Profile

Founded in 2004, Just Another Foundry is oper­ated by Tim Ahrens and Shoko Mugikura – a type designer and a typo­graph­er, respect­ively.

Despite our unas­sum­ing name, we are uncom­monly skilled in the design and produc­tion of text and display fonts for print and screen. In addi­tion to devel­op­ing our retail library, we provide custom and custom­ised typefaces for small and large clients alike. As one of the first webfont providers, we consider on-screen use of our fonts as import­ant as print. Our exper­i­ence in dealing with licens­ing and tech­no­lo­gical issues of new media helps us develop the ideal font package for your project.

Tim Ahrens has a degree in archi­tec­ture from the University of Karls­ruhe (Ger­many), and holds an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading (UK). After his first font family, Aroma, was published by Linotype in 2000, he set up his own type label. He is also known for his program­ming projects such as the Font Remix Tools, Kern On, and research and writing about font related matters. He lectures regu­larly at various typo­graphy and web design confer­ences. Tim is also a special­ist in web font tech­no­logy and was working as a consult­ant for Typekit from 2010–2015. He helps a number of companies includ­ing Süddeutsche Zeitung, Font­Font, Type Together and Gerard Unger with font optimisation and production.

Shoko Mugikura has a degree in Visual Commu­nic­a­tion Design from Musashino Art University (Japan), and holds an MA in Book Design from the University of Reading (UK). After working at several design companies in London, she joined Just Another Foundry in 2011. She has spoken at several inter­national design conferences such as ATypI and TYPO Berlin and Type­Talks in Tokyo, and has taught multi-script typo­graphy at Hochs­chule der Bilden­den Künste Saar (Saar College of Fine Arts).

Contact

Just Another Foundry GmbH
Auweg 10g
85748 Garching
Germany

Telephone: +49 89 32389836
E-mail:saskme@justanotherfoundry.com

Managing Directors/Geschäftsführer:
Tim Ahrens, Shoko Mugikura

Registered at:
Amtsgericht München, HRB 215951

VAT ID number:
DE298488330

Awards & Reviews

2023

2021

2018

  • “Shoko Mugikura & Tim Ahrens” – Elliot Jay Stocks in 8 Faces

2016

  • “(Not) Just Another Foundry” – Sébastien Morlighem on Fontstand

2014

2013

2012

2011

  • JAF Lapture – Letter.2, Type Design Competition of the ATypI
  • JAF Herb – Letter.2, Type Design Competition of the ATypI
  • JAF Herb – Typefacts: Die besten Fonts 2010

2009

  • JAF Facit – MyFonts.de: “Facit

2007

  • JAF Zalamander – PAGE 01.2007

2005

  • JAF Lapture – PAGE 09.2005

Talks, Teaching & Workshops

Tim Ahrens

2022

  • ATypI conference (online), Tech Talks panel discussion: “Automated Kerning and Spacing: Present and Future”

2021

2015

2014

  • TYPO Day Nürnberg: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Tech­no­logy”)
  • Tag der Schrift 2014, Zürich: “Mehr wie Print! Weniger wie Print! – Neue Typografie im Web” (“More like print! Less like print! – New typo­graphy on the web”)
  • TYPO Day Düsseldorf: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Tech­no­logy”)

2013

  • TYPO Day Essen: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • Type Talk, Apple Store, Berlin: “Neue Typografie im Web” (“New Typography on the Web”)
  • TYPO Day Mainz: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • Webinale 2013, Berlin: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • Leipziger Typotage: “Mehr wie Print! Weniger wie Print!” (“More like print! Less like print!”)
  • TYPO Day Hannover: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • TYPO Day Stuttgart: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)

2012

  • Future of Web Design, Prague: “Web Fonts Backstage and On Stage”
  • Webfontday, Munich: “Das Ende der Kindheit. Vom späten (typografischen) Erwachen der Webseiten” (“The end of childhood. About the late (typographic) awakening of the web”)
  • TYPO Day Berlin: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • TYPO Day Köln: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)
  • Smashing Conference, Freiburg: “Web Fonts Backstage and On Stage”
  • Reasons to be Appy, London: “New font technologies for new media”
  • TYPO Day Hamburg: “Neue Medien, Neue Font-Techniken” (“New Media, New Font Technology”)

2011

  • Webfont production workshop at HTW Berlin
  • Webfontday Munich
  • Fonts fit fürs Netz, work­shop at Typo­gra­phi­sche Gesell­schaft München
  • Symposion “unsichtbar”, Typo­gra­phi­sche Gesell­schaft Austria, Raabs: “Eine Frage des Maßstabs: Fonts in opti­scher Größe” (“A Matter of Scale – Optically Sized Fonts”)
  • TYPO Berlin: “A closer look at Webfonts”

2010

2009

  • TYPO Berlin: “Eine Frage des Maßstabs: Fonts in optischer Größe” (“A Matter of Scale – Optically Sized Fonts”)
  • CPH Typo 09, Copenhagen: “A Matter of Scale – Optically Sized Fonts”
  • “Personal Views” ESAD lecture series, Porto
  • Robothon 2009, The Hague: “Font Remix Tools”
  • ATypI conference St Petersburg: “Optical sizes – size specific adjustments to type designs”, “Font Remix Tools”

2007

2006

2005

  • “Type Technology”, Moscow University of Printing Arts


Shoko Mugikura

2022

2021

2020

  • Type&, Tokyo: “Latin typo­graphy and pitfalls of using corporate fonts”

2016

2015

  • 6th Typography Meeting, Aveiro, Portugal
  • Typographische Gesellschaft München, preview of JAF Bernini Serif
  • 29th TypeTalks, Tokyo, “Latin typography in Japan – analysing the wrong conventions” with Akira Kobayashi and Masao Takaoka

2013

2012

  • Babel” Inter­na­tio­nal Type Sympo­sium at HfG Offen­bach: “Be­au­ti­fully complex Japa­nese writing systems” (Video)
  • TYPO Berlin: “Vertical? Horizontal?”

2011

  • Typotag, Munich: “Vertical? Horizontal?”

2010

  • ATypI conference Dublin: “Vertical? Horizontal?”
  • ICHLL5, University of Oxford: “The devel­op­ment of typo­graphy in the bilin­gual diction­ar­ies of Japan­ese and the Western languages from 1595 up to the end of the 19th century”

Books, Articles & Interviews

Tim Ahrens

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2008

2007


Shoko Mugikura

2022

2021

2017

  • Japanese edition of Jost Hochuli’s “Detail in typography” (supervision: Shoko Mugikura; translation: Hidetaka Yamasaki)
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 12: “Book typo­graphy vol. 6”
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 11: “Book typo­graphy vol. 5”

2016

  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 10: “Book typo­graphy vol. 4”
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 09: “Book typo­graphy vol. 3”

2015

  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 08: “Book typo­graphy vol. 2”
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 07: “Book typo­graphy vol. 1”

2014

  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 05: “Typography education overseas vol. 3”
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 05: “Type trip Berlin & Leipzig”

2013

  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 03: “Typography education overseas vol. 1”
  • TYPOGRAPHY (Japanese journal), Issue 04: “Typography education overseas vol. 2”

2012

Tools for Type Designers

Kern On
Kern On is a kerning assistant, as a plug-in for Glyphs, devised and coded by Tim Ahrens.
Font Remix Tools
The Font Remix Tools are plug-ins for Glyphs and FontLab Studio 5, devised and coded by Tim Ahrens.
Just Another Test Text Generator
Just Another Test Text Generator synthes­ises words based on specific char­ac­ter combin­a­tions, which creates a real­istic texture made mostly of non-words.