Ben Mitchell is the founder and director of Fontpad.

Ben has been visiting Southeast Asia since the 1990s, and lived in Thailand from 2002 to 2006. With a long-held interest in visual communication and especially different writing systems, he has become one of the foremost researchers of Southeast Asian scripts. He has designed and consulted on fonts for Burmese, Buginese, Chak, Cham, Khmer, Kwekor (Myainggyingu), Lao, New Tai Lue, Tai Phake, Thai, Tham and Vietnamese, and regularly makes research trips to Southeast Asia to study typography, lettering and handwriting, which help inform his professional practice.

He studied his masters in typeface design at the University of Reading, graduating with distinction in 2012. His research and dissertation traced the evolution of the Burmese alphabet from its Brahmi roots in inscriptions, palm-leaf manuscripts and traditional folding books, through its initial casting in metal type in 1776, to its modern-day form.

Ben’s approach takes a broad view of type design, seeking to build connections with people working in related disciplines such as language and cultural studies, palaeography, graphic design, lexicography, publishing and software engineering.

Ben has designed text, display, and user interface (UI) fonts, variable fonts, script extensions, retail and custom designs, and has consulted on many Southeast Asian typefaces.

Alongside the development of new type families, Ben teaches type design workshops, mentors students and professional type designers around the world, and enjoys talking about type at conferences.

Ben is based in Brighton, UK.