Proofof Words

About PoW

Get to know us!

Proof of Words is a digital type foundry established in 2023 by Léo Guibert and Fanny Hamelin between Helsinki and Paris. Our type design practice is driven by our careful attention to detail and our love for unconventional design and typographic curiosity. While we are constantly expanding our retail catalogue, we are also offering a range of type-related services.

Proof of Words is born out of the many print proofs that have been exchanged between us over the past years. It started in our classroom, and then we kept this habit of sharing our ongoing work and providing each other support and advice. Gradually, the idea came up to have a space of our own on the internet where we could publish the results of our collaboration. We consider Proof of Words as a meeting point to publish our typefaces or research and invite other type designers to collaborate!

Contact

Location

Paris, France &
Helsinki, Finland

Services

Custom fonts

Proof of Words can collaborate with you to provide a Custom Font that perfectly fits your project. Our typographic know-how can be deployed according to your needs, from a wordmark to a whole type family, ranging from Text to Display. Depending on your project, we can customize one of our retail typefaces or think with you of a design from scratch if you need a tailor-made solution.

Font production

Achieving a proper quality typeface goes further than a perfect design idea. At Proof of Words we offer various type production services to enhance the quality of your typeface, extend its potential use and answer new needs. It includes, but not only: diacritics & language coverage (Latin, Cyrillic), character set addition (symbols, small capitals), stylistic extensions (weights, italics), kerning and spacing optimizations.

Font engineering

Typeface design is not only about shapes but also technology. Fonts are softwares constantly evolving and offering new ways of using typography on our devices.

Through Proof of Words we offer our expertise for engineering services like Quality assurance, editing font data (font info, style linking), adding creative usages of your fonts with OpenType features (contextual rules, dynamic glyph substitutions), or generating new font formats (color fonts, variable fonts).

Partners

Léo Guibert

Léo Guibert is a type designer currently living in Helsinki. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in type design from École Estienne, Paris. In 2020, he graduated from Esad Type post-graduate course in Esad Amiens with a research about English Private Press typefaces. He works as an independent freelancer, collaborating with various international type foundries.

Based

Helsinki (FI)

From

Toulouse (FR)

Fanny Hamelin

Fanny Hamelin is a type designer based in Paris. She graduated in 2018 with a Master’s degree in type design from école Estienne, with a project focused on the profusion of typographic styles in the 19th century. Since then, she has worked on freelance projects and collaborated with various type foundries, graphic designers and cultural institutions.

Based

Paris (FR)

From

Paris (FR)

Extra

Jurys

  • Graduation jury, June and September 2023
    Mastère Direction de création, Campus Fonderie de l’Image [FR]

  • Graduation jury, January and June 2022
    DNMADE Option Typographie, École Estienne [FR]

Talks

  • Graphisme.Design, 7 December 2023
    Conference on type design work, Université Paris-8 [FR]

  • Les Puces Typo #14, 25 May 2024
    Conference on the creation of Proof of Words, Licensing system and Designs

  • TDC 69 x ECV, 27 May 2024
    Conference on the creation of Proof of Words, Licensing system and Designs

Publications

  • Typodarium 2025, Verlag Hermann Schmidt
    with PoW Alara & PoW Garnier
  • Typodarium 2024, Verlag Hermann Schmidt
    with PoW Covenant & PoW Limerick
  • Graphic Languages: A Visual Guide to the World’s Writing Systems, 2023, Oliver Häusle
    with PoW Garnier
  • Dossier Scriptorium de Toulouse, 2022, Juliette Flécheux, Éditions 205
    with Savon

Teaching/Workshops

  • Thesis Advisor, December 2023, Aalto University [FI]
    Technical and theoretical support on variable fonts for MA gradution student.
  • Arabic Letter Lab, August 2022, Studio Eyen [JO]
    Technical and software teaching for Arabic type design students
  • Alphabettes Mentorship Program, 2022
    Tutorship and backup on type design project

Thanks

Shout out!

We want to warmly thank all the people who believed in us and supported us from the beginning until now. Samar and Quentin for their generous support; Bottex Elsensohn for our landing page design; the DSAA and our former classmates; Frank Jalleau, Michel Derre and Mathieu Réguer for being important mentors; Thierry Blancpain for his piece of advice; James Edmonson’s podcasts that gave us strength and confidence; and of course, our beloved parents!

Website coded by F451.

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