Neil Summerour
Neil Summerour is a type designer, lettering artist, calligrapher and designer based in Georgia, USA with one foot in Takamatsu, Japan. After graduating from The University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art with a BFA in Graphic Design, he soon found himself opening his own studio to deal with the flow of freelance work. This evolved into a 10-year dance in the design, web and advertising world allowing him to work with clients large and small—each time producing and developing unique creative solutions. His desire to not do the 'same-old, same-old' continues today. During this time, Neil opened his personal type foundry, Positype, in 2000 to feed his ever-growing desire for type design (something of which, oddly, he considered a hobby to keep him busy late at night).
He later co-founded TypeTrust (2002) with Silas Dilworth as his addiction to type and lettering grew. All the while, Neil has continued his commitment to education and fostering young talent as an adjunct art professor at The University of Georgia in graphic design and teaching graphic design at the Governor's School for the Arts. His work spans across media types and centers on problem solving and communicating graphically (with an obvious emphasis on type and lettering)—and it's this balance of educator, designer, and entrepreneur that allows him to bring a unique and practical insight to solving a client's communication needs, regardless of the medium.
As a typeface designer, he has published over 60 typeface families (that's over 500 fonts) and produced numerous custom typefaces for clients worldwide. You cannot watch TV, go online, or shop in your local grocery store without possibly seeing one of his fonts being used. Neil's fonts are released through such well-known distributors like TypeTrust, MyFonts, Veer, Fontshop, T26, and YouWorkForThem.
[Neil Summerour, May 2011]
