Gerard Unger Scholarship 2019

In memory of the late Dr Gerard Unger, renowned Dutch type designer and educator, TypeTogether announces the Gerard Unger Scholarship (previously known as the Typeface Publishing Incentive Programme), an initiative to help promising typeface design students develop their careers. Started in 2014, this annual program supports and offers guidance to at least one selected project. The aim is to enable exceptional projects started during a course of study to be finalized and published commercially as soon as possible after the end of the course. The designer whose project is selected will receive feedback on their design and guidance from the entire TypeTogether team toward completing the family on a commercial basis. Additionally, a sum of money will be provided to allow the designer to continue working on the typeface after the course of study is over.

Who can apply


Any student enrolled in a postgraduate course in typeface design during the 2017–2018 or 2018–2019 academic years.

How to participate
Submit a project by email in PDF format to [email protected]. Required page size is A4. No more than 10 pages per submission. The file should include:
1. Your name and contact details
2. The course and institution in which you are studying
3. The name and contact details of key tutor in your program of study
4. The brief for your typeface (no more than 300 words)
5. Proofs of the typeface (include both details of large lettershapes and text setting)

Key dates


All projects received by March 31, 2019 will be judged. At least one winner will be selected and announced before May 1, 2019.

What the selected designers get: 


1. Mentoring 


Veronika Burian, José Scaglione, and the rest of the TypeTogether team will provide advice on the commercial, aesthetic, and technical sides of font-making. TypeTogether will offer feedback about design features, help with the testing procedures, and share knowledge, tools, and processes to control the quality of the final product. Mentoring is the core of this program and will be consistently available from the start of overviewing the contractual terms until the release the typeface.



2. Publishing

A publishing contract that includes the selected type families in TypeTogether’s retail library. This contract allows designers to opt out at any time and offers a 50% royalty rate, which is one of the highest rates in the industry (if not the highest). Designers retain all the rights and ownership of their work.

3. Funding


The selected designers will get a sum of EUR 2,500 after graduation. The purpose of this funding is so designers are able to support themselves while finishing their type families, just after finishing their postgraduate courses.

For more information about this program please contact us at [email protected].