When brands need a unique voice in design, custom typeface creation becomes a powerful tool.
The team at Avondale Type Co. offers custom font services tailored to fit each client’s brand identity and usage requirements. The process typically begins with a discovery session to define goals, technical specs, and the voice the typeface should embody. Whether it’s for editorial use, digital environments, or packaging, these insights drive everything that follows.
The next phase is concept development. This starts with understanding whether the typeface should be serif or sans-serif, text or display, clean or expressive. The designers at ATC sketch foundational glyphs like “H,” “n,” and “o” to establish proportions and spacing. These early forms anchor the rest of the set. This mirrors best practices outlined in Creative Bloq’s guide to designing your own typeface, which stresses the importance of building from control characters before expanding the set.
Once the sketches are refined, digitization begins.
Using tools like FontLab and Glyphs, designers convert pencil lines into Bézier curves and adjust metrics like x-height, baseline, and kerning. During this phase, ATC works closely with the client — often through rounds of feedback — to fine-tune stroke weight, contrast, and letterform quirks. This approach is consistent with Johnathan Hoeffler’s Getting Started with Typeface Design, which emphasizes iterative collaboration.
With a full draft of the font in place, ATC begins rigorous testing. They build mockups for websites, print materials, and apps to evaluate legibility and character. This stage is key: it reveals where adjustments are needed to improve performance and brand fit. Bright Bright Great spent over a month QA-ing and testing with a global team with their custom font work for Showpad.
Once the font is ready, it is delivered in multiple formats (OTF, TTF, WOFF) and integrated into the brand’s design system. ATC also provides licensing guidance, ensuring the font can be used flexibly across platforms. When done right, custom typeface creation gives brands a long-term visual asset that communicates identity with every letter. It’s more than style — it’s strategy in typographic form.
