Ninan Chacko (AMP 158, 2000) was on vacation in Turin, Italy, when he stopped to snap a photo of a street sign. In the picture, all you can see is the name: Via Roma. But for Chacko, the CEO of Monotype, the world’s largest type seller, the classic letters told the whole story. The sharp angle of the point of the v, the elegantly cupped serifs of the i, the soft curve of the r: It was clear that, on this street, you would find a high-end shopping experience. “It instantly conveyed elegance to me,” he recalls.

Chacko hasn’t always understood how type shapes his response to the world. He spent most of his career in travel and in private equity. In 2019, the private equity firm HGGC acquired Monotype for $825 million and recruited Chacko in 2021 to run it. At Monotype, he learned to view type differently—and he also helped the company view the opportunities for a 21st-century type marketplace differently.

Monotype got its name from the Lanston Monotype Machine Company, a printing machine manufacturer and type foundry in Philadelphia, established in 1887. Today, in addition to the thousands of fonts and trademarks the company owns—a list that includes Helvetica, Frutiger, Avenir, Palatino, Optima, and Gotham, among numerous other well-known names—Monotype offers typefaces from more than 4,000 designers and foundries, a total of well over 200,000 options.

Until recently, these fonts were licensed to designers on a perpetual basis. If you bought a font, you had the right to use it anywhere, forever. But the business model is changing. Chacko likens it to the evolution of music sales, from analog purchases to digital purchases, to digital streaming platforms, in which you pay for access but not for perpetual ownership. Monotype Fonts, the company’s font-subscription platform, Chacko says, is the iTunes of fonts. And as with Apple, Monotype’s decision to embrace this model is changing the way users discover, prototype, and manage fonts.

Monotype is expanding globally, adding to its range of typefaces and to its sales force at company headquarters in Woburn, Massachusetts, as well as at offices in London, Berlin, New Delhi, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Strongest in the Latin typefaces, where the company got its start, Monotype is growing the number of offerings available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other Asian languages. For organizations creating a global brand identity, Chacko says, worldwide representation is essential.

A brand’s visual identity—its logo, colors, and, of course, fonts—is more important than ever in the fast-paced digital world, Chacko explains. Together, these ingredients make a brand quickly identifiable and easily distinguished from competitors and imitations. And Chacko and Monotype are already looking ahead: “In the metaverse, the brands that you’re used to dealing with, or the brands you want to discover in that high-fidelity digital environment, are going to need to be even more visually distinctive.”

How to: Use typefaces to shape your customer’s experience

Look for every opportunity.
Few companies think to do a brand audit focused on typography, leading to a muddled visual identity, says Chacko. “One of the easiest things you can do is ask, ‘Where are the opportunities for me to come across with more integrity, fidelity, and consistency?’”

Know what message you are sending.
Typefaces elicit emotions, Chacko says, and there’s data to help understand how consumers respond. “There is a big difference, for instance, in how consumers rate typefaces for reinforcing feelings of trust. I don’t know any brand in the world that doesn’t want to be earning trust.”

Don’t get stale.
“Brands need to refresh themselves,” Chacko says. “My sense is that the timeframe is about every five years or when a company is thinking about entering a new market.” The key to building a new brand identity: Take into account both your visual legacy and your current objectives.

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