It’s hard to put it out like this … but I’ve decided to pause all content creation, including videos, Font Fridays, and my regular newsletters. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by a passion project that’s grown beyond your capacity to manage it, this might resonate with you.
Event though, it’s not an easy decision, I don’t see this as giving up. It’s creating space to rebuild something more sustainable. Here’s why I’m hitting pause and how this strategic break is helping me realign my creative energy.
From passion project to overwhelm
After almost five years of doing Pimp my Type, things have gotten a bit out of hand. What started with some fun videos to feed my urge to share my love for typography, turned into:
- A YouTube channel with over 80 videos,
- A weekly newsletter with almost 200 fonts reviewed
- Hosting an interview podcast and guesting on podcasts,
- Coaching calls, audits, and typography consulting,
- Online courses and workshops,
- Live streams,
- Giving talks,
- Managing Patreon and font raffles,
- Social media and short-form video content,
- … and even more 😅.
And this all next to having three little kids, and primarily working as a freelance UI designer. It was super fun so far, I could really build my expertise, learn and teach so much. But it’s also left me exhausted, and this is where it became obvious that it’s too much (which I also shared in my post reflecting on the past year). For a hobby, I took Pimp my Type too seriously, while from a business perspective it did not sustain me. I needed a clear strategy moving forward.
A fresh perspective
Luckily, the lovely Cara Thompson, data visualisation consultant and subscriber to my newsletter, introduced me to Bigger Brighter Bolder. I joined their Launch Programme and spent the past month discovering how I could better offer my typography expertise. What I came up with is tying it closer to UX, which aligns with my other main expertise as a UI designer.
Typography – yes! But what for?
My passionate about typography is unchanged. But I want to make it more tangible and obvious to decision makers – showing the impact bad typography has on the user experience. So if you are a UX lead and want to share your thoughts or experiences on this, please shoot me a message!
So, what’s next?
I’m going to focus more on Type Mentoring and guiding design teams how they can get most out of the typography of their digital product. I’m currently setting new goals and in that context, I’ll reevaluate all the things I’m doing while starting to reach out to people that will benefit from it.
I don’t want to let you down, but I also need this now. I want to make this more sustainable so that I can keep it doing. And it will not mean the end of Pimp my Type. I’ll come out of this more aligned and with fresh energy. So I’m happy to give you an update in the next weeks how things are going.
As always, I appreciate your thoughts 💌 and replies!
Well deserved. There’s more than enough on this site and your other locations to serve as a resource for newcomers while you’re recharging, and the topics and quality will draw the rest of us back when you’re ready. All the best until then.
P.S. We know what’s coming up. The natural progression is that you’ll start making your own fonts 😉
Thank you, Jeremy! And this definitely could happen one day, that I’ll make my own fonts 😉.