., Nike, Inc., and Hewlett-Packard. It has worked with a number of prominent cultural institutions in New York City, including the headquarters of the United Nations, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, Lever House, Radio City Music Hall, The Public Theater, and The New York Jets. Because of its inspiration from New York City history, its Gotham typeface was selected in 2004 for the cornerstone of One World Trade Center, built on the World Trade Center site.

Incorporated as The Hoefler Type Foundry (HTF), in 2005 the company rebranded as Hoefler & Frere-Jones (H&FJ), and in 2014 as Hoefler&Co (H&Co).[1]

In September 2021 Hoefler announced the company's sale to Monotype, with Hoefler and CEO Carleen Borsella leaving the company.[2][3][4]

Work
The company's family Hoefler Text, showing its large range of features. New York magazine commented in 2014 that the version of Hoefler Text bundled with the Mac operating system "helped launch a thousand font obsessives."[5]

The company specializes in designing original typefaces, often comprehensive type families that include a range of styles or characters: its Gotham typeface for GQ extends to 74 for print alone, and its Surveyor/Obsidian family past 100.[6][7][8][9] Many H&Co typefaces take inspiration from historical models, and under-examined aspects of typography and lettering, such as Soviet house numbers, metal lettering on bus terminals, engraved maps, and old petrol pumps.[10] Bloomberg Businessweek commented that Hoefler and Frere-Jones bonded over a dislike of "so-called grunge typography, which trafficked in angst and messiness. Neither Frere-Jones nor Hoefler took to that trend, preferring a cleaner style based on historic typefaces."[11]

The company's work has been profiled in The New York Times, Time, Esquire, Wallpaper, and Wired, as well as the design publications Baseline, CAP & Design, CreativePro, Communication Arts, Desktop, Eye, Design, Graphis Inc., I.D., IDEA, IdN, Metropolis, Page, Print, Publish, and +81. H&Co's work is part of the permanent collections of both the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and it has been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the National Design Awards.

Notable uses

The Gotham typeface became famous during 2008, when it was chosen for the identity of Barack Obama during his campaign for the presidency. The Ringside typeface was used in the Elizabeth Warren 2020 presidential campaign and the Mercury and Decimal typefaces were used in the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign as well as during the Presidency of Joe Biden (2020-). H&Co typefaces associated with cultural institutions include Knockout (for The Public Theatre), Ideal Sans (The Art Institute of Chicago), Verlag (The Guggenheim Museum) and Whitney (The Whitney Museum). H&Co's Ringside typeface is the official typeface of The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Awards

Jonathan Hoefler was the recipient of the 2002 Prix Charles Peignot, awarded by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) for outstanding contributions to typeface design. In 2009, the company became the first typeface designers to be recognized by the National Design Awards.[12]

Conflict between Hoefler and Frere-Jones

On January 16, 2014, designer Tobias Frere-Jones, who had worked with the company since 1999, filed a lawsuit in the courts of New York state against Jonathan Hoefler.[13] The lawsuit alleged that Frere-Jones was entitled to own half of the type foundry, based on an oral agreement made in 1999. According to this alleged agreement, Frere-Jones transferred ownership of his fonts to the company for 10 USD and the company was renamed Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Frere-Jones contends that the foundry was intended to be run as an equal partnership. Hoefler filed a motion to dismiss, refuting Frere-Jones's account by attaching the written agreement signed by himself and Frere-Jones.[14] The lawsuit was settled on September 28, 2014, its terms undisclosed.[15]

List of typefaces

References
  1. Dunlap, David (19 October 2004). "2 Type Designers, Joining Forces and Faces". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  2. "Monotype acquires Hoefler&Co". PrintWeek. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  3. Hoefler, Jonathan. "Hoefler&Co &Monotype". Hoefler & Co. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  4. Quito, Anne (23 October 2021). "A famous type foundry's sale to a PE-backed giant has rattled the font industry". Quartz. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  5. Fagone, Jason (2 June 2014). "A Type House Divided". New York magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  6. "Gotham". H&FJ.
  7. "Gotham Rounded". H&FJ. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  8. "Surveyor". H&FJ. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  9. "Obsidian". Typographica. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  10. "Numbers". H&FJ. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  11. Brustein, Joshua. "Font War: Inside the Design World's $20 Million Divorce". Businessweek. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. "National Design Awards". Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
  13. "INDEX NO. 650139/2014 TOBIAS FRERE-JONES, Plaintiff, against JONATHAN HOEFLER". New York Supreme Court. Jan 16, 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  14. "DeLarco Aff Ex B". iapps.courts.state.ny.us. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  15. "The world's biggest typeface lawsuit just settled". Sep 29, 2014. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.
  16. Heck, Bethany (25 August 2018). "Champion Gothic". Font Review Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  17. Strizver, Ilene (19 November 2018). "Inkwell: a Type Family for Expressive Writing". Creative Pro. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  18. Pavlus, John. "A Comic Sans For The 21st Century Is Here". Fast Company. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  19. "Inkwell – Font Review Journal". 20 August 2017. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  20. "Inkwell". Hoefler & Co. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  21. Plaugic, Lizzie (2015-01-22). "A new typeface, designed by algorithms instead of by hand". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  22. "Inkwell". Hoefler & Co. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  23. "Operator review". Typographica. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  24. "Obsidian". Hoefler & Co. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  25. "Quarto (review)". Typographica. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  26. "Quarto". Hoefler & Co. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  27. "Verlag (review)". Typographica. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
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