Highlights from 5+1 hosted by Firm

On Thursday, December 11th, the last 5+1 event of the year took place in Milan and was hosted by Firm.

Unfortunately, we reached the end of the year with the fourth session of 5+1. This time, we were hosted by Firm, a branding and type design agency based in Milan, which is also the organizer and curator of Typespotting, an independent fair dedicated to type design.

For those who know Mattia, Luca, and Armando, the three founders of the studio, the informal and convivial atmosphere was no surprise. As always, we talked about many different topics, but this time the focus was deeper: Firm’s management structure, the relationship between branding and type design, client management, and the shared need to pursue something meaningful alongside daily client work.

Following the order of the presentation, we first explored Firm’s organizational structure, specifically how they work with freelance collaborators and manage a network of more than 50 professionals. This system allows them to assemble complementary, highly skilled teams tailored to each client’s needs. At the same time, Firm makes their space available to collaborators who are part of this professional network. In this sense, Firm feels closer to a service platform than to a traditional agency.

If you attended Typespotting over the past two years, you may already have a sense of how Firm approaches type design. They see it as a programming tool, rather than simply a typeface. This is why they consider custom fonts to be one of the most powerful assets in contemporary branding projects: flexible, adaptable, and free from rigid guidelines—allowing clients to simply type and create.

“A font today, with outputs that change rapidly, is an incredible asset, considering that you don’t have to follow guidelines.”
Mattia Bonanomi

Last, but not least, starting from a question raised by one of the participants, we discussed the importance for designers to channel creativity into independent projects—spaces where ideas can exist freely, without constantly having to converge with a client’s vision.

As always we would like to thank our sponsor Readymag — who not only supported the event but also made it possible to build our dedicated 5+1 website through their platform — and our supporters ViewSonic, Paper&People, Presspoint Milano, Glyphs, and Birra Castello.

A special shout-out to Zetafonts for contributing amazing materials and goodies for our participants.