Design studio sees need; launches a foundry—this is the more common progression. We’ve seen this countless times, and for good reason. Design teams are helping clients with increasingly complex briefs, often requiring a breadth of interwoven expertise. &Walsh is just one recent example (Type of Feeling launch news here and featured in our 2025 Typography Report). Dinamo, out of Berlin, is another (they recently graced our Type Tuesday column for their collaboration with Pentagram on The Joslyn’s type-led rebrand).
Less typical is the reverse scenario: foundry launches design studio. Yet, this is exactly what the award-winning Commercial Type team has done. As a foundry, Commercial Type has been shaping design through typography for two decades for brands such as Puma, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The New York Times, and MoMA.
“While it might seem strange to build an identity – let alone a whole design studio – from the typefaces out, it made a lot of sense to us to leverage our decades of experience in creating one of those foundational elements of a brand,” said Dino Sanchez, head of the design studio.
Part of the Commercial Type team: co-founder and partner, Christian Schwartz (left); head of design, Dino Sanchez (seated)
Type is a foundational element of an identity system, along with the logo and color palette. A typeface is how a brand’s voice is made visual.
Dino Sanchez, head of design
The Commercial Type Design Studio offers a full range of branding services, from visual strategy and color palettes to brand communications and logo design. The launch features work for clients such as The David Prize, Lifescience Logistics, and Parallel Creative Partnership Studio.
Typography is the throughline of a brand’s visual language as the brand evolves through the years. Even though the letterforms might change, sometimes imperceptible to the consumer, typography is often the bridge for visually reconsidering brands, even centuries-old ones.
Type foundries like Commercial Type are leaning into full-service design, yet another sign of typography’s undeniable role in our visual culture.
Type is how you make your voice visual and helps your message stick with people. Without the right typeface, it’s a lot harder to seem credible.
Christian Schwartz, partner and co-founder
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