Eric Olson, (b. 1974) is typeface designer, founder, and partner at the Process Type Foundry. He attended the University of Minnesota intermittently, finally earning a degree in Graphic Design after dropping out and re-enrolling as dictated by the ups and downs of touring in a hardcore band. During his studies, he became inspired by Emigre magazine and took up typeface design. Naturally, those early efforts were futile but the process was exhilarating and rewarding. After graduation, he entered the professional world as a graphic designer by day – working at institutions like the Walker Art Center – and by night working as an unpublished type designer. Eventually, after drawing a lot of type and receiving encouragement from his colleagues, he left graphic design to design typefaces part-time while also teaching typography at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In 2002 he launched the Process Type Foundry.

After two years of moonlighting as a type designer, he decided to concentrate on work for the Foundry full-time and left his teaching position. This allowed more time to realize typefaces and accept commissions, but most crucially, time for rejecting and editing – the very cornerstone of typeface development. From this sprung families like Klavika, Stratum, and Seravek – solid hard-working typefaces the foundry has become known for.

In recent years, Eric’s attention has been focused largely on custom work. A range of commissions including a family of san serifs for The New York Times Magazine and a family for Thomson Reuters with Greek and Cyrillic support have occupied much of his time. Some of these custom typefaces will find their way to public release in 2010 along with other long-overdue releases.

When not in the studio, Eric can be found cycling or thinking about cycling. His fingers remain crossed for a George Hincapie victory at the Paris-Roubaix this spring.

Nicole Dotin, (b. 1974) is a typeface designer and partner at the Process Type Foundry. She earned a degree in photography from the University of Minnesota while also documenting the exploding mid-90s hardcore scene through a self-published magazine. Publishing made her realize that graphic design was a powerful tool that required further investigation, so she enrolled in the graduate program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, emerging with an MFA in Visual Studies. While at MCAD, she was exposed to typeface design, which culminated in the publication of her graduate thesis exploring the nomenclature of font vs. typeface.

Her route to the Process Type Foundry and typeface design was more a process of winnowing than a direct shot – first working as a professional graphic designer, then working part-time for the foundry, becoming focused on detailed typography and later teaching typography at MCAD. At some point in 2006, she overheard students discussing their study-abroad experiences and it was at that moment she decided to apply – successfully – to the type design program at the University of Reading in the UK. Before leaving the States, she initiated the foundry’s rural studio experiment which consisted of moving the foundry to a remote region of northern Minnesota for 6 months of work, reflection and swimming after lunch.

While at Reading, Nicole put her past experiences to work in making a typeface for continuous reading. A year later, she emerged with an MA in Typeface Design with distinction and the beginnings of a serif text typeface called Elena (see an early specimen). The typeface is scheduled for release sometime in the unnamed future.

When not in the studio, Nicole can be found doing any number of things since her interests tend to be wide: running, problem-solving, sewing, destroying unsuspecting opponents in Pente... you get the idea.

Abi Chase is the Foundry’s studio assistant and most recent addition. Being a Jill-of-all-trades, she handles a little bit of everything around the studio with a special emphasis on customer service.

One of Abi’s strongest skills, however, is graphic design. After a yearlong stint at Parsons The New School for Design, she graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Since then, she has taken on freelance projects for arts organizations like Midway Contemporary Art and currently works with the design department at the Walker Art Center on a part-time basis. Abi gravitates towards arts organizations because they allow her to be creative while being immersed in her interests – contemporary art, design and culture.

While not in the studio, Abi can be found biking around the lakes of Minneapolis, cooking with friends, attending gallery openings and events, watching really good and really bad films and wondering why Larry David understands her better than anyone else.