Founder, Designer, Developer • The League of Moveable Type

How a Forum Backlash Sparked an Industry Disruption

In 2009, I stumbled onto a thread on Typophile—a well-known typography forum—where someone had asked about open-source fonts. Instead of curiosity or encouragement, they were met with outrage. “How dare you?” Professional typographers were furious at the mere suggestion of open-source type, treating it as an existential threat to their industry.

That moment lit a fire under me.

I had just started teaching myself to code, and open-source had been essential to my learning. Programmers shared knowledge freely, helping each other grow. Why wasn’t typography the same? Why was an industry so deeply tied to design so closed off to innovation?

But it wasn’t just skepticism—it was active resistance. Typographers argued that open-source fonts would devalue their craft, encourage piracy, and destroy their profession. Some called it intellectual theft. Others dismissed it outright, saying “Real designers pay for type.”

The hostility was overwhelming. Industry veterans called us reckless, irresponsible—even dangerous to typography’s future. Some claimed we were undermining decades of craftsmanship, while others insisted that quality fonts required tight, proprietary control.

I knew then that this wasn’t just a missing feature—it was a fundamental problem that needed to be solved. So, I decided to change it.

The Birth of The League: Open-Source’s First Type Foundry

I teamed up with Caroline Hadilaksono, my design partner at the time, and we took action. She had an unfinished type project from college, so we polished it, published it, and made it the first-ever open-source font in The League of Moveable Type.

From there, I went all in:

✅ Branding & Identity – I named The League, crafted a rebellious visual identity, and wrote a manifesto that declared war on gatekeeping in design.
✅ Design & Development – I built the original League website from scratch, ensuring a sleek, modern experience that matched our revolutionary stance.
✅ Marketing & Outreach – We didn’t just upload fonts and hope for the best. We personally recruited designers, wrote all the copy, and strategically positioned The League as a counterculture movement.
✅ Community Building – I cold-emailed designers I admired, built an early coalition of supporters, and engaged with creatives worldwide, fostering a passionate movement around open-source type.

We didn’t just release free fonts—we made it a movement.

Breaking the Internet: The League’s Wildfire Growth

We started with a handful of fonts, but soon, The League was everywhere.

Major brands adopted our fonts: Forbes, Rolling Stone, NBCUniversal—even The Hunger Games used our typefaces.
We exploded in visibility, getting featured in .net Magazine, HOW Magazine, and 8faces.
Tens of thousands of designers joined us, with over 35,000+ on our email list and 20,000+ Twitter followers.
Our fonts were used billions of times across the web, print, television, and branding.

But success wasn’t the end goal. It was just the beginning.

What made this growth even more remarkable was that it happened organically. We had no advertising budget, no corporate backing—just an idea and a community that resonated with it. Designers started spreading the word, bloggers featured us, and industry leaders—some of whom were originally skeptical—began recognizing the impact. It wasn’t just about making fonts free. It was about changing how design knowledge was shared.

As The League’s influence grew, it wasn’t without challenges. Some designers were still hesitant about using open-source type in professional projects. Others feared the stigma from traditional foundries. We tackled this head-on, proving that open-source didn’t mean low-quality—it meant collaboration, accessibility, and innovation.

And then, something unexpected happened: our fonts started showing up in blockbuster films, Fortune 500 brands, and top-tier design projects. What had started as a small rebellion was now reshaping how major companies thought about typography. We were no longer outsiders. We were leading a revolution.

Scaling from a Passion Project to a Business

The League’s success proved one thing: Designers were hungry for more than just fonts.

They wanted knowledge.

Experimenting to Find a Business Model

Where others saw just free fonts, I saw the opportunity for a real, thriving business—one that could stick to our values while also creating a model that worked.

The challenge? I had no idea how at first. So I experimented. A lot.

Sponsorships?

I first tried sponsored educational content, collaborating with brands to create valuable, insightful pieces that aligned with our mission. It brought some traction but wasn’t quite the breakthrough. This was successful, but proved to be quite a lot of effort, and not something that felt deep and enriching and exciting enough.

Merchandise?

Then came merchandise—some of which performed surprisingly well. One standout success? The I Am That Quick Brown Fox tee. It wasn’t just a novelty item; it resonated with designers, becoming a conversation starter and a statement of our movement.

I led a whole email marketing campaign to sell these limited time items, and it worked. People love them — frankly, still love them, they pop up on photos sometimes. I worked with suppliers in Brooklyn to find the softest fabrics we could afford, the best screen printing. They sold out, and we did another batch.

And when I kept getting interest, I expanded to shirts for our other typefaces, making a custom design for each one and implementing an online store from scratch — so we could keep our branding top notch — that worked with a new and budding print-on-demand service at the time (Printful, when they first launched, we were ahead of the curve).

Commissions?

At the same time, we pursued commissions to expand typefaces, working with brands and agencies to create new fonts that fit their unique needs while keeping open-source sustainability at the forefront. These projects proved that The League’s model could provide value beyond just free fonts, and offered a way to not only give back to the community, but pay the designers to do the work they wanted to at the same time.

But there was more potential somewhere hidden in this, and I could feel it.

The Breakthrough: Education as the Key

The real turning point came when I started offering free educational content—emails, videos, tiny courses designed to help designers truly understand type.

For months, every week, I'd stay up late one night of the week and write up an in-depth lesson — how to tell if a font is good, the anatomy of letters, where to find great open-source fonts, how to pick fonts, etc — and send it out free to our newsletter. It was a grueling grind, to be honest, but I got so much incredible feedback.

That’s when I realized: education was the key.

So, I wrote the first edition of my book, Making Sense of Font Licensing, to demystify the confusing and potentially costly world of font licensing. Designers were desperate for clear, accessible knowledge, and the book’s success proved it. That success pushed me further into education, leading to our first big course: a partner course on making your first font.

Building an Educational Ecosystem

To make the course more accessible, we released the entire first chapter for free, engaging thousands of designers—including Trey Seals, who later became a world-renowned type designer. I collaborated with Thomas Jockin of TypeThursday fame, helping develop the curriculum, and I personally led the marketing, production, video work, and tech.

When that course became a massive success, we realized education wasn’t just an add-on—it was our next evolution.

We launched a podcast with Olivia, inspired by our weekly newsletter conversations, where we shared insights into typography and business. That, too, took off, leading to even deeper educational offerings—live workshops, industry partnerships, and structured learning experiences.

This wasn’t just about fonts anymore. It was about empowering designers, giving them the tools to not just use type, but master it.

The Evolution into an Educational Platform

At first, we didn’t realize the deeper problem. But we kept seeing the same thing: People loved our fonts—but had no idea how to actually use them well. Designers struggled with type, unsure why some fonts worked and others didn’t. That’s when we knew: The real revolution wasn’t just about fonts. It was about typography mastery.

Overcoming the Challenges of Expansion

✅ Reframing The League – We updated the site, messaging, and mission to make it clear: We weren’t just giving away fonts. We were giving away knowledge.
✅ Building High-Impact Workshops – We launched deep-dive courses on type design, web typography, and lettering, bringing expert designers to teach with us.
✅ Partnering with Industry Leaders – We collaborated with top designers and companies to create custom curriculum and exclusive workshops.
✅ Creating a Sustainable Model – We experimented with profit-sharing models, allowing instructors to get paid while making education accessible.
✅ Championing Diversity – We actively sought out underrepresented designers—women, BIPOC, and hidden talents in the industry—to give them a platform.
✅ Crafting a Learning Experience – We built courses that weren’t just informative but transformative—empowering designers to break the traditional rules of typography with confidence.

The Impact: Real Success Stories

One of the most notable success stories is Trey Seals, who took our type design course in 2016-2017. He went on to become a world-renowned type designer, creating work that has impacted branding, activism, and global design. That’s the kind of transformation The League was built for.

Beyond individual successes, The League has fundamentally reshaped typography education. By breaking away from traditional, rigid instruction, we’ve made learning accessible, rebellious, and deeply empowering for designers at every level.

What’s Next: The Future of The League

Typography education is broken, and we’re here to fix it. If you believe design should be free, fearless, and boundary-breaking—join us.

Check out our courses, join the community, and let’s redefine what design education looks like—together.