Emigre, founded by Zuzana Licko and Rudy VanderLans in Berkeley, California, in 1984, has joined The Type Founders (TTF). Licko and VanderLans will stay actively involved in Emigre’s creative direction and curation.
Emigre launched the same year as the Macintosh computer with a magazine that quickly became synonymous with the desktop revolution of the 1980s. The name was inspired by its founders’ outsider status as emigrants: they had arrived in California from Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands respectively.
Making the most of the new option to design their own type, Licko drew her first low-resolution typefaces pixel by pixel on the small Macintosh’s coarse screen, generating a series of typefaces that reflected their unique vision for the magazine. By the third issue the entire magazine was typeset in Licko’s experimental fonts. Readers took notice and inquired about their availability, which sparked the founding of Emigre Fonts — helping define a new model for the independent foundries that followed.
“Like everyone in the type industry, I marveled at how creatively and organically Rudy and Zuzana built Emigre. From the magazine to the typefaces, they made designing and using fonts look fun while setting the standard for what a digital type foundry could be. I am truly thankful that they selected TTF as the custodian of their legacy.”
— Sam Berlow, co-founder and Executive Chair of The Type Founders.
Licko and VanderLans did it all themselves. At a time when new typefaces came mostly from companies that built typesetting equipment, they designed their own, showcased them in the magazine, and set up distribution channels to sell to a rapidly growing audience of designers hungry for new ways to express their ideas. Alongside Licko’s own designs, Emigre also published work by young designers such as Barry Deck and Jonathan Barnbrook. Asked whether her typefaces were legible, Licko answered: “You read best what you read most,” generating much debate within the world of type.
Licko’s revivals of Baskerville and Bodoni, Mrs Eaves and Filosofia, are still widely used, while the foundry’s most recent releases, such as Modulator and Franglais, continue Emigre’s approach straddling the experimental and traditional. In 1997, Licko and VanderLans received the AIGA Medal, the highest honor in graphic design, and in 2011 the Museum of Modern Art added five of the foundry’s typefaces, Licko’s Lo-Res among them, to its design collection. And while the magazine ended in 2005 with issue 69, every issue can still be read online through Letterform Archive in San Francisco, which has held the Emigre archive since 2016.
Licko and VanderLans will continue their work as Emigre Studio, which will offer VanderLans’ photo books and prints, and Licko’s ceramics and textiles at emigrestudio.com. The typefaces remain available at emigre.com.
“After running Emigre for over 40 years, Zuzana and I are happy to hand over the administrative, sales, and technical chores of running our business to The Type Founders, so that we can concentrate on the creative aspects of our work. TTF’s experience and resources make them uniquely qualified to protect and grow the Emigre brand and carry it into the future. We couldn’t be happier to be partnering up with TTF.”
— Rudy VanderLans
About The Type Founders
The Type Founders owns and operates a diverse portfolio of beloved type foundries, spanning historic classics and contemporary releases. Built on years of experience working with graphic designers, agencies, and type designers, The Type Founders is committed to making exceptional type, and to ensuring it is accessible and reliable for creative professionals.