“As far as I can remember I always observed typographic forms with unusual interest,” Marconi Lima, founder of
TypeFolio said in his
Creative Characters interview. “I was intrigued by their design and their phonetic value. Because I loved books and developed the habit of reading from an early age, I realized that there was more to letters than just the words they spelled out.”
Based in Brazil, Marconi began working as a designer in an advertising agency in the mid-1990’s. This job opened his eyes to the crucial role typography plays in communication, as well as the business side of the industry, and it prompted him to begin questioning how type families were made and by whom. “Discovering this parallel universe called typography was very exciting,” he said. His work at the agency required Marconi to draw hundreds of ad layouts, packaging designs and logotypes by hand - offering the young designer insight into what goes into the art of type design.
All of this sparked an interest in him to immerse himself in the international type community where he was able to build important relationships and find much-needed resources that would teach him the history and technology behind type. This all culminated in the 2007 release of his first family
Adriane Text - which was featured as a Rising Star upon its debut and was later recognized by
Tipos Latinos. “Since then,” he says, “my involvement in the type business, and with both the national and the international scene have grown considerably, and I continue to design typefaces. I love to deal with all these aspects on a day-to-day basis.”
The release of
Madre Script in 2014 marked his transition from life as an art director to that of the head of an independent foundry. “By fully dedicating myself to the foundry I could significantly strengthen its relationship with the design market. This resulted in commissions ranging from the creation of icons and logo refinement to, more recently, the customization of a typeface from the TypeFolio library.”
“This is the most rewarding aspect of typeface design: seeing how other people use my fonts. Being an independent type designer grants me the freedom to shift between projects that meet specific demands, and more informal ones. Yet they always have their roots in my personal observations and ideas about typography and design.”
