When an external design agency approached Monotype in early 2004, looking for a “super-modern” font, Sebastian Lester went about crafting a completely unique letter set for the client.

The project was later put on hold, leaving Lester with a sketchbook full of conceptual ideas. Unwilling to let the proposed font fade away, Lester continued with his creation. The end results were the simple, sleek, mono-linear Neo Tech and Neo Sans designs. The fonts were published together on April 19th, 2004.

Despite its futuristic leanings, the Neo Tech design is easy to read and works well as a text font.

References:
Monotype: Neo Sans/Neo Tech Press Release
I Love Typography: An interview with Seb Lester
Linotype: Neo Sans and Neo Tech

Described as clean, versatile and “expressive without being distracting” by Lester, the Neo Tech design has been adopted and elaborated upon by a large number of designers. Since the font is such an adaptable and accessible typeface, it has been used in many different applications.

The Neo Tech design appears almost as much in print as it does online. A good example of the Neo Tech design in print form is the logo and graphic design bundle generated for Design Ecotech. It can be seen on the internet in certain parts of the Dribbble website, which is sometimes referred to as a visual version of Twitter for creative professionals.

In 2008, Data Robotics' Drobo™ storage device got a makeover when the company decided to use the Neo Tech font as a basis for the Drobo logo and accompanying published material. The Drobo rebranding received a lot of attention from the typography world and was touted as a great success by its parent company.