Mark Simonson

Type designer and founder of Mark Simonson Studio.

Public Key

npub13x00933rzqqpuehw6n7kez255l6yumpvkhgcrey46t2cgc6sh03qlmcyh7

NIP-05 Address

marksimonson@typo-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgn8hjcc33qqq7vmhdfltv39220azwdsktt5vpuj2a94vyvdgthcspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsj98n3j

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub13x00933rzqqpuehw6n7kez255l6yumpvkhgcrey46t2cgc6sh03qlmcyh7

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Last Notes

2026-10-19 19:13:00 UTC

My website has a new look, the first major redesign since 2013. Kelsey Scherer, Scott Kellum (@nprofile…nqgz) and Roel Nieskens (@nprofile…aane) brought back some of the spirit of my original site, including the black, pale yellow, and white color scheme and the spinning starburst on the logo. It already feels like home to me.
Visit marksimonson.com today. And while you’re there, you can read about the new design in my Notebook: marksimonson.com/notebook/view/new-site-design
#typedesign #fonts #websitedesign
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2026-08-05 19:17:47 UTC

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@nprofile…lel8 Thanks!

2026-08-05 15:49:34 UTC

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@nprofile…j074 I was surprised, too

2026-08-05 15:16:00 UTC

Fifty years in the making! What began as a college type design project in 1976 has become Neotype—a retro-futuristic display family blending the influence of uncial script with 1970s geometric sans serif design.
The story behind Neotype: https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/introducing-neotype/
Neotype is available at marksimonson.com & typographer.com 📷
#MarkSimonson #TheTypeFounders #TypeDesign #Fonts #GraphicDesign
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2026-06-04 01:06:20 UTC

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@nprofile…rpac @nprofile…j074 @nprofile…uju4 @nprofile…mltz I thought it might be, but wasn't quite sure.

2026-06-03 23:33:25 UTC

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@nprofile…rpac @nprofile…j074 @nprofile…uju4 Who is that in the middle? I can't tell with the motion blur.

2026-03-26 21:13:05 UTC

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@nprofile…j074 What a coincidence—it's my wife's birthday!

2026-03-26 17:46:50 UTC

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@nprofile…cqgf Thanks! I've learned a lot about drawing scripts since 2005

2026-03-26 15:50:36 UTC

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@nprofile…lel8 The original design was yellow with a heavy black outline on a white T, FWIW

2026-03-26 15:40:59 UTC

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@nprofile…lel8 Thanks! We’re thinking about reissuing the shirt

2026-03-26 15:21:29 UTC

New! Heckle is a brush script typeface for display use. It started as a tiny sketch for a t-shirt design in 2005, based on my memories of script lettering from the '40s and '50s.
More info here: https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/introducing-heckle/
And here: https://www.marksimonson.com/fonts/view/heckle/
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2026-03-19 15:01:41 UTC

Fifty years ago this month is when my interest in type design began... https://marksimonson.com/notebook/view/the-day-i-discovered-type-design/
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2026-02-23 22:09:30 UTC

I've been playing around with DrawBot and wondering if there is a way to get its built-in text editor to stop automatically inserting matching parentheses, etc. I find myself fighting with it constantly and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it off.

2025-12-13 05:26:31 UTC

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@nprofile…plsf Yeah, didn’t like that. But I guess he was done listening to them 🙃

2025-12-13 02:54:36 UTC

My Bookmania (Light Italic) and Etna (Bold Italic and Condensed) showed up for a couple of seconds in tonight's episode of Pluribus ... (I hope this isn't a spoiler...)
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2025-11-10 20:29:56 UTC

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@nprofile…z59l Thanks!

2025-11-10 19:45:32 UTC

Hardcover is an elegant new serif typeface intended for display use. It was one of my earliest typeface ideas, dating back to a sketch I did in 1978, inspired by the slick lettering I’d seen on mass-market book covers.
More info here: https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/introducing-hardcover/
And here: https://www.marksimonson.com/fonts/view/hardcover/
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2025-10-21 15:51:33 UTC

My entire font library is now available on Typographer.
https://typographer.com
@nprofile…f9am

2025-09-24 15:19:42 UTC

Mark Simonson Studio at 25: It didn't start out as a digital type foundry... https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/mark-simonson-studio-at-25/
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2025-05-28 13:39:52 UTC

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@nprofile…unvw I took a couple of photos of that when I was in San Francisco in 2008. Very cool design.
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2025-03-18 19:00:12 UTC

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@nprofile…y2ut Thanks! I never really publicized it. I wasn't even sure if they were using it for a long time.

2025-03-18 17:43:01 UTC

I'm happy to see that WB Animation is still using the lettering I did for them (by way of Funny Garbage) in 2008 (the part below the WB shield). Seen on the trailer for their latest feature, "The Day the Earth Blew Up," which I hear is good.
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2025-02-23 03:06:16 UTC

I've been rewatching season 1 of Severance and spotted my Acme Gothic on a band poster. It's only there for a split second, but it caught my eye, of course. The name is obscured, but thanks to a little research, I discovered that it's "ABRUMPO" (latin for "separated") fronting for "Fissureman."
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2024-07-24 22:09:39 UTC

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@npub1xl5…wsca you’re probably thinking of Fontographer, for making PostScript fonts

2024-07-24 21:24:27 UTC

I just posted a new video about FONTastic and FONTastic Plus, two bitmap font editors I used on the Mac in the pre-PostScript days: https://youtu.be/pfoF73F73Hc
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2024-06-07 02:38:22 UTC

I've been down a rabbit hole the last couple of weeks with Apple's ancient Font Editor 2.0 (1984), the first font editor I ever used on a Mac. This is the pre-PostScript era of bitmap fonts like Chicago, Geneva, and New York. I wound up making a user guide and a video demo, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/rOwzfaTU0XA?si=QDwZDFvE8pl9-9Kq
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