Making the Leap: Pearlfisher Partners with Monotype.

Adam and his team bring conceptual designs to life. As Head of Realization at Pearlfisher, Adam’s team is responsible for creating and releasing finished artwork and go-to-market brand assets. Through exceptional attention to detail, they ensure the work created by the Pearlfisher design team makes a flawless debut.

The New York and London- based brand design agency has a 30-plus year legacy of making consumer brands look good. From McDonald’s to BakeFace Doughnuts, Seedlip to Sipsmith Gin, Lucozade to Fruit Roll-Ups, these brands express themselves across hundreds, if not thousands of touchpoints in the digital and physical space.

Over the last year or so, Pearlfisher became a Monotype agency partner, and doing so has made life a lot easier for Adam and team. Organizing font files and tracking licensing information are just a few ways Monotype platform has made a difference. 

Before the partnership.

Before Monotype, Pearlfisher used a common, globally- standardized product for typefaces. However, it became outdated—which oftentimes resulted in the design studio utilizing outdated fonts.

For a design agency offering clients a high caliber of work while staying ahead of trends, this was not ideal. Plus, any new fonts added over the years had dubious origins.

“Over the years, we accumulated a variety of legacy fonts from numerous sources,” Adam explained. “We were not always aware of their origins.” This lack of a centralized administration system posed a continuous challenge for his team.

“We needed to transition to a more modern solution,” Adam stated. After learning about Monotype via industry colleagues, he decided to evaluate its potential. Within a few months of testing, both the New York and London offices were prepared to move forward.

A world of possibilities. 

Monotype swiftly became the primary resource for Pearlfisher’s designers, Adam said.

With access to 150,000 fonts, one-click sync into design programs, and built-in AI-powered search that finds fonts of any style, it saves the designers hours of time in the typeface discovery phase.

Two examples of Monotype’s initial integration with Pearlfisher are General Mills’ Fruit Roll-Ups brand – a huge American teenage iconic candy brand, and the midwestern donut seller, BakeFace (previously known as Doughnut Peddler). Pearlfisher sourced typefaces directly from Monotype and presented them through various rounds of design development and finalization.

For Adam and his team, having Monotype Fonts has streamlined the administrative work necessary to bring these projects to Realization—from physical packaging and signage, to anything in the online space. And it’s eliminated doubts or fears about improper licensing usage.

“Using Monotype has streamlined the entire process,” Adam stated. The days of “chasing down people and asking where fonts originated, and subsequently trying to figure out whether they’re licensed correctly,” are over.

Adam can now easily communicate important licensing information to clients. “From their perspective, what makes life easier is knowing that the licensing side of things is fully managed,” he said. Increasingly, he observes client brands adopting Monotype Fonts, adding another layer of seamlessness.

Overall, the efficiency the platform brings has let everyone in their role do what they do best: Designers can design without constraints, and Realization can execute smoothly. “From our team’s perspective, the agency partnership has been a huge success,” Adam said.

As for clients? They can rest assured that their brand is represented in the world, legally compliant, and to the highest standards of design.