Case study · 2024

Delve Fonts

A redesign that lives up to the type

Delve Fonts has been making beautiful typefaces since 1996. When Delve Withrington asked us to redesign and rebuild his website, his trust gave us room to do some really good work.

Most of Delve’s customers are designers. The site had to inspire confidence from the start — UI, performance, the smallest details. The web is a level playing field; the foundry that presents itself well wins the click.

“Faculty is great to work with: consistently professional, friendly, and responsive. From the initial consultation through delivery and support, they proved to be super knowledgeable and employed optimal solutions, with excellent design and amazing results.”

— Delve Withrington

01 · Personality per typeface

A foundry of sub-brands

The original pages for individual typefaces all shared the same template — same chrome, same buying options, same try-it box. Different content, identical container.

Continuo, Stenciletta, and Sketchnote in the original Delve Fonts design, all sharing the same template
Before · one template, three typefaces

We wanted each typeface to feel like its own sub-brand: still part of the Delve Fonts portfolio, but with its own personality. Color, voice, layout, and detail chosen to match the type itself.

Continuo, Stenciletta, and Sketchnote in the redesign, each with its own color palette and personality
After · one foundry, three personalities

02 · Edit anything

Type in context, not in a box

When you’re choosing a typeface, you want to feel what it’ll do for your work. The old “type here” playground was useful but limited — a small box at the bottom of the page.

So we made almost everything on each typeface page editable. Headlines, body copy, captions, callouts — click to change. Designers can shape the entire layout in the typeface they’re considering, before deciding.

Editing text directly on a Delve Fonts typeface page
Edit text directly on the page

03 · Galleries

Type in the wild

Delve curates a wonderful Instagram of his typefaces in use — restaurant signage, album covers, book jackets, posters. We wanted that same sense of possibility on the site itself.

A site-wide gallery shows the breadth of the work. Per-typeface galleries let visitors browsing Sketchnote see what Sketchnote actually looks like, used by designers, in the world.

The Delve Fonts gallery page, showing typefaces in use
The site-wide gallery
Per-typeface galleries for Rieven, Tome Sans, and Baudot
Per-typeface galleries · Rieven, Tome Sans, Baudot

Behind the scenes

A CMS that gets out of the way

Delve adds new typefaces, writes blog posts, and updates the site himself. The CMS had to be invisible — out of the way when he didn’t need it, fast and clear when he did.

“The results have been very positive: visitors and conversions, inquiries and email subscribers — all the metrics went up.”

— Delve Withrington

Correspondence Faculty · Boulder, CO

Working through an idea? Let’s talk.

Faculty works with a small number of clients at a time. If you want a second opinion before you commit, write to Chris directly.

A short note about what you’re building, where you are, and what you’re trying to figure out is a good place to start.

Write to
Studio
3200 Carbon Pl Ste 101
Boulder CO 80301-6135
Founded
2016
Principal
Chris Shiflett
Availability
Summer 2026