The Curious Engineer

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Mark Simonson’s Notebook

marksimonson.com

Mark Simonson Studio is the creator of Proxima Nova and home to a range of unique typefaces ideally suited for every need in your design brief.

GraphicsEssays / personal

’05’10’15’20’25
Posts
378 from 21 Feb 2001 to 16 Oct 2026
Posting
now and then (5 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/feed.xml

2026 4

  1. New Site Design
  2. Introducing Neotype
  3. Introducing Heckle
  4. The Day I Discovered Type Design

2025 6

  1. Introducing Hardcover
  2. Mark Simonson Studio at 25
  3. Proxima Nova Turns 20
  4. Proxima Nova Font Pairing: Our Favorite Fonts
  5. Fonts Similar to Proxima Nova: Our Favorite Picks
  6. Introducing Synergy

2024 6

  1. Proxima Super Nova
  2. Type Design Like It’s 1987
  3. Three New Heavyweights
  4. Down the Rabbit Hole with Apple’s Ancient Font Editor 2.0
  5. (Re)introducing Skin & Bones
  6. Interview: Douglas F. Jones, Designer of Skin & Bones

2023 8

  1. Introducing Viroqua: Kandal Revisited
  2. Caricatures. Wait—What?
  3. Pre-Digital Font Tech No. 1: Formatt
  4. Introducing Proxima Nova Wide & Extra Wide
  5. Direct Sales Are Back (Plus Live Font Previews)
  6. View
  7. “Typecasting” Revisited
  8. Introducing Dreamboat

2022 2

  1. Introducing Proxima Sera
  2. What Serif Font Should I Pair with Proxima Nova?

2021 3

  1. The Bookmania Cookbook
  2. Ohno Radio Interview
  3. Introducing Proxima Vara

2020 6

  1. Mostra Nuova in Entertainment Weekly
  2. Introducing Etna
  3. Acme Gothic Sightings
  4. Studio Tour Update
  5. De Re Atari
  6. Mostra Nuova 2.0

2019 1

  1. Goldenbook 2.0 and Refrigerator Deluxe 2.0

2018 3

  1. Introducing HWT Konop
  2. Announcing Font News
  3. Introducing Acme Gothic and Parkside

2017 2

  1. Coquette 2.0
  2. Introducing Proxima Soft

2016 2

  1. Interview on the Cedar Cathedral Podcast
  2. That Japanese Woodcut (and Happy Birthday, Mac!)

2015 1

  1. Proxima Nova 2.008

2014 1

  1. Adventures in Roller Calligraphy

2013 16

  1. Coquette Sighting - The Letter O
  2. The Quagmire of Print-Think
  3. Renaissance Anomaly
  4. Dexter’s Mother’s Bread
  5. Typekit, The Early Years
  6. Jeff Nelson
  7. Whiteface Mt. Memorial Highway
  8. Letter Sculpture
  9. Free O’ Frost
  10. First Public Use of What Became Proxima Nova
  11. Lovely Lingerie
  12. Vari-Typer Model 160
  13. Industrial Art Methods, December 1972
  14. Felt Tip Roman Original Art
  15. Shoes
  16. The New Site

2012 65

  1. Poirot Déjà Vu
  2. The Misery of Edwin Drood
  3. “A Lonely Place For Dying”
  4. Wood Type
  5. Pangrammer Helper, RoboFont Style
  6. The Artist vs. The Lettering Artist
  7. Bookmania Baby
  8. Cars
  9. Seed
  10. MST3K Tales, Part II: The Wrath of Mallon
  11. MST3K Tales, Part III: The Final Installment
  12. MST3K Tales, Part I: The Fandom Menace
  13. Up Next: Tales of MST3K
  14. Star Trek, The Movies
  15. And
  16. Clock
  17. Hotpoint
  18. Nice Numbers
  19. Nash Metropolitan
  20. Citicar
  21. The History of My Commute
  22. Otis
  23. My First Real Computers
  24. Spoof
  25. Crazy “g”
  26. Stage Magazine, February 1938
  27. Fine Ice Creams
  28. Seeburg
  29. More From the Hamilton
  30. Framed, at Last
  31. Varsity
  32. RCA Ashcraft
  33. Safari
  34. Bel Air
  35. Four Door
  36. My Trusty Old Mac Pro
  37. X ray
  38. Casin(o)
  39. Posterity and How We Save Stuff
  40. Way Too Tight
  41. More From Route 66: Barstow
  42. More on Uncle Knut at CCA
  43. Palomino Motel on Route 66
  44. Bucket o’ Letters
  45. ATF Alphabet Card Boxes
  46. Vinyl Sign, Not Aging Well
  47. Flowers
  48. Help Stop SOPA and PIPA
  49. A Bit More About CCA Calendars from Uncle Knut
  50. More on the Edikit and CCA Calendars
  51. Dumbest Thing I Ever Did as a Designer
  52. Big Night
  53. Radio
  54. Henry’s Diner
  55. The Coquette Bistro Wine Bar
  56. Revolutionary Road
  57. My First-Published Type-Related Article
  58. Avant Garde Swash?
  59. Not Coming to a Theater Near You
  60. Bohemian Cafe
  61. Dan Picasso
  62. 2011 Hamilton Wayzgoose
  63. Andrew Loomis
  64. Popeye
  65. Happy 2012

2011 7

  1. Bookmania Now Available
  2. Coming Soon: Bookmania
  3. Field Notes Goes Old School, Seventies Style
  4. Virtual Letterpress for iPad
  5. Curious About My Lettering Process?
  6. Superserendipitousness
  7. JibJab “Year in Review” Features Mostra

2010 8

  1. Lost World’s Fairs
  2. Diane Script and Filmotype Honey
  3. The Daily Pangram
  4. Big, Swashy P
  5. Mis-Taken
  6. Beneath the Volley of the Fonts
  7. Layer Tennis
  8. The End of 2009

2009 27

  1. Mad Men Mention
  2. Neckties
  3. Ars Technica on WOFF
  4. WOFF, a.k.a. Web Fonts
  5. Anonymous Pro 1.001 Released
  6. Typedia is Here
  7. Best Movie Title Site Yet
  8. Introducing Mostra Nuova
  9. Anonymous Pro Now Available
  10. The Making of Kandal on LetterCult
  11. Changeling Cast in Star Trek
  12. Veer Premieres “F is for Fail”
  13. Lakeside and Filmotype Zanzibar Favorited
  14. Coming Soon: Anonymous Pro
  15. You Say Font, I Say Typeface…
  16. Sneak Preview: SketchFlow Print
  17. Interview on ArtBistro.com
  18. RBtL Interview
  19. Township Type
  20. Art of the Title Sequence
  21. Font Haikus
  22. Not a Font
  23. MyFonts Interview
  24. ADDA Slide Show from 1962
  25. Introducing Changeling Neo
  26. Eric Hanson Has a Blog
  27. Introducing Refrigerator Deluxe

2008 37

  1. R & Nails?
  2. Introducing Diane Script
  3. The End
  4. Yves Peters Gets In on the Fun
  5. Font Sightings: The Next Generation
  6. Ginkgo + Fall = Stinko
  7. Brede Building
  8. Yellow Rectangle, Green Square
  9. Illustrator 1.0
  10. Mad Men, Mad Props
  11. Introducing Filmotype Ginger
  12. Parkside Candies
  13. Interview on LetterCult
  14. The Lost Art of Type Spec’ing
  15. Highly Misleading
  16. Little Nemo Title Panel Lettering
  17. Back to the Fonts of the Future
  18. TypeCon 2008 Goodie Bag Postcards
  19. TypeCon 2008 in Buffalo
  20. T.E. Stone Ltd.
  21. The Golden Age of Chrome
  22. Indiana Jones and the Fonts on the Maps
  23. Pangrammer Helper 2.0
  24. Font Nerd x Star Wars Nerd = This
  25. Ingento
  26. New Metallophile Sp8 Fonts Released
  27. Metallophile Sp8 OpenType Coming Soon
  28. Teenaged Me
  29. Greetings from Mike Meyer
  30. My Brain Hurts
  31. For Posterity
  32. Introducing Filmotype Zanzibar
  33. Amazing Old Album Covers
  34. Mofi
  35. “The Dating Game” for Fonts
  36. Adam Top Hats
  37. Introducing Lakeside

2007 29

  1. Arial Exam
  2. Helvetica on the Radio
  3. A Klingon Christmas Carol
  4. Spontaneous Order
  5. A “Tribute to Men and Women Who Design”
  6. New Kid on the Block
  7. A Little Lotto
  8. Friends School Plant Sale Video
  9. 31 Days of Horror
  10. Groan Extra Bold Extended
  11. What the Sims Eat for Breakfast
  12. Presenting Filmotype Glenlake
  13. PopCap Games
  14. Buildings + Sky = Font
  15. Neon Graveyard
  16. Coquette Sighting - The House That George Built
  17. The Modern
  18. Proxima Nova 1.2
  19. MST3K Comeback (Sort of)
  20. Coquette Sign
  21. Frutiger Talk
  22. Kinescope and Snicker Update
  23. An Interview? Moi?
  24. Kinescope and Snicker Released
  25. Coquette and Mostra Sightings
  26. The Story of Mrs. Murphy (1949)
  27. Three New Fonts: Update
  28. Coquette Sighting - Lithell’s
  29. Two for the Road

2006 23

  1. Coming Soon: Three New Fonts
  2. Boom
  3. Twenty Three
  4. Font Bros.
  5. Stewardess
  6. Strange Affinity
  7. Modern Pastry Shop
  8. Chess Board
  9. Alaska Fish House
  10. Harry and the Potters
  11. Proxima Nova Sighting - What’s On TV
  12. Atcg
  13. Daisy, Daisy
  14. Orange Varsity
  15. Let’s Talk Type! (1977)
  16. License to Obscure
  17. An Oscar in the Family
  18. Indication Marker Sign
  19. Japanese Cartoon
  20. Four Things
  21. Proxima Nova 1.1 Released
  22. Meet the Fockers
  23. Good Article, Shame About “Good Night”

2005 28

  1. Lipman Lettering
  2. Typographic Prop Masters
  3. Ampersand Studio 1111
  4. Ambigram Tattoo
  5. You Gotta Keep ’Em Separated
  6. Proxima Nova Sighting - Joyent
  7. Gangs of New York
  8. Fill ’er Up with Memories
  9. TypeCon 2005 Report #3
  10. Coquette Sighting - Wedding Invite
  11. TypeCon 2005 Report #2
  12. TypeCon 2005 Report #1
  13. TypeCon 2005 Report #0
  14. Proxima Nova Released
  15. Fake vs. True Italics
  16. Hy-Gard Hy-Giene Soap
  17. This Just Handed to Me…
  18. Pangrammatic Haikus
  19. Kodak Retina IIIc Box
  20. Kristian Walker Interview
  21. Hamilton Wood Type Museum
  22. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, etc.
  23. What is an incorrectly specified font?
  24. Proxima Sans Going Nova
  25. Mostra Sighting
  26. Coquette Sighting - David Nix
  27. Cooper Black Outline Shadow Snowcapped
  28. J.J. Newberry Co.

2004 84

  1. Beau-Ties
  2. Lots of Robots and Rust Boy
  3. Strange Cloud, 1990
  4. A Few of My Favorite Links
  5. Loving Cup Coffee
  6. Lego, the Type Designer’s Friend
  7. Introducing Grad
  8. South of the Border
  9. Wally Wood, Meet George Jetson
  10. Magnum, Ph.D.
  11. Mary GrandPré
  12. The 60 Minutes Bush Memo Thing
  13. Game Boxes
  14. Portrait of the Artist in Concrete
  15. Grad Nearing Completion
  16. Stanton Shoes
  17. Royal Tenenbaum’s World of Futura
  18. Sea-bee
  19. Badger Coach Co.
  20. Less-Than-Perfect Fit
  21. Motel
  22. Scott McCloud at MCAD
  23. More Type-related Links
  24. Table Tennis
  25. SpongeBird SquarePants
  26. Cocktail Lounge
  27. Current Best Sellers
  28. Beware of Imitations
  29. Roadside Attractions, Strange
  30. Car Wash
  31. Big Tractor
  32. B and G Cleaners
  33. TypeCon 2004 Report #4
  34. TypeCon 2004 Report #3
  35. Benguiat Drawings
  36. Artist’s Snack Shop
  37. TypeCon 2004 Report #2
  38. TypeCon 2004 Report #1
  39. Dubious Typeface Ideas
  40. Old Clocks
  41. Car For Sale
  42. Prelude to TypeCon 2004
  43. Another Bingo Box
  44. How to Make 3D Anaglyphs
  45. Sunshine In the Home
  46. Type Designers Who Write
  47. Clocks
  48. Craftsman Hand Printer
  49. Some Old Friends of Mine
  50. Yeah, But Those Two Guys Looked Just Like Steve and Bill
  51. C and T Premium
  52. Coquette Sighting - Jane Green Straight Talking
  53. Tin Cup’s
  54. Where Cars Come From
  55. Coats Engraving
  56. Inspiration
  57. Bingo
  58. My First “Computer Font”
  59. Pain, 99¢
  60. The Apple Terminator II+
  61. Chatterbox
  62. Handy Type Links
  63. Proxima Sans Sighting
  64. Giant Fiberglass Animals
  65. Blakely and Coquette Sightings
  66. Republic Cafe
  67. Sharrett’s
  68. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  69. Chicago Type Landmark
  70. Exactly
  71. Where I Get My Ideas
  72. Felt Tip Roman Sighting - Post Office Stamps
  73. Felt Tip Roman Sighting - Louise Rennison
  74. Felt Tip Roman Sighting
  75. Artists in the Family
  76. How Did He Do It!?
  77. Other Type Designers with Weblogs
  78. Fun in Ontario
  79. Son of Typecasting
  80. Titanic Blunders
  81. Coquette Sighting - Everything for Baby
  82. Grad Update
  83. Refrigerator In Use
  84. What’s Notebook?

2003 1

  1. Pangrammer Helper

2002 1

  1. Typecasting Trailer

2001 7

  1. Typecasting: The Use (and Misuse) of Period Typography in Movies
  2. Mostra Toy
  3. Sharktooth Loupe
  4. Coquette Clock
  5. How To Spot Arial
  6. Monotype’s Other “Arials”
  7. The Scourge of Arial