Meet Tom Foley, Monotype’s new creative type director

Interestingly Tom Foley became a type designer almost by accident, after choosing to write about Irish type design history for his MA, and then producing a few typefaces in response. In love with the craft, he decided to make a go of it professionally and his first proper typeface, Nib, was later used on Irish Heritage plaques. Not bad going for a beginner.

Just as technology changes at an ever-increasing pace, the type that it uses has to evolve in step, posing new and exciting challenges for type designers like Tom. To welcome this talented creative into the fold and find out a bit more about his background and new role, we caught up with Tom to chat about everything from age-old stone masonry to cutting-edge VR. Here he is in his own words…

Tell us a bit about your journey to creative director at Monotype. We hear you got into type design by accident…

My journey into type design wasn’t really planned. Moving to London to undertake an MA at Central Saint Martins, I had aspirations to produce edgy graphic design for cool clients. The process of my MA completely derailed any delusions I had.

My MA programme required students to link theory and practice, with the theory component being completed in the first year. This meant that my chosen research topic needed to offer scope for a genuine and original design response. This structure really stretches the students and makes them ask difficult questions of what their practice means to them, to the industry and to society. This was the turning point for me.

When I moved to London I was struck by the fact that most people had a strong design tradition and identity associated with their country of origin. Ireland however is not a place typically associated with design, and in many ways doesn’t have much of its own design history. Why is this? This is where my journey into type started, and where I focused my research. Upon completing my research and dissertation, the only legitimate response was to design typefaces, and that’s how it started.

What does your role as creative type director entail?

My role is quite varied. I work closely with the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) design team, supporting our designers with custom and library fonts. I work closely with sales and pre-sales in customer support, I work with marketing to actively engage with the industry through various channels, and I occasionally teach and write.

Working closely with partner agencies and clients is a central part of what I do, and this can involve collaborating on proposals, advising on all aspects of type design and usage and also running creative workshop sessions. It’s a varied role, but ultimately is great fun and there’s is never a dull moment.

You have both sign painters and stonemasons in your family. Do you think this very tactile, physical form of creative typography has rubbed off on you?

It definitely had an influence, but probably more in terms of perception than an actual influence on my design skills or work. Having craftspeople in my family created the understanding that making a living from non-academic disciplines was possible. This definitely created the atmosphere at home that encouraged me to focus on my creative interests.

Perhaps there is also some level of aptitude for type and typography running through my family. Looking back I can see that from a pretty early age I was creating lettering and posters and art for other people. In a way, I was always taking commissioned work. Indeed I design much better when answering a brief than when I create for my own ends and perhaps that’s rooted in those early years.

One of your early typefaces, Nib, was used for Heritage plaques in Ireland. What makes a typeface stand the test of time? And was that something you were conscious of when creating Nib?

Timelessness implies that something doesn’t date or isn’t too closely associated with a specific era or movement. Few designs can claim that, but those that do generally share elements of original detailing with a general level of utility and neutrality. But in reality all typefaces contain timeless elements in their DNA: proportions, construction, calligraphic origins.

When it comes to Nib, I’m not sure it’s a timeless design, but its originality comes from its point of inspiration, the Irish minuscule, a very early form of our lowercase alphabet. This style of calligraphy represents a major development in the evolution of the Western alphabet, and originated during a period when Ireland was the centre of great innovation in art, farming, industry and politics. This tells a very different story of Ireland's contribution to the development of writing and typography. Nib is an attempt to capture some of that pragmatism and utility, which has been lost in the stereotypical image of Ireland and its traditions.

How are developments in technology (in VR for example) affecting type design? What other things will affect the future of the discipline?

Technological developments throughout history have influenced not only the way we design and produce type but also the way we market, distribute and sell type. This is an ongoing process, and each time a new technology arrives, such as variable fonts, we have to question not only how we deliver our fonts to clients, but how we design, produce and market them. Web typography has been waiting for a responsive type format for many years and variable fonts will likely find a place there.

VR and AR certainly offer new opportunities for type, and variable fonts seem like a natural fit for the level of responsiveness these platforms propose. But this is a fast evolving area, and it’s entirely possible these technologies will manifest themselves in ways we haven’t thought of yet.

From a market perspective Variable Fonts are still a bit of a slippery subject. Allowing the user to choose any variation of weight or style with a few clicks on a slider (depending on the parameters) proposes a new challenge for type designers. How do you cost a product such as that, when previously every weight and style instance was priced separately as a static design and software. Does this pose problems for type foundries when protecting IP? All of this is resolving itself as we speak and it will be interesting to see how things pan out.

What are the biggest challenges emerging type designer face? And do you have any advice for people just starting out?

In the UK, the biggest challenge is the cost of education and the devaluation of creative disciplines by government policy. Funding for creative disciplines at secondary school level is being slashed, which sends a message to budding creatives that these careers don’t hold real opportunity. With the cost of tertiary education going up it’s got to be hard for a budding creative to choose a creative career path. This is a very real challenge.

The advice I’d give is, don’t be deterred. Creative industries are growing all the time and type design is a pillar of all good branding, this will never change.

As for type-specific advice, connect with establish type designers, ask if you can meet them, show them your work and ask for their advice. This is something I did while studying and it was invaluable. Also, don’t take yourself too seriously, enjoy your work and don’t forget to have a life outside of design – a lesson that took me years to learn.