Thomas Phinney Email & Phone Number

Portland, Oregon Area

Forensic typography and font expert witness work (including detecting forged documents based on fonts and printing, and determining whether documents meet legal requirements for point size); consulting. Expert witness work as covered by BBC News, Wired, NPR, the Washington Post, etc.Consulting, presentations, workshops, and writing on text, typography and fonts; type design; global text/typography; workflows in the creation and use of fonts and text. Consulting clients have included Oxford University Press, Google, and Microsoft.

Global

Crafting Type is an intense 3-day workshop with one to four instructors, where beginners learn how to design typefaces and intermediate type designers boost their skills. It is run at cities around the world: 13 cities in seven countries so far. Thomas has taught 12 Crafting Type workshops, as well as four similar workshops at other conferences and events (WebVisions, Typo Day).

In my previous stint as a board member from 2004-2020, I stepped down following our institution of term limits. ATypI membership re-elected me to the board in Feb 2023, and the board elected me to the open executive position as Secretary, and then to a one-year term as the new President (Sept. 2023 – Sept. 2024).

Wrote nine articles (listed and linked below)

ATypI is the international typography association, the primary professional organization for typography, type designers and font enthusiasts worldwide. Elected to the board in 2004, appointed Treasurer in 2006. Re-elected to the board in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016. Switched from Treasurer to Secretary in 2015. Stepped down as Secretary in 2019, and left the board in 2020 because we instituted term limits.

Portland, Oregon Area

As VP, and later CEO of FontLab, I was responsible for business operations, product management and customer relations, and provided guidance on marketing, development processes, and product details. We launched a completely new version of the flagship FontLab app on a new codebase.

Products/services such as WebINK, Universal Type Server and Suitcase Fusion, providing web fonts and font management solutions to the enterprise, workgroups and individuals. Also co-designed a new Extensis logo (used until 2019).

In my 11+ years at Adobe, I engaged in a wide range of activities: business, technical, design, writing, and evangelism. My first notable accomplishment was coordinating the changing elements of the fonts subsystem of PostScript 3. My stint in Core Technologies gave me experience managing a major application’s core technology needs (color management, printing, PDF export, etcetera). My responsibilities at various points included driving and specifying typographic functionality within Adobe applications, managing the type group’s relationships with Microsoft and Apple (including the OpenType standard), assisting/evangelizing third-party developers, managing the fonts beta test program, writing documentation and marketing materials, specifying and acquiring mission-critical custom fonts for a range of global languages, and acting as a resource in a variety of technical, business, legal and product management areas. My own typeface, Hypatia Sans, supports multiple writing systems (including Greek and Cyrillic), and was used as a registration incentive for Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications.

Created and taught a course in font production (cross-listed as senior level undergrad course and graduate course)

Ms, Printing / Typography

MS in “Graphic Arts Publishing” specializing in design and typography.

Mba, Business