Mark Simonson (born 1955) is an American independent type designer who works in St. Paul, Minnesota.[2][3][4][5][6]

Mark Simonson
Simonson in 2018
Born1955 (age 68–69)
OccupationType designer
Notable workProxima Nova

Career edit

Simonson has described his typefaces as often being inspired by lettering styles of the past, such as the graphic design of the 1970s, Art Deco graphics and wood type.[7][8][9]

Simonson’s most popular font family is Proxima Nova (1994, revised 2005), a sans-serif design in the geometric and grotesque styles used by companies such as BuzzFeed, Mashable, NBC, The Onion, TikTok and Wired.[10][11][12] As of October 2021, it is the fifth highest-selling family on font sales website MyFonts.[13] His fonts also include Anonymous Pro, a monospaced font designed for programming released under the OFL.

Simonson worked as a graphic designer before specialising in type design.[1][14][15] His career as a type designer got a boost when his partner Pat won money on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,[16][17] as her success allowed him to take six months off from graphic design work to design several new typefaces that he could sell.[7][8] He has also written blog articles on the history of type design and the lettering styles used in films, including the type blog Typographica.[18][19]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Simonson, Mark. "How I Became a Type Designer in Only 30 Years with Mark Simonson". Vimeo. Cooper Union. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  2. ^ Hutchinson, Grant. "Q & A: Mark Simonson". Typedia. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  3. ^ O'Driscoll, Conor. "One Minute with Mark Simonson". Oneminutewith. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Interview: Mark Simonson". Planet Typography. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Interview: Mark Simonson". Eurekaville. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  6. ^ Morlighem, Sébastien. "Mark Simonson Studio: Breathing New Life into the Past". FontStand. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  7. ^ a b Sorkin, Eben. "Creative Characters: Mark Simonson". MyFonts. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Mark Simonson interview". LetterCult. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Metallophile". Geotypographika. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  10. ^ Vo, Tri Branch. "Why Proxima Nova is Everywhere". Medium. Mic. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  11. ^ Friedman, Granr. "Interview with Type Designer Mark Simonson". ArtBistro.
  12. ^ Peters, Jay (17 May 2023). "TikTok has a new font". The Verge. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Bestsellers". MyFonts (archived). Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ "How to design a typeface: Mark Simonson's process". Adobe Systems. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  15. ^ Lileks, James. "My Minnesota: Mark Simonson". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  16. ^ Dodge, Bernadette. "Designs for justice, designs for change". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Prize winner recalls classmate who died". Deseret News. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  18. ^ Eddin, Peter. "Good Film, Shame About the Helvetica". New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  19. ^ Boxer, Sarah. "Arial, Mon Amour, and other font passions". New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2016.

External links edit