Font Bureau was founded in 1989 by noted publications designer and consultant Roger Black and type designer David Berlow, to serve the emerging needs of desktop computer based magazine sand newspaper publishers seeking unique typographic identities. The New York Times, Newsweek and Smart were among the first clients to commission type designs. During the past fifteen years, Font Bureau has designed over 1,000 fonts for several hundred publications. A few of these designs remain the exclusive property of the publications for which they were originally created, but most have been released into the retail market.

Font Bureau’s Retail Library was launched with thirteen fonts and a licensing agreement with FontShop International in 1990. This retail library is now offered directly to end users by the Font Bureau and through a select handful of distributors. Since the founding of the company, Font Bureau has also developed OEM fonts. Their OEM customers have included Apple Computer’s System 7–OSX, highly specialized fonts for Prodigy Online, and Microsoft’s applications division.

Font Bureau continues to blaze new trails in font formats like TrueType™, fonts for the web and OpenType™. The company has remained small and privately held, with freelance and independent designers providing infusions of creativity along with the full time staff that has grown to include General Manager Sam Berlow, designer/managers Jill Pichotta and Cyrus Highsmith, and the sales/marketing team of Harry Parker, Samantha Grimsley, Michael Manfredi and Robb Ogle. A studio located in Boston serves as the company’s headquarters.