Hello from the East of England

Hi all, my name’s Michael Gills, a designer based in the UK. I’ve been rummaging around TypeDrawers for a while, so I thought I should introduce myself.

I started out as a type designer, I’m currently a graphic designer and as I approach retirement, I’m attempting a comeback as a type designer. If you don’t mind a quick read, I’ll join the dots in a bit more detail.

If you’re not into reading and just want to see what my work’s like, there’s my website or my Behance page, which also features a couple of work-in-progress designs: Kingly Roman Display and Portnall Sans. 

• https://www.behance.net/michael-gills 
• https://www.ulga-type.com/

Way back in 1988, I joined Letraset as a trainee type designer, where I produced other designers’ typefaces and converted analogue artwork to digital. I also designed around ten of my own typefaces. Sadly, after seven years, I took redundancy.

I loved working in the Type Studio (we still meet up in London twice a year) so the redundancy hit me hard and my enthusiasm nosedived. I stepped away from type design, intending to pick it up again in a year or two, and switched to graphic design instead. 

However, for reasons I don’t even understand, I couldn’t reignite the spark. Apart from a few sporadic releases (which were unfinished designs left over from my Letraset days), I didn’t complete any new typefaces until 2019, when I released Rahare Sans on MyFonts. 

I wrote an article explaining why I started again. Ditto, if you don’t want to read – essentially, I went through cancer twice and the experience shook me back into lettering and typefaces.

https://www.ulga-type.com/rahere-sans-typeface-cancer-experience.php

Since then I’ve released fourteen more designs and Rahere is growing into an eclectic superfamily. My new designs are a mixed bag: some are OK; others are a bit flaky. Realistically, I don’t think I can (or want to) ever fully escape from my Letraset-ephemeral-display-font mindset.  

More importantly, I’m getting my groove back. On the downside, there are a few stumbling blocks:

Time: At the moment, I can only spend one or two days a week on type design and some evenings. I’m hoping to take some of my pension next year and that will give me an extra day. 

Sales: They’re abysmal, literally non-existent. I realise that earning money from type design is a totally different beast these days – I’m still grappling with the changes in technology (OpenType, Variable fonts, AI, etc.) and the shifting industry landscape – plus there are so many good designs out there already. Releasing a new design feels like trying to get on a London tube carriage in rush hour when the doors are closing. No excuses though; I need to put some serious work into the marketing and business side. 

Direction: I find myself at a crossroads. With the limited time I have, do I carry on expanding my library or do I pause for a while to concentrate on marketing/business skills and raising my profile? 

As I shuffle along the path to old age, my ultimate aim is to have a small type foundry, releasing a modest output of display and text designs, mixed in with the occasional lettering project. I don’t have big ambitions, but I’d like to get off the bottom rung of the ladder if possible.

Thanks for reading (a bit longer than I planned).