Monotype Expands Inkwell with Four New Styles Inspired by the Freedom of Handwriting

• Inkwell Antique, Formal, Chancery, and Ornaments add new voices to the connected family.
• Designers can shift tone from formal to playful without leaving one coherent type family.

WOBURN, Mass., Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Monotype Imaging Inc., a global leader in type and technology, today announced the expansion of Inkwell^®, an expressive type family inspired by the natural shifts, gestures, and imperfections of handwriting. Four new additions, Inkwell Antique, Formal, Chancery, and Ornaments, broaden the family's creative range while retaining its distinctive handwritten character.

Designed by Jonathan Hoefler beginning in 2004, Inkwell was one of the first type families to interpret a broad range of typographic styles through the aesthetic of handwriting. Jordan Bell joined the project in 2015, helping develop the family for its 2017 release by Hoefler&Co. Its seven original styles — Serif, Sans, Script, Blackletter, Tuscan, Open, and Condensed — each span six weights. The expanded Inkwell family is now available in Monotype Fonts, Monotype Connect, and MyFonts.

Bell, now Senior Type Designer at Monotype, led the latest expansion, completing three additions that extend Inkwell into new historical, formal, and graphic territory, and adding an original set of Ornaments of his own design.

"Inkwell has always been a passion project — one built around the joy of making and using type," said Jordan Bell, Senior Type Designer at Monotype. "With this expansion, our little universe of hand-drawn styles has expanded further, giving people more ways to create hierarchy, shift between typographic voices, and bring an expressive, human quality to their work."

The designs reflect the physical behavior of writing through overlapping strokes, varied structures, simplified forms, and irregular transitions. These shared details allow the styles to be used independently or combined to introduce hierarchy, contrast, and personality while maintaining visual continuity.

Inkwell is already at work on restaurant menus, wine lists, museum copy, and maps. Together, the additions give designers more ways to use Inkwell across branding, publishing, packaging, signage, hospitality, cultural work, and identity systems, as well as playful applications including badges, labels, and illustration.

A Typeface That Speaks in Many Voices
The idea behind Inkwell began with a map. While designing materials for his wedding at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Jonathan Hoefler wanted lettering that could sit naturally alongside casual illustration. Conventional type made the map feel too official, while formal calligraphy felt overly elaborate. The goal was something informal but considered, expressive without appearing immature — and the answer was handwriting.

Hoefler developed Inkwell as a comprehensive family of pen-drawn alphabets, giving designers the tools to establish hierarchy and shift tone while maintaining a consistent visual identity. Working together, Hoefler and Bell extended the concept across six weights, from the fine lines of a technical pen to the expressive force of a permanent marker. The latest expansion adds four new voices across 24 styles.

"Inkwell began with my desire to give typography the flexibility and expressiveness of handwriting beyond just the usual modes of cursive and block print," said Jonathan Hoefler. "Jordan's incredible facility with the pen made him a wonderful partner for not only developing Inkwell's original styles, but exploring the beginnings of new styles together, and now introducing his own creations to the Inkwell family."

Expanding Inkwell's Creative Range
Each new addition gives designers a different way to create emphasis, atmosphere, and personality:

• Inkwell Antique, inspired by ornamented lettering from the Victorian era, adds historic character for branding, packaging, posters, hospitality, and editorial design.
• Inkwell Formal offers a new twist on the classic engraver's script, using contextual and position-specific characters to preserve natural handwritten variation for hospitality, events, wine labels, and luxury branding.
• Inkwell Chancery draws on Renaissance writing traditions, with swash capitals and contextual alternates, creating a useful contemporary family for publishing, museums, cultural institutions, and ceremonial work.
• Inkwell Ornaments extends the family beyond letterforms with charming emoji and illustrations, along with arrows, pointing hands, musical symbols, weather devices, and cartographic elements — bringing Inkwell back to its origins in mapmaking.

Inkwell Antique, Formal, Chancery, and Ornaments are now available through Monotype Fonts, Monotype Connect, and MyFonts.

Explore the complete Inkwell family.

About Monotype
Monotype Imaging Inc. is a global leader in typography and branding, offering design assets, technology solutions, and expert insights to empower brand expression and engagement. The company partners with leading type foundries to deliver the broadest inventory of high-quality typefaces in the world.

Further information is available at www.monotype.com. Follow Monotype on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Monotype and MyFonts are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions. Monotype Fonts and Monotype Connect are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions. Inkwell is a registered trademark of The Hoefler Type Foundry, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Media Contacts:
Charlotte Simcock
Head of Global Public Relations for Monotype – Global
[email protected]

ThoughtLDR for Monotype – US/UK
[email protected]

Tanja Koschade
KOSCHADE PR for Monotype – DACH
[email protected]

SOURCE Monotype