I am an independent graphic designer with over 25 years’ experience, based near Bristol in the UK. I divide my studio time between my two passions—lettering and type design (described in the box to the left). While these practices are quite distinct, they continually compliment and influence each other, keeping my work distinctive and original.
My lettering work combines words with meticulously crafted imagery to create visual stories. This approach has found a niche with branding agencies, book publishers and packaging designers. Alongside these commisions, I design original typefaces (you’re reading ‘Rig Sans’ right now), that provide a unique, visual tone of voice to written language. You can licensed my fonts for use from a number of partners. I also produce custom fonts for clients who would like to encapsulate their brand essence visually within their written communications.
These terms may seem interchangeable but are distinct activities.
Lettering refers to letters and words drawn for a specific purpose, like a book title, logo or illustration.
Type refers to a set of characters designed and arranged into a font. The process of making a font is called Type Design.
If you're interested in the process of making a font, take a look at my article over on Google Fonts.
Despite a passion for letters that ignited at school, my design career began in web design. I initially worked for a couple of startups then joined Microsoft, where I eventually became Head of Design in EMEA. In my late twenties I started a design agency with two partners in London. The business grew to emply over 20 designers and developers and attracted a client list of globally respected brands.
In my spare time I started to re-explore the world of type and lettering via my blog, Type Worship. This ultimately led to a career turn. After an exhilerating decade at my agency I decided to follow my passion and studied type design at the University of Reading and took course in letterpress at the St. Bride Foundation. To make a fresh start I relocated to Sydney for a few years where I began honing my lettering skills and designing my first fonts. In 2017 I returned to the the UK where I’ve been working on lettering commissions and expanding my library of typefaces ever since.
2019 – Graphis, Typography: Platinum Winnner, Rig Shaded
2018 – Typism Books 1, 3, 4, Finesse Press
2017 – Scripted, Sandu Publishing
2017 – Type Tells Tales, Steven Heller Gail Anderson
2017 – Expressive Type, Alex Fowkes
2016 – Sketching Type, Lee Sutey
2016 – 365 Typo, Étapes Editions
Jamie’s expertise and enthusiasm were invaluable in the development a new educational handwriting font for our client. Jamie was flexible and accommodating to the needs of our client, their product and schedule, ensuring the process was smooth and enjoyable throughout. Our client is absolutely thrilled with their final font and we would undoubtedly work with him again!
Rebekkah Hughes
Design Manager, Oriel Square
Jamie is your illustrator. Here’s why: He’s a rock star talent. The man can create anything. He tracks on creative direction and doesn’t miss a beat. He listens. He understands. He pushes on ideas to bring out their full potential. And then best of all...he delivers...on time and on point. Beautiful work. I trust him with my trickiest projects. He’s a superb communicator. Jamie is your illustrator.
Paul Vaughn
Creative Director, Orvis
Here’s a list of my clients, so you know you‘ll be in good company…
Adobe | Google | Monotype | Royal Mail | The Royal Mint | The Folio Society | Collins | Oxford University Press | Penguin Random House | HarperCollins Publishers | Smythson | Orvis | Co-Partnership | Freytag Anderson | Lux | Pushkin Press | Bensimon Byrne | Scotiabank | Future | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Osborne Pike
I am a memeber of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) and the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypi)
If you have a type, lettering or illustration project that you’d like to discuss:
All of my fonts are included with Adobe's Creative Cloud or can be purchased at: MyFonts or I Love Typography.
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© 2022 Jamie Clarke Type LTD and contributors | The Hive, Belluton, Bristol, BS39 4JJ, UK