Ty Finck
Type Designer / Creative Director
Ithaca, NY
tyfromtheinternet.com
instagram @tyfromtheinternet
Twitter
YouTube
Q What do you do?
“I make fonts and am co-founder of the branding studio Relays.”
My typefaces are mostly open source (Etcetera Type Co), free, or very inexpensive, as I hope to make a useful asset like a font as accessible as possible. As ½ of a creative team, my day-to-day deliverables range from 3d animation to custom website design and development.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
After high school I got out of the small town in a small state where I had spent my whole life (Maine). This was an early step of being uncomfortable in a new place that proved essential both creatively and emotionally. A short list of other life events that shook me only to help me level up: spending a month in India, living in Hollywood for a summer, having a kid at age 23, moving back to a place (not Maine) that I thought I was done with forever, getting married, and leaving several high paying jobs for independence (and financial doom).
Q How do you stand out in your field?
If I could give away everything I make for free, I would. I’ve been creating things for a living for almost 20 years, and the fact that I’m still at it feels like a significant badge of honor. I try to make tutorials, or process videos, of things that I don't think other people are doing.
Q What are you working on right now?
I always have a few typefaces in various stages of completion, and I’ll often switch between opposite styles (blackletter vs. sans monospace, for instance) to balance things creatively. I’m recording one song every week, which doesn’t get me paid but does keep me on my toes (note: I also successfully did this 52 week project in 2020). And I’m often looking for unique ways to keep my business (Relays) a little different and distinct from other small design studios.
Q What’s your style?
In terms of graphic design, I try to live by a “nothing superfluous” strategy, and it works well. Substance first, style if necessary (and sometimes it’s not!). For fonts, I try to hook at least one memorable visual element into an alphabet, or improve upon–or break from–traditions. Sometimes the work that I love from other people is memorable because it’s not the most unique or wildy creative, but rather tastefully executed. That’s a perspective I try to keep throughout all of my projects. The recent work I did for the Jones Family Farm (https://projects.relays.team/jones-family-farm/) is a good example of this.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I’m not a trained writer, but I’ve hit “pause” on writing my first novel because, that is a time consuming, emotionally draining endeavor that deserves more attention. I have 40,000 words and a half complete story, in a perfect world I’d sit down each day and get it done.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
The reality of time is both a gift and a constant source of frustration. Realistically I need a 30 hour day. Not to work more, but to vary my tasks. Some days I want to go for a 90 minute run, and other days I want to put my head down and spend 10 hours working on a variable font. Managing that is always a challenge.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
For real? Clean my house. For business? Maybe code my designs. I love to conceptualize a unique web experience ( adventureson.band for example) and developing it from scratch is always rewarding, but sometimes sluggish. I know the hand off from pixels to code is tricky and that’s why I usually end up doing things myself, but a programmer would save me hours, and some sanity.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I absolutely would have told myself to wait a year, maybe two, before going to college. I jumped right from 12 years of public school into…four years of private school. That might work for some people, but I wish I had a brief period of NO SCHOOL for some perspective. Majoring in film/photography, from a small liberal arts college…was fun but not smart.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I love chatting with people who have entirely different backgrounds from me (I’m a white dude in America with every privilege/advantage imaginable) who are experts in something I know nothing about (medicine, history). Or Robert Krulwich, because Radiolab taught me more about life/myself than a decade of education.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
The things that I want to be a part of now can’t involve bullshit. No unnecessary ____ (fill in the blank). I’d rather work on something mind-numbing and un-sexy for a good person/cause than something flashy and exciting for a corporate giant only interested in higher profits. Give me a small B-Corp that needs a rebrand instead of a CPG redesign for a Nestlé thing any day.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
It would definitely be to brand a one day music festival headlined by Radiohead and Beyonce where 100% of revenue is split toward dozens of charitable endeavors. My wife and I would work with 2-3 people on that client team to deliver a ton of fun stuff. We’d take photos and videos, animate some type, make a beautiful one-page website for it. Probably a gif or twenty. No swag because, there's too much physical stuff in the world.
Q What is your rate?
If someone wants me to commission a typeface from me (from scratch), that will start at $9000 for the initial style (bold, for instance) and only go up from there, depending on the needs.
But let’s say someone wants to fund a public good (open source font)...that is entirely negotiable, but unlikely to go below $2000 for that initial style.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Email me, send me a DM on Instagram, or have pizza/donuts delivered to my house with a note. Timeline is just as important as budget, so knowing when you need something by (rarely negotiable) is just as important as how much money we’re talking about.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
I hired illustrator Louie Chin on a project and I’d hire him again in a heartbeat. Alternatively, I was hired by Doug Bartow to make a typeface and he was a pleasure to work with, I’d do that again too. I’d love to collaborate with Jessica Hische but who wouldn’t?!
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
I’m a parent to three kids, so keeping at least two of them happy and healthy is the most refreshing creative challenge I know (sorry #3!).
This member profile was originally published in February 2023.