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Email: neil@greyletter.com


Portland, Maine

207 200 3470

Neil Patel is the designer behind Tetradtype, an independent digital type foundry that crafts custom and retail fonts for creatives. Before founding Tetradtype in 2009, Neil spent a decade working as a semiconductor process engineer specializing in sub-micron printing—an experience that compels him to balance the aesthetic with the technical. 

News

Greyletter will now be known as Tetradtype

Neil Patel

There is one thing we know for sure: that change is inevitable. A year or so ago, in the process of pursuing a trademark for the Greyletter name I ran into a snag. After receiving an opposition to my trademark filing, I realized that I didn’t have the resources to pursue a defense against a significantly larger company that was trying to protect their mark even though their claim was not entirely solid. As a result, I decided I needed to change the name of my foundry. 

Even though such an ordeal is an unpleasant task, the past year has brought other changes that dovetail nicely with transitioning to a new identity. In 2015, I started a joint type design venture with Mark Jamra called JamraPatel. This venture consolidated our commercial work under one umbrella and allowed us to specialize in non-Latin type design. As a result, I can now direct my foundry towards more experimental work. Tetradtype will continue to be my own personal retail type foundry where I can now focus on exploring designs that take a more mathematical and programatic tack. What you can expect from Tetradtype are designs that investigate unique systems, like TextTile, and lot more visual programming that integrates data and type. 

So here’s to change and exploration.