JIM FORD is a type designer and graphic designer, and joined Ascender’s type design and development team in June 2005.

A native to the Chicagoland area, Jim received his BFA in Graphic Design from Columbia College in Chicago. Jim developed an interest in typography and the book arts while attending Columbia. Professor and type designer George Thompson proved to be an invaluable mentor while Jim was growing as an aspiring type designer.

Before Ascender, Jim worked at a local advertising agency and was a freelance graphic designer, and was involved in a variety of projects from brand identity systems to publications, illustrations to rock posters.

Aside from developing fonts for Ascender, Jim also is actively designing a variety of original typefaces. One of his most recent projects is a font he co-designed with Steve Matteson as a lively 'upright italic' typeface for low-resolution devices.

Last year Jim began drawing Park Ridge, a book face inspired by Frederic Goudy's Deepdene typeface, and a commentary on Goudy's mature style. At nearly 800 characters, Jim has extended the character set with additional language support, typographic features, and a companion Greek.

Jim lives in Prospect Heights, Illinois with his girlfriend, son Riley, three cats and one dog. When he’s not designing typefaces or having fun playing dad, Jim is working hard on his other passion, music. He currently plays bass for two bands - The Big Nasty, and Three Machine. More recently, Jim has decided to take up the trumpet as well.