Monotype Imaging, a British company that was started in the 1800s, was asked to improve the look and feel of today’s handsets, using expertise the company invented in 1897!
The company is helping to make classic British fonts - lettering designed to make reading easier and to convey a mood - available to mobile phones.
Monotype has developed Flipfont, an application that lets customers of mobile phone company 3 choose the funkiest font for their Nokia handsets. The service could be extended to all modern handsets.
Until now, mobile users have been limited to one workmanlike font, also seen on vending machines. But the lettering you use speaks volumes about your personality, explained psychologist and font expert Allan Haley, director of words and letters at Monotype Imaging.
Your font says a lot about you, whether you are a business or a person, he argued. This is why all top business brands have their own lettering, designed to convey some of the emotions they want associated with that company.
“A font is a way of personalising your phone. The font design exudes a feel,” explained Julie Strawson, marketing director for Monotype. “Just as the fonts for The Sun exude a maverick sense of fun, your own fonts can give your text messages, or the look and feel of your phone, a particular energy.” 
Incredibly, the mobile phone industry has not latched on to this element of human communication yet. Techies know how to make machines talk to each other. The print industry knows how to make the interface with humans, argued Strawson.
“Designs range from the light-hearted and playful to those that suggest boldness and swagger,” said Allan Haley, director of words and letters at Monotype Imaging.
Monotype created the first custom made font for The Sun’s sister paper, The Times. Times New Roman font is accredited with creating the look and feel and strong brand image that helped make ‘The Thunderer’ become the world’s most famous newspaper.
Monotype plans to make fonts available to eBooks too. “We want to make digital age a warmer, more emotional place,” said Strawson. “At the moment, cyberspace is as cold and functional as an engineer’s toolbox. We want to make it more friendly.”
Monotype even plans to give vending machines a full fontal makeover too.