Font Business Conference 2025

OUR FIRST FONT BUSINESS CONFERENCE IS HERE!

We’re excited to announce the first conference fully dedicated to the business of running a foundry, the complexities of the font industry, and the shifting trends we see in licensing and business models. The conference will be held exclusively online, with breakout rooms to allow people to discuss the topics raised during breaks. Taking place on June 14 and 15, Font Business 2025 will bring together industry leaders, reaching out to both veteran practitioners and trailblazing newcomers who are changing the industry as we know it.

Themes | Speakers | Program | Tickets | Contact

THEMES

We’re aiming to cover a wide range of topics that are crucial to the health and wellbeing of our industry. These range from the future we are currently set upon vs the one we would want to have, to questions around font protection and rights under law. We will also dig into trial fonts, as well as the various licensing and pricing models with a focus on the new trend of pricing based on company size. The program is a mix of talks and panels with ample time for Q&A. We plan to announce it towards the end of April.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

• ARABIC DESIGN ARCHIVE & DESIGN REPOSITORY – Omaima Dajani
• ASENDA LAW – Ben Prangell/Thomas Broster
• BAUER TYPES – Vivian Hartmann
• BLACK FOUNDRY – Jérémie Hornus
• BOLD MONDAY – Paul van der Laan
• BURO PETR VAN BLOKLAND – Petr van Blokland
• CONTRAST FOUNDRY – Maria Doreuli
• CREATIVE MARKET – Adrien Piro
• FONTFABRIC – Plamen Motev
• GOOGLE – Dave Crossland
• GRILLI TYPE – Thierry Blancpain
• I LOVE TYPOGRAPHY – Nadine Chahine
• JTD TYPE – James Hultquist-Todd
• MICROSOFT – Si Daniels
• NEWLYN – Miles Newlyn
• SHARP TYPE – Chantra Malee
• THE TYPE FOUNDERS  – Joana Correia
• TIRO TYPEWORKS – John Hudson
• TYPEBY – Corina Cotorobai
• TYPEMATES – Jakob Runge
• TYPETYPE – Alexander Kudriavtsev
• WOMEN IN TYPE – Flavia Zimbardi
• WORDS OF TYPE – Lisa Huang
• ZETAFONTS – Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini

And more to be announced over the next few weeks!

PROGRAM

The conference will take part online over the course of 2 days, June 14 and 15, starting at 1pm UK time. The program also includes a FREE pre-conference warm up on May 31 that includes 2 seminars geared towards beginners and newbies in the font world.

PROGRAM IN DETAIL

Saturday May 31

Theme: Fundamentals of the Font Business

Talk: Font Business Lingo

I Love Typography – Nadine Chahine

5–6pm

Ever wished you had a dictionary that explains the most common terms used in the discussion of font business? This is a small attempt to build a glossary of common terms that we use which we hope to eventually publish on our site. The seminar will walk you through easy to grasp definitions of the insider lingo with the aim of de-mystifying the basic building blocks of the font world.

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Saturday May 31

Theme: Fundamentals of the Font Business

Talk: The Structure of the Font Industry

I Love Typography – Nadine Chahine

6–7pm

This seminar provides an introduction to how the font industry is structured between designers, service providers, foundries, and distributors. It also outlines the various sources of income in fonts.  The goal is to introduce beginners to how things actually work and to lay the foundation for the more advanced talks in the conference. 

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Saturday June 14

Theme: Pricing models

Talk: Tiers and multipliers

I Love Typography – Nadine Chahine

1–3pm

This is a forensic and extensive review of the tiers and multipliers used by distributers and top indie foundries across the variety of licensing models in place. The findings reveal vast differences in approach and the pros and cons of each are discussed in detail. The talk will share publicly available information on actual tiers and multipliers so it will combine practical and theoretical analysis of the pricing models used.

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Font Licensing and business models

Talk: Top 5 mistakes a foundry makes

I Love Typography – Nadine Chahine

3:30–4pm

This session shares 5 of the most common mistakes we see foundries make in day to day business operations and in their planning. We look at each of these issues and examine what their impact on revenue is, as well as on the longterm viability of the foundry as a business.

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Pricing models

Panel: Company size as a pricing model

BLACK FOUNDRY – Jérémie Hornus

JTD TYPE – James Hultquist-Todd

NEWLYN – Miles Newlyn

4:30–5:30pm

In recent years a new pricing model emerged which prices fonts based on the company size of the client, rather than font usage on desktop or web etc. While some foundries still distinguish between these license types, others bundle all licenses together. This panel will focus on both the advantages and potential drawbacks of this model and is an opportunity for foundries to discuss their experience with this new way of pricing.

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Vision 2040: The Future of the Font Industry

Panel: The Indie Foundries

BURO PETR VAN BLOKLAND – Petr van Blokland

FONTFABRIC – Plamen Motev

TIRO TYPEWORKS – John Hudson

TYPETYPE – Alexander Kudriavtsev

6–7pm

Recent years have witnessed landmark changes in the distribution of power within the font industry, particularly between distributers and foundries with some distributers taking over significant rights over foundry IP. Will this trend hold in the future? Should it? Where will indie foundries be in 10 to 15 years? Will we see a bigger number of foundries operating or will it scale back? This panel focuses on how indie foundries will navigate the future, the threats they face and the opportunities.

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Vision 2040: The Future of the Font Industry

Panel: Future Leaders

ARABIC DESIGN ARCHIVE & DESIGN REPOSITORY – Omaima Dajani

CONTRAST FOUNDRY – Maria Doreuli

WOMEN IN TYPE – Flavia Zimbardi

WORDS OF TYPE –Lisa Huang

TYPEMATES – Jakob Runge

7:30–8:30pm

This panel focuses on the views and concerns of the future generations of font leaders. Is there a future as a type designer? What are the challenges facing young designers today, in the age of social media, an overcrowded marketplace, and the changing dynamics of the font industry? Are young designers empowered to succeed? What are the barriers to entry in this market? Are there structures of cooperation that can help empower the new generation of designers? Where will AI take us? 

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Sunday June 15

Fonts-in-law

Talk: The business impact of distribution agreements

I Love Typography – Nadine Chahine

1–2:30pm

Distribution agreements are some of the most important agreements that a foundry can sign, ones that could potentially alter business trajectories for decades to come. Yet, much of what is in these documents remains in the shadows, with foundries unable to openly discuss what the terms are and are therefore unable to benefit from the experience of their peers. In this talk we will go over some of the most important terms that are included in a distribution agreement, shed light on what they mean, and what the potential business impact is, once certain rights are passed on to the distributer.

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Fonts-in-law

Panel: The state of font protection

ASENDA LAW – Ben Prangell and Thomas Broster

3–4pm

The state of font protection varies across countries. This panel will look at how different countries address this topic, and how foundries can negotiate these challenges. It also looks at trademark vs copyright protections and offers some practical tips for foundries to protect their intellectual property. How does AI change the legal landscape?

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Font Licensing and business models

Panel: Trial fonts, yes or no?

BOLD MONDAY – Paul van der Laan

ZETAFONTS – Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini

TYPEBY – Corina Cotorobai

4:30–5:30pm

A hot topic amongst foundries and designers, is it a good idea to provide trial fonts? Some offer trial licenses, some offer demo fonts with a reduced character set, and others offer a free weight that has a full commercial license. The goal is usually to allow customers to test the fonts in their own designs. And yet, there are many drawbacks to this approach and fierce debate on whether a foundry should offer this or not. This panel will open us this debate to take on the most relevant questions that can guide a foundry into making a decision on this issue.

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Font Licensing and Business Models

Panel: Custom vs library pricing

BURO PETR VAN BLOKLAND – Petr van Blokland

GRILLI TYPE – Thierry Blancpain

SHARP TYPE – Chantra Malee

TIRO TYPEWORKS – John Hudson

6–7pm

Pricing for retail vs custom work can quite contradictory, something that is often difficult to grasp for foundries as well as customers. Is there a way to bring internal consistency to how one approaches these 2 types of projects? Is there a market appetite for a consistent approach? Are there any dangers to the sometimes-inconsistent way that fonts are priced? How can the various business models followed in retail projects be applied to custom work?

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Vision 2040: The Future of the Font Industry

Panel: The BIG Players

CREATIVE MARKET – Adrien Piro

GOOGLE – Dave Crossland

MICROSOFT – Si Daniels

TYPE FOUNDERS – Joana Correia

BAUER TYPES – Vivian Hartmann

7:30–8:30pm

The finale of the conference looks to some of the biggest players in the font industry and poses the question: where do you see this industry going and how will the relationship between tech companies, distributers, foundries, and end customers change over time? How has it changed in the past 10-15 years and are there any trends you see that you expect to continue over the next decade or so? Where does AI fit into all this?

PRICING

Take advantage of Early Bird booking to save almost 40% off registration fees! When you sign up for the conference you will be automatically enrolled for the Fundamentals of Font Business seminars. You can also sign up for the panels only portion of the main conference.