Type Designer / Typographer
Designs custom typefaces and typography systems for brands, publications and digital products. Includes creating fonts for local scripts and African languages, a specialist niche that brand studios and publishers pay premium rates for.
- AI exposure
- 44 of 100, moderate exposure
- Hiring trend
- Stable
- Hiring rate
- 30%
The role
What the work is, what it pays, and what it costs you.
At a glance
- Remote friendly
- Yes
- Freelance potential
- High
- Time to senior
- 8 years
- Adaptation level
- Moderate
A day in the role
Draws and refines letterforms in Glyphs, tests readability at multiple sizes, adjusts kerning pairs, and exports font files for client delivery.
What it pays
Kenyan market, per month- Entry
- KES 60,000-90,000
- Mid
- KES 120,000-180,000
- Senior
- KES 220,000-380,000
Exposure
How much of this a machine can already do, and how that was worked out.
Where this rating sits
1,516 rated careersRated above 56% of the 1,516 careers in the catalogue, which averages 43. Inside art and design the mean is 55, across 100 careers.
What the rating is made of
Share of recorded tasks- Machine does it
- 15%Software can already complete this work end to end.
- Machine assists
- 30%A person still decides, but the drafting is done for them.
- Person does it
- 55%Judgement, relationships and accountability that do not transfer.
Named task by task
Already automated
- Generating glyph skeleton concepts
- Auto-hinting for screen rendering
- Batch-generating weight variants
- Kerning pair suggestions
Still human
- Drawing and refining letterforms
- Designing consistent type family systems
- Testing legibility across sizes and media
- Licensing and font file production
- Client consultation on brand typography
Getting in
The routes into the role and what each one asks for.
What to study
8 courses- Certificate in Clothing TechnologyKsh 67,189a year
- Certificate in Fashion Design and Garment MakingKsh 67,189a year
- Certificate in Garment MakingKsh 67,189a year
- Diploma in CosmetologyKsh 67,189a year
- Diploma in Fashion Design ManagementKsh 67,189a year
- Diploma in Fashion Design and Garment MakingKsh 67,189a year
- Diploma in Fashion and DesignKsh 67,189a year
- Diploma in Fine ArtKsh 67,189a year
How people get in
Design or typography degree
3-4 yearsHigh cost
BFA Design from UoN, KU or ADMI
Self-taught + type design courses
2-3 yearsMedium cost
Type@Cooper or similar online programs
Who hires
- ADMI
- Storymoja
- Nation Media Group
- Standard Media
- Letraset Gallery Nairobi
Common misconceptions
Type design is just picking fonts
Custom type design involves drawing hundreds of glyphs, designing consistent systems and programming OpenType features.
No market in Kenya
Brands, publishers and media houses increasingly commission custom typefaces for brand distinction.
What happens next
How the role changes from here, and where it leads.
Supply and demand
- Demand
- 30
- Supply pressure
- 8
- Balance
- High demand
What to learn
- Glyph drawing
- OpenType programming
- Type system design
Related careers
Kenyan market notes
Very niche in Kenya but growing as brands seek distinctive local typography. Designing typefaces for African scripts (including Kiswahili and local languages) is an emerging opportunity.
Further reading
This role is rated 44 out of 100 today. Save it and the app keeps that number, then tells you by how much it has moved when the record is next reviewed.