We are
Pathfinders.
We are
Letter Lovers
ABOUT US
We are Pathfinders. We are Letter lovers. We love reading, studying, and of course, designing them. We are passionate about making small things beautiful, even if most people do not notice them.
We are an independent type design foundry; our fonts are exclusively licensed through this site. We have a strong focus on research. We like asking questions, and we seek answers through the craft itself. We see ourselves as vehicles of the culture and it is our responsibility to make the field of typography as deep and rich as possible. Letters are tiny, they get easily banalized.
Thanks for being here.
About You
There are many you’s very welcome here. You all share a common attraction towards type, and you share it with us, too
You might be a non-designer with a good sensitivity to type and looking to give your office documents a more distinctive and sophisticated look than your peers. You might be an Art director looking not only for type but also for someone to discuss the typographic details of your projects or even collaborate with. No doubt you are in the right place then.
In any case, you all share a common attraction towards type, and you share it with us, too. You are not someone that looks for big discounts and permanent sales offers. If so, there are way better places than this one to also get great fonts. Type industry is a modest sector constantly balancing for survival. We have huge respect for our fonts, and we invest thousands of hours before releasing each one of them, involving several well-prepared and experienced professionals. Believe us when we say they are cheap assets ready to help you to their best. The good thing is that you already know, and that is why you are still here.
Pathfinders
Octavio Pardo
Co-Founder & Type Designer
Octavio Pardo is a graphic designer specializing in typography design. In 2010, he graduated from the Master’s program in Typeface Design at the University of Reading. Since then, he has collaborated with some of the best typographers and designers in the world, including Tobias Frere-Jones, Jean François Porchez, Type-Together, Leftloft, and Sharp Type.
He has worked as a consultant for Google and is a guest lecturer at the University of Gjøvik, Norway. He teaches courses and gives lectures on design and typography around the world, in places such as Mexico, Singapore, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, and Kyiv. His work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club of New York, Communication Arts magazine, the ADG Laus Awards, and the Red Dot Awards. In 2023, he earned a Ph.D. from the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture, Design, and Conservation with a thesis studying the possibilities of ultra-flexible variable fonts and artificial intelligence applied to readability for people with vision problems.
Elena Ramírez
Co-Founder & Web Manager
Elena Ramírez is an audiovisual communicator by training and a UX & UI and frontend designer by profession. She is a co-founder of Ashler Design and Pathfinders and is in charge of building and caring for the digital side of the Foundry. Elena is an expert in HTML, CSS and javascript. She has worked hand in hand with independent digital foundries such as Sudtipos, Novatype, Typerepublic or Letterjuice, programming e-commerces, well recognized in the sector.
Her interest in the application of online typography has led her to give talks on the subject at ATypI and Granshan. She teaches at TipoG and in the Master’s Degree in Cultural Studies at the Carlos III University. She has developed projects for large clients such as Google and Telefónica, and for smaller and very diverse companies such as architecture studios, fashion shops, or innovative technology companies. She is been recognized by the Laus Awards, the Type Directors Club of NY, and the European Design Awards.
COLLABORATORS
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”
African Proberb
Joancarles Casasin
Font Ingeneering & Type Design
Homo Sapiens. Accidentally born in Barcelona, consciously F.C. Barcelona fan. Joancarles Casasín is a type designer, font engineer and bits-of-code writer. Self-taught in all disciplines, he got involved in the type design world back in the mid-nineties, the Old Skool. Joancarles taught in most of Barcelona’s design schools and sporadically gives masterclasses and workshops at Spanish Universities about how to use or design type and on programming for graphic and type designers. His interests always combined both the drawing and the tech-related sides of type design.
María Ramos
Type Designer
After earning a degree in Advertising, María began her career as a graphic and editorial designer. In 2015, she graduated in the MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading. Based in Santiago de Compostela, she is an independent designer and researcher focused on type. Her work has been recognised by international design awards like Type Directors Club or the European Design Awards, and well-known conferences like Design Indaba or ATypI.
Juan Luis Blanco
Type Designer
Juan Luis Blanco is a type designer based in Zumaia (Spain). After a career in graphic design, he attained an MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading in 2014. Since then he has been involved in several multi-script projects comprising Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Tifinagh scripts. Currently he combines calligraphy & typography workshops with typographic projects, either custom or retail, that focus in the Basque lettering style as well as multi script type families.
David Liberal
Graphics & Motion
David Liberal is a graphic designer with a strong focus on motion graphics. Over the years, he has developed his practice around animation and visual storytelling, bringing movement and depth to a wide range of design projects. He collaborates with several companies as an independent professional, working across branding, editorial design, and dynamic visual content. His versatility allows him to adapt his skills to different contexts while maintaining a distinctive and consistent design approach.
Selected clients
Our clients are the best, because they are ours and we love them. But it turns out that, in many cases, they are actually the best.
Some people that think we are good
