Mark Solsburg, founder and CEO of Ann Arbor-based FontHaus, was kind enough to share a bit about how FontHaus came to be, and his fascinating experience with the ever-evolving business of typography. Yes, we even asked him what some of his favorite fonts are.
FontHaus is currently a Partner Bold with AIGA Detroit. As part of this partnership, AIGA Detroit members receive a 12% discount on just about everything on fonthaus.com. To redeem your discount, you must register on fonthaus.com (which you must do to make a purchase) and there will be a place within the form to indicate your AIGA Detroit membership. Be prepared to enter your membership ID. Once your are registered, every time you log in to your fonthaus.com account, 12% will automatically be discounted on just about everything once you reach checkout. The discount will not be applied to items already discounted or on sale.
How did FontHaus come about?
The original U.S. FontShop morphed into what is now FontHaus. In 1988 Joan and Erik Spiekermann, co-founders of FontShop, approached me to open a FontShop Office in the U.S. At that time I was working for International Typeface Corporation (ITC) in New York City, and the Spiekermanns had just opened offices in Berlin, London and Toronto. Neville Brody was heading up the London office and Ed Cleary, the Toronto office. Joan and Erik had Berlin and I was to open in Norwalk, Connecticut. The U.S. was to be my territory. After I left ITC and as discussions with the Spiekermanns evolved, so did disagreements as to how the U.S. office was to brand the FontShop name and market its program. In 1990, my fit with FontShop became incompatible and I founded FontHaus. The name was my wife’s idea and the logo design was Jonathan Hoefler‘s. That was how it all started.
Why Ann Arbor, Michigan?
I was born in Detroit and grew up in Michigan. I left for New York in 1985 seeking fame and fortune and found neither. I spent the next 22 years on the east coast, always thinking about when I would/could return “home.” In 2007, I did. As a result of the Internet, the font business had become independent of needing a geographic location. There was no longer a need for an office space complete with inventory, shipping departments and telephone sales people all together in one place with a kitchenette, grown-up conference room, security system and operator. At this point I saw my opportunity to move back to Michigan, so my wife, son and I did. Although I had never lived in Ann Arbor before, it seemed to be the best fit for a lot of reasons, including being in close range to my family. In short, I missed Michigan as my “home” and I missed my family.
How did you get into this business?
As an undergraduate student and later as a grad, I worked as a graphic designer to pay my tuition. Although I remember first learning about type from Jerry Campbell back in the early 70s at Arts and Crafts (now CCS), I don’t recall putting a whole lot of focus on type into my design. Looking back however, I can see that I did. Unconsciously, I liked playing with type and letterforms. Many years later, this apparently impressed one of the many head hunters I interviewed with in New York. I impressed him enough to have him send me over to ITC. They had an opening in their marketing department. That was 1984. I soon learned this was a very special company dedicated to preserving and promoting the highest standards of type and type in design. They were like no other company — I got lucky. This was a dream job. During the five or so years working for ITC, I not only had met and befriended some of the greatest living legends of type (Matthew Carter, Hermann Zapf, Adrian Frutiger, Eric Spiekermann, Bradbury Thompson, Zuzana Licko, and Neville Brody to name a few), I learned a great deal about type and the business of type. I carried these relationships and knowledge with me when I founded FontHaus.
How have you seen the type business evolve over the years, and how has FontHaus stayed on top of (and adapted to) these changes? What obstacle(s) have been the most challenging?
There were a few major events that reshaped the type business since I arrived in New York in the mid-80s. First, there was the evolution of type technology — not only in how type was designed, but also in how it was distributed. Type was moving from analog to digital. This opened the doors to selling type directly to designers so they could set type themselves for the first time in history. The big type houses went out of business, and this opened the doors to new businesses selling just digital type to the new media producers (desktop publishers). Adobe led the charge, along with smaller companies like FontShop, FontHaus, Faces and Emigre to name a few. Then, with the advent of the Internet, the distribution of digital fonts changed. At first, digital fonts were sold in “clamshells” and shipped by air and ground. With the Internet, fonts could now be delivered online. A designer could find a font online, order it and have it sent to their desktop in minutes. This was huge. I’m proud to say FontHaus was among the first to distribute fonts this way back in 1994. Everyone else soon followed. FontHaus has survived through the years because we were lucky enough to sense new technology developments and distribution methods, and position ourselves to take advantage of market tends in type design. It also helped that we were small — we could react to market demand quickly. We could turn on a dime. Our biggest challenge today is that we are still small. Companies that came in after us are cash rich, can market circles around us, and are consuming just about any font asset they want. These companies are also merging and consolidating.
Future challenges have to do with web fonts and font distribution. As more and more communication becomes available on a screen, good screen type becomes more and more interesting and popular. Web type is used and licensed differently. Licensing and security technology standards have yet to become a reality and type designers and distributors are not all on the same page.
We see that you have the title of being the first independent font retailer in the U.S. How does this set FontHaus apart from other retailers? Are there other characteristics that make FontHaus different?
Yes, we were the first independent font retailer in the U.S. However, we were not the first font retailer here. That recognition may need to go to Bitstream, Emigre, Adobe, Linotype or Compugraphic. But being the first comes with the challenge of staying first — especially when showing others that there is a new business opportunity they can take advantage of.
Over the years we continually sought ways to break new ground with regard to marketing, selling and distributing fonts. As mentioned above we were among the very few selling fonts online back in 1994. Within a few years, everyone else was on board doing the same. We were among the first (if not the first) to also sell extended licenses online. Soon after, others were offering the same service. We were among the first to sell single fonts when the competition was satisfied with selling families, volumes, and collections. That changed after they realized there was a business in selling singles. FontHaus was the first to offer an interactive type previewing feature that we named “PlayBox” back in the mid-90s. This feature is now the norm with most fonts distributors. We were also the first and only independent font retailer to publish a type magazine/catalog. We named it x-height. x-height was launched in the early 90s and was mailed to our customer base. It had relevant stories, editorial and interviews on type and on the type industry. The back end of the magazine was a catalog sampling of the fonts we were featuring. To a certain degree it was modeled after ITC’s U&lc. U&lc was a magnificently designed, award-winning type marketing publication. It was mailed quarterly to designers worldwide announcing and displaying new ITC typefaces. U&lc was the marketing machine that fueled ITC. It was the genius of Herb Lubalin, Aaron Burns and Ed Rondthaler. The last U&lc was published in mid-1999.
x-height was published through 1996. Although I loved my role as publisher and the great team we had built to produce OUR quarterly, it was the victim of the rising costs of paper and postage. We still get inquiries, mostly from abroad, as to when the next edition is coming out…
Today, our identity as a quality font distributor is somewhat overshadowed by our bigger, publicly traded competitors. Nevertheless, we believe in our market and in this business. Recently, we have partnered with a company out of the U.K to market their high-end royalty free photo images and vector graphics. We have always believed that those who buy fonts also buy pictures. This site is named FontsandPhotos.com. The photo licensing programs we offer on F&P are among the most competitive in the industry. Our strategy is to cross-pollinate two market groups by introducing our type buyers to a new source for photos and our photo buyers to a new source for their type. Most recently, we launched a font discount membership program called FontClub™. A small fee gives members a 10% discount on just about everything on our site for a year. This program is successful and it is the first of its kind in the type industry.
Have there been any particularly memorable type trends that stand out to you? Scripts have become the most popular out of the tens of thousands of fonts we offer. It seems like many designers are satisfied with their few sans and serifs, but scripts serve as an exciting, interesting and useful complement to basic stand-bys. Ironically, script fonts, especially the connecting scripts, are the hardest fonts to design and build. Only the most experienced and talented designers can pull off a good script.
What is your favorite part of being in the font/typography business?
The designers and the marketing. Type designers are among the most interesting, intelligent and creative people I know. Most have a great sense of humor too. Otherwise, I love marketing type. I get to play with type in design. They are like toys. I’m so fortunate to have so many to play with every day.
Are there a any interesting aspects of the type industry that most people aren’t aware of?
The type designers. So few know the designers behind the type and how difficult and time-consuming it is to design a single typeface. Most don’t realize know how much knowledge is required to design a good typeface and how little the majority of type designers earn on their fonts. Yes, some have gotten very wealthy while others produce good fonts that end up gathering dust. It’s a tough business. I’ve found that there are many parallel challenges in the music business.
Forgive us for being cheesy — but what is your favorite font currently? What have been some of your favorites in the past?
Well, my favorites change quite often. Currently, Mark Simonson’s Proxima Nova Condensed, MVB Solano Gothic, Anatoletype’s Scritta Nuova, Parachute’s Champion Script, their DIN and their Centro Suite. In the past, ITC Officina, Group Type’s Bank Gothic, EF’s Petras Script, Lucas Fonts’ Thesis and ATF Franklin Gothic.
How did you first hear about AIGA? What made you decide to become a partner?
I’ve been aware of the AIGA since I moved to New York City in 1985. When I moved back to Michigan, I learned about the good works of the Detroit chapter through Chad Reichert. I have always loved this state and want it to do better. If I can help even a little by having the FontHaus here and not elsewhere, it would make me feel good. If I can help the designers in this state, even a little (with discounted fonts for example), I would feel even better. It’s personal.
What is your favorite part of being part of the AIGA community?
I enjoy associating with some of the best designers in the midwest and the AIGA Detroit’s various and interesting programs. Just a few weeks ago, it was great to see two old friends of mine talking about type at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre as featured guests of AIGA Detroit. I’ve known Matthew Carter and Roger Black since my very early days at ITC. I was pleased and proud of the the AIGA’s initiative to support such an event with such remarkable type industry icons, here in Michigan. Bravo!
