Now that 2025 is wrapped up, I am continuing my annual tradition of looking back on what happened this past year. And boy, it was a lot. This is a fairly personal post, not really focused on typography, but maybe you can still take something from it for your own life 😊.
Taking a Break
After all my activities began to grow out of proportion, became more and more misdirected, and pushed me toward burnout, it was necessary to hit pause. I felt bad about this, but on the other hand, also liberated. Thanks to the Bigger Brighter Bolder Mastermind Community I joined, I started to see it differently and began packaging my typography expertise into something I could more easily sell. I’m still in that process, but it has already shown some effects. My biggest takeaway so far: I need to offer something that makes sense for both my ideal buyer and me so that it can pay off.
I figured out that my ideal clients are companies with a digital product that use type at scale, maybe even in a larger design system. Like an e-commerce, a publishing or governmental site. Knowing this, I can now identify and address these clients more easily. Of course, good typography pays off for everyone, always. But the biggest difference it makes is at scale. I’m happy I could already get two clients as a result, one of them is the City of Vienna, which I will tell you about in an upcoming article.
A New Talk
With that in mind, I wanted to create a new talk that shows the relevance of typography even for people who are not deeply into the topic. So I created my new talk “Bad Typography Kills” where I deliberately leaned into stand-up comedy elements. And it totally paid off, as it was so well received!
I performed it for the first time in a short version at STHML Xperience Conference and once in full at the wonderful Conversion Hotel Conference, and got an audience rating of 4.75 out of 5 and so many lovely comments, like this one:
“This could be a stand up show I would pay to watch! Incredibly informative, but super engaging and funny at the same time.”
Teodora – Online Marketer, feedback through our #CH2025 attendee survey
Right now I’m in the process of applying for UX conferences in 2026, if you have an idea where I could speak, let me know!
Font Friday Newsletter
To focus my activities, I paused the newsletter at 193 Font Reviews in March. This was an extremely hard decision to make. And I also realize how much I miss reviewing fonts and diving into the details. I still sent out new articles and videos when I created them.
- The list grew to 3,212 subscribers (+311 in 2025)
- Average open rate of 52%
- I reviewed 8 fonts and sent out 20 newsletters
My Accidentally Most Popular Video Ever
One video really got lucky this year, when I was asked to comment on the paper Oval Office Sign and got 70k views in two weeks from that 😂. Politics obviously sell. I also aligned my content more to topics that are a bit broader, showing the effects of bad typography while leaning more into comedy elements. This was a lot of fun. And I want to continue that approach of quality over quantity. One of my favorites this year was the Pope video.
Here are some stats:
- The channel grew to over 11,600 subscribers (+3,200 in 2025).
- In 2025, my channel had 177,773 views (+ 105% to 2024).
- I published 5 videos and 6 shorts.
- Held 3 live streams, one of them with a guest interview.
Earnings in 2025
Now, since focusing on speaking and consulting engagements, my revenue from Pimp my Type activities increased by 327% 🤯 compared to 2024.
| 6 Speaking engagements | € 4,757 |
| 5 Workshops (online and in person) | € 4,996 |
| Online courses | € 1,093 |
| Patreon (27 paying members) | € 316 |
| No Coaching Calls | € 0 |
| Buy me a Coffee donations | € 13 |
| Ad Revenue from YouTube | € 482 |
| ILT Affiliate program | € 0 |
| Consulting Work | € 13,000 |
| 2024 Total | € 24,657 |
A bit of context: I paused the billing on Patreon (as I paused the Font Friday newsletter) and also stopped promoting the online courses. Also, typography consulting still is not my main income source, I am still earning most of my money as a UI designer. But after 2025, I can see consulting jumping to number one on the list.
What’s Next?
In 2025, I mostly started to realign my actions and see Pimp my Type more as a business. That meant less content production, but more focus and a clearer offering, which is starting to pay off. This shows me it’s the right direction I’m taking. But I also miss reviewing fonts and writing articles. So I will bring it back in 2026, but now more focused on the effects of typography on UX and conversions, rather than fonts and the craft alone. So stay tuned, and thank you for following along on my journey!
How was the past year for you? What would you like to see for the future? Let me know in the comments!