TypeDrawers Announcements — TypeDrawers

Help Typedrawers find a new home

James Hultquist-Todd — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:53:47 +0000

Outages, increases in hosting fees, and random CSS changes abound. I think it's time to start looking at other options for forum hosting. If you are knowledgeable about such things I could use your help!

2026 TypeDrawers Sponsors!

James Hultquist-Todd — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:18:50 +0000

Matthew Rechs from Business Letters has offered a sponsorship that will cover these costs for the coming year. Thank you Bizlet!

Business Letters provides coaching and consulting for the independent type industry.

Also, thank you to the following members and organizations for their support:

Mark Simonson

Darden Studio

Delve Fonts

George Tulloch

Matthew Smith

Yves Michel

Meet the Moderators

Jess McCarty — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 22:04:39 +0000

Moderation is something that should be done, well, in moderation. Our hope is that you, the users of TypeDrawers, continue to hold enriching discussions while keeping the rules in mind. However, there are instances where you might need assistance and so for those reasons we have moderators. These are the current moderators:

James Todd is a type and graphic designer and proprietor of JTD in New York. Before typography, his exploits included bespoke tailoring and auto upholstery. (Really!) James is also one of the first TD members and became a moderator not long after its creation.
Paul Hanslow is an Australian born type designer currently living in Poland. He holds an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK, as well as a BA(Hons) in Visual Communication from Monash University, Australia. One of Paul’s main typographic interests is minority scripts and endangered writing systems.

Eris Alar (he/him), is an Australian artist, graphic designer, and board game designer. He was a Type Camp Australia 2012 participant, and loves vintage type specimen books. Eris joined TypeDrawers when it launched, but only became part of the moderation team in 2021. He hopes to finish designing a typeface one day, but is primarily a type user and admirer.

TypeDrawers Updates

James Hultquist-Todd — Fri, 24 May 2024 19:39:39 +0000

As most of you know, the search bar has been broken for a while. The fix was to update our theme. I’ve been working on the update for a little while but if you see anything that’s broken, please let me know.

2024 Fundraising & Improvements.

James Hultquist-Todd — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 23:41:04 +0000

It’s that time of the year again; the time of year when I promise TypeDrawers will improve and it doesn’t.

This year, we’re in luck! Fontspring/Creative Market paid the bills for us so anything we take in will go to improvements and moderator compensation.

The plan is as follows:

Give the site a more mobile-friendly design.
Add a section for members to contribute long form essays (a blog?) on various topics in which they are experts.
Related to the last point, make the site not just a place for conversation but a compendium of type design knowledge.
Some ideas which aren’t quite ready for public discussion yet.
I’d also love to pay the moderation staff for their time.

Here’s the donation link: Paypal.

Those of you who reached out last year about site development, I still have your names and, when I’m able to, I’ll reach out.

Help Fund The Next Stage of TypeDrawers - Updated for 2023

James Hultquist-Todd — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 15:39:17 +0000

Updated for 2023:

For that past several years, I have been paying for TypeDrawers out-of-pocket (with donations from some amazing members). This costs me a little under $1,000 a year just to keep the doors open here.

This has led to the site languishing. I’d love to:

Give the site a more mobile-friendly design.
Add a section for members to contribute long form essays (a blog?) on various topics in which they are experts.
Related to the last point, make the site not just a place for conversation but a compendium of type design knowledge.
I’d also love to pay the moderation staff for their time.

As of now, I don’t have a budget for these sort of plans as I have no idea what it would cost to develop the site in to what I described above. Research would be required to find the right person/people to build it.

I’m considering opening up the door to sponsorships and, it seems based on a post on Mastodon, people are ok with that.

In the meantime, donations can be made through Paypal.

Thank you all so much!

Diversifying TypeDrawers

Stephen Coles — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 19:36:09 +0000

I’m very pleased to see that over half of new TypeDrawers members over the last two weeks are women. Many are adding insightful posts, as well. This forum will only improve with increased diversity and I am grateful to these new members and those who invited them to participate. I hope the trend continues.

Please let me know how the management (official moderation team to be announced soon) can make TypeDrawers more welcoming and inclusive for women, minorities, and other groups who are typically underrepresented in discussion groups around type design, typography, and lettering. Thanks!

This is a lie

James Montalbano — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:00:08 +0000

>>5. You are free to leave, but not free to change the history of a discussion.
If you want to leave TypeDrawers, you can do so by contacting a moderator. Your account will then be set to "inactive" and your posts will remain.<<

Given my recent experience with TypeDrawers I can say this is a lie.

Donate to TypeDrawers

Tiffany Wardle — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 22:38:16 +0000

In the words of Stephen Coles: “TypeDrawers is an independent forum run by Tiffany Wardle de Sousa and James Todd. This site is not sponsored by any commercial entity. Participation is absolutely free, but members are welcome to contribute to the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the site. There is no prescribed fee — just give what you feel TypeDrawers is worth to you.”

Donations can be made through Paypal or, if you’re based in the US, we suggest making them through Square.

Thank you to all of those who have already supported — and who will continue to support — TypeDrawers without needing anything more than a little reminder. You make TypeDrawers what it is!

Basic characters for scientific publications

Dominika — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 13:35:08 +0000

Hi. I would like to ask if there is a list of characters that should be used in a typeface for also scientific publications? I would like to add to a typeface with only the most commonly used characters in such publications. Are there perhaps any other characters I should add if the typeface will also have Greek and Cyrillic?

TypeDrawers Changelog

Stephen Coles — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 04:56:56 +0000

In the spirit of transparency, tangible site changes will be documented here whenever possible. Feedback is welcome, but please post a new discussion about the specific topic in Suggestions and Bug Reports. Oct 20–21, 2014

Font sizes are now slightly larger all around. This was a selfish change as I was always using the browser zoom here, but I hear I was not alone in thinking the text was just a bit too small. Line-height is also a tad tighter. Unfortunately, the template provides no
tags in these posts(!) so I am unable to control the spacing between paragraphs which I feel could be much tighter. Overall, I appreciate James’ spare and readable design for TypeDrawers and I don’t intend to alter that in any significant way. Again, thanks to Webtype, Okay Type, and Bold Monday for the use of their fine fonts.
Blockquotes are now gray so they are more easily distinguished from the general comment text.
To prevent extreme logorrhea, each user is allowed only 2 comments every 4 minutes. (This is roughly twice as strict as before.) Those who attempt to break that limit are automatically gagged for 10 minutes. My guess is this limit is rarely reached. If I had the option I would prefer to set a per-day limit instead, but the forum software doesn’t allow that option. If folks really feel like that would be valuable we can request a custom change to the software.
Posts and comments can be edited for up to 4 hours. The previous limit was 1 hour.
New users must be approved by a moderator before their account is activated. There are no pre-requisites for membership. It’s just that there were bunches of bots creating accounts daily so it’s easier to keep them out this way.
Suggestions, Feature Requests and Bug Reports categories have been merged for simplicity.

Help Shape TypeDrawers

James Hultquist-Todd — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 15:49:13 +0000

At the moment there are only two of us moderating TypeDrawers. As this isn’t our main job, a lot falls through the cracks. If you’re interested in helping make this space better we’d love the help.

READ THIS FIRST: The TypeDrawers Rules

James Hultquist-Todd — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:37:49 +0000

1. Post appropriately.

Post topics appropriate for TypeDrawers, and post them in the appropriate category. Dialogue should remain about typeface design, lettering, and subjects that affect the community as a whole. If the topic you wish to discuss doesn’t fit in any of those categories, it’s because there are better venues for subjects like typography advice, typeface identification, and graphic design feedback.

Stick to the original topic of each discussion. If the conversation moves in a clearly different direction, then start a new discussion. Do not hijack threads or engage in personal disagreements that should be resolved privately. This is a place to discuss our work, not each other.

2. Be civil and considerate.

Personal attacks are unacceptable, and members are encouraged to flag such posts, or alert the moderators. Difference in opinions are welcome. Pointing fingers and disqualifying people is not. Do not present an opinion as fact, or post a point over and over. For further reading on what our standards are, please refer to the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct.

Bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.

3. Flag responsibly.

The “Breaking the Rules” flag should be used responsibly and for serious purposes. Any post breaking these rules can be flagged. A post with five or more flags is buried (though it is still visible through a click), and alerts moderators that other action may need to be taken. We are a small community and sometimes people do not flag when they read an offensive post, so if you see something, say something.

4. Don’t share copyrighted material.

Unauthorized reproductions of copyrighted materials will not be allowed. Anything being shared should only be shared by the original copyright holder or the links/information will be removed.

5. You are free to leave, but not free to change the history of a discussion.

If you want to leave TypeDrawers, you can do so by contacting a moderator. Your account will then be set to "inactive" and your posts will remain.

6. You may have multiple accounts.

You are allowed to have multiple accounts (such a personal account and a business account). If it is deemed that multiple accounts have been created for the purpose of evading the rules or a ban, the accounts will be removed without notice.

7. Use of A.I.

If A.I. is used in your post, it must be clearly labeled. Failure to do so will result in deletion of your post and/or banning.

8. The decisions of Moderators and Admin are final.

Membership of the forum can be revoked without any reason being given. Moderators reserve the right to delete or edit any questionable posts at their discretion and without warning.

9. TypeDrawers Moderators and Administrators are not responsible for the content posted here.

While TypeDrawers is actively moderated, we do not approve every post and are therefore not responsible for the content posted. If we have missed something or you take issue with a post please report it so we can resolve any issue.

That’s it! TypeDrawers is open to a wide range of views and we tolerate strong disagreement and debate, but those who repeatedly break the rules will not be tolerated.

Members are welcome to discuss any of the rules by posting a new, topic-specific thread.

Questions or private issues can be sent to the moderators in a direct message.

[Rules originally published by Stephen Coles 10/2014. Updated by James Hultquist-Todd 6/2021]

Ramiro Espinoza steps down from TypeDrawers moderation

Paul Hanslow — Fri, 28 May 2021 00:09:22 +0000

To all TypeDrawers members, I wish to announce that @Ramiro Espinoza is stepping down from moderation duties on TypeDrawers. He's been consistently moderating this place, reading through a plethora of posts, and keeping the peace for an extended period of time. I personally wish to commend him for his efforts and dedication to TypeDrawers.

Over the last year a number of moderators have departed—including Dyana Weissman, Jess McCarty, and now Ramiro Espinoza—leaving only administrator James Hultquist-Todd and myself to oversee all discussions. Due to this I ask all TypeDrawers members to remain civil with one other, be courteous whenever possible, and continue to foster and strengthen this community in a positive way.

Finally, if any members wish to become TypeDrawers moderators, or know/trust another who may be interested, please get in touch.

Thank you!

Jess McCarty is stepping down as a TypeDrawers moderator

Paul Hanslow — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 23:16:43 +0000

Hello all TypeDrawers members!

This is a general announcement to state @Jess McCarty will be permanently stepping down as a TypeDrawers Moderator due to personal reasons. She expresses that it was an honour and pleasure moderating, and thanks everyone for allowing her to help in making TypeDrawers what it is today.

Her contributions to this forum have been invaluable and each of the Moderators wishes her well with her future endeavours.

Thank you so much, Jess! All the best.

Moderation Team Changes

Jess McCarty — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 22:05:34 +0000

Hi, Everyone! As some of you may know, one of our moderators, @Dyana Weissman , is refocusing her energy on her home life. As such, she has decided to step back from moderation duties here at TypeDrawers and is handing the reins over to @Paul Hanslow .

Dyana has been an integral member of both this community and the admin team. Quite frankly, she is one of the kindest, most respectful moderators we've ever had the pleasure of working alongside. It's safe to say that TypeDrawers wouldn't be the site it is today without her hard work and thoughtfulness! Thank you so much, Dyana -- you will be deeply missed!

You can learn more about our new moderator, Paul, here. I hope you'll join me in welcoming him to the team.

And as always, if you need assistance please feel free to reach out to @James Hultquist-Todd , @Ramiro Espinoza , @Paul Hanslow , or myself @Jess McCarty .

Hope everyone is staying healthy out there!

Donate to TypeDrawers 2020 Edition

James Hultquist-Todd — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 19:06:06 +0000

I’m going to steal the text from the last time we ran a donation drive (2 years ago) but I also wanted to thank everyone who contributed; without you, this place wouldn’t exist!

In the words of Stephen Coles: “TypeDrawers is an independent forum run by Tiffany Wardle de Sousa and James Hultquist-Todd. This site is not sponsored by any commercial entity. Participation is absolutely free, but members are welcome to contribute to the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the site. There is no prescribed fee — just give what you feel TypeDrawers is worth to you.”

Donations can be made through Paypal or, if you’re based in the US, we suggest making them through Square.

Thank you to all of those who have already supported — and who will continue to support — TypeDrawers without needing anything more than a little reminder. You make TypeDrawers what it is!

New forum typeface

Dyana Weissman — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 04:14:38 +0000

Hello all,

Recently, it was noted that the previous typeface, Alright Sans, does not have a character set that covers all the characters that we talk about. So for the time being, we've switched to Source Sans Pro. We're open to other suggestions and preferred fallback fonts. Someone also suggested preferred fonts for global scripts by Unicode range. If anyone has any more thoughts on that topic, we'd love to hear it.

Changes To Reactions Redux

James Hultquist-Todd — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 17:26:47 +0000

In an effort to simplify things, the reactions have been changed. “Like”, “Off Topic”, and “Vote Down” have been removed and “Abuse” has been added. Our hope is that this will streamline things.

Posts with at least 5 Abuse tags will be placed in the moderation queue.

Change to real names policy.

James Puckett — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 05:36:20 +0000

I have decided to relax the real names policy a little. If you do not wish to use your real name then you may use a trade name that obviously identifies you. Examples of an obviously identifiable trade name would be Yanone, KLTF, or Chank. Please do not use the name of your business if your business is not obviously the business of one person. An example of a name that does not obviously identify one person is “Dunwich Type Founders”.

I made a discord server for type design discussions

Jose Dubon — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:27:24 +0000

Here is the link if you wanna join.

I made this cause all the info for type design is scattered in so many forums, and would like to have all designers chat in a single place see what comes out of it.
please share this link with designers that could be interested in this.

Donate to TypeDrawers (2017 Edition)

James Hultquist-Todd — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 23:58:01 +0000

In the words of Stephen Coles: “TypeDrawers is an independent forum run by Tiffany Wardle de Sousa and James Todd. This site is not sponsored by any commercial entity. Participation is absolutely free, but members are welcome to contribute to the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the site. There is no prescribed fee — just give what you feel TypeDrawers is worth to you.”

Donations can be made through Paypal or, if you’re based in the US, we suggest making them through Square. Thank you all for helping to make TypeDrawers what it is!

The roundest round.

JoelMarsh — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:59:59 +0000

Hello!

First post. Experienced designer (UX), but new to type design.

Deceptively simple question: What corrections are needed to make a stressed/contrasted O look as geometrically circular as possible?

The O in most fonts look (to me) a little taller than the width, and when I have been playing with it, there seems to be a fine line between circular and superelliptical. I don't want to cross that line.

What should I be looking for? What effect does the axis have? Does the amount of contrast change the corrections required?

Changes to Reactions

James Hultquist-Todd — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 14:13:09 +0000

As you may have noticed, we have changed how we are handling reactions. In an effort to make things more fair and streamlined, we have decided to change the reactions to a simple “upvote” and “downvote” system. These “upvote” tag will work similarly to the “like” reaction. If enough people “downvote” a post, it will eventually bury it.

The moderation team will also be taking a more active role in policing off-topic comments.

We will be trying this system out for three months and re-evaluate it at that point.

TypeDrawers Member Appreciation

Stephen Coles — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:15:54 +0000

From time to time I will identify those TypeDrawers members who consistently add relevant insight and interest to a variety of discussions on the site. There are no awards to hand out, just quiet recognition and gratitude. You are welcome to add your own acknowledgements to the list. [Dec 5, 2015: Edited the post to clarify that this thread is not for “official use only” and is intended for open participation by all TD members.]

New Feature—Reactions

James Puckett — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:39:04 +0000

Users now have buttons to react to posts. A post can be flagged for moderation. Users can also mark posts as off topic, like posts, agree, and disagree.

The Rules have been updated

Dyana Weissman — Sun, 29 May 2016 22:42:40 +0000

Hello everyone,

Recently, the moderation team decided The Rules required some clarification. Please take a moment to check them out. Then we hope you continue to enjoy discussing type and its many charms.

Passing the Torch

Stephen Coles — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 17:03:49 +0000

Hi, TypeDrawers! For various reasons, it’s time for me to turn over the stewardship of this site to someone new. I can't devote the time to it that it deserves, and I think I've taken it as far as I can. Fortunately, I can immediately announce successors who have the personalities, skills, and backgrounds to maintain TD and push it further.

I am pleased to announce that Tiffany Wardle de Sousa will share ownership and administration with James Todd.

Tiffany is a typographer and educator who has been involved in the type community for more than a decade. She has been a member of the SOTA Board, an independent consultant for various companies in the industry, and she served for many years in a moderation role at Typophile.

James has been a TypeDrawers member and Moderator since its very beginning.

I feel confident that this combination of perspectives from inside and outside the current TypeDrawers administration is ideal for the forum’s next chapter. You are welcome to post any questions about the transition below. Here is the basic plan:

James and Tiffany will have administration access to the forum in about 24 hours.
I will transfer domain ownership to Tiffany within the week.
I will continue to use the remaining donation funds to pay for the forum service costs. I project that these will pay for our current plan until the end of 2016. The new administration can decide when and how to raise funds at that point (or preferably before).
Tiffany shall replace my seat on the Moderation committee. The other members of the team will remain in place.

It’s been an honor to hold these keys for a year or so. Thanks for your patience and support.

Diversification Postmortem

Stephen Coles — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 16:04:47 +0000

Nearly 3 months have passed since the Diversifying TypeDrawers discussion. Despite our desire to include more voices on TD, particularly those of women and other underrepresented groups, very few continued to participate after the promising wave of activity during the summer. This troubles and saddens me. I am discouraged and I struggle to conjure any hope that we can break out of this cycle — but I don’t want to give up. So this is a sincere call for insight specifically from those who rarely post on TD.

How can we do better, both as members and as moderators? To what do you attribute your lack of activity since August? Is it disappointment in that diversity thread? Is it disappointment in the reaction to your posts in other threads? Is it the availability of other/better venues for discussion?

Again, I think it would be most constructive to hear from those who are not frequent TD participants. To our regulars (who I love and appreciate): please refrain from posting in this thread. Thank you!

Donate to TypeDrawers

Stephen Coles — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 00:54:28 +0000

TypeDrawers is an independent forum run by Tiffany Wardle de Sousa and James Todd. (Previous admins were Stephen Coles and founder James Puckett). This site is not sponsored by any commercial entity. The forum software and hosting services are currently paid for by Stephen using funds donated by TypeDrawers users. (The new admins will assume operating costs at the beginning of 2017.) Participation is absolutely free, but members are welcome to contribute to the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the site. There is no prescribed fee — just give what you feel TypeDrawers is worth to you. Donations are accepted via PayPal (which offers a subscription payment option), though members in the US are strongly urged to use Square Cash instead. Thank you!