Jack Powers

Scarlet Letters

 

The letter about Julie Brumlick is way off base. Scarlett Letters is an example for other small companies competing in volatile industries. Brumlick and a handful of early pioneers created the computerized typography business. I use Scarlett Letters as a primary case study in discussing how to run a typesetting company in the computer age.

Most of Brumlick's competitors in the class of 1970 are no longer in business. They've sold out, lost heart, or been blindsided by the relentless evolution of technology and markets. I'll take Julie Brumlick's "one-person act" over "corporate sense" any day. And so will Brumlick's clients. Entrepreneurs with vision are what make the difference, in any industry.

EDITOR-NOTE:

We profiled Julie Brumlick and her type shop, Scarlett Letters Inc., in "Hot Type" (Spotlight, September 1985). One of the top 10 typography companies in New York City, Scarlett Letters depends on owner Brumlick's one-one-one relationship with clients -- enough so that if she is out of town, the company's sales drop. One INC. reader's response to this strategy was that Brumlick ran a "one-person act" and she had "no corporate sense." He wondered what would happen if Brumlick "tired to running a type shop and decides to run off to Acapulco" ("Shortsighted," Letters, December 1985). Some of you disagreed.