Quality and Value
Finding quality made typography, and getting the best value can be just as important as the look of the font selection itself. Today's digitized type is available with the same range of quality as any other commercial product. Designers know the difference when attempting to use a knock-off font compared to having a master crafted family of typefaces in their hands. There are a few ways to make the most of the hunting and gathering process when looking to add to your own toolbox of fonts.
Sources
Today's font sources can be found as large retailers such as MyFonts, FontShop and Veer. Representing for many foundries large and small, they make it easy to find a variety of fonts by multiple designers in one location. In contrast and with it's own appeal, there are many independent foundries bringing us some superb and prestigious type as such by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Jeremy Tankard and MvB Fonts. An online search for the name of the font you are looking for will likely provide you with the source and foundry to buy from. And like the stock photography industry, numerous foundries have embraced e-commerce making fonts available as immediate downloads; which can keep a project alive when a deadline is eminent and there is no time to wait for a physical delivery. For the most part prices seem to be competitive between the options of sources making the choice of where to buy more of a convenience than anything else.
Whether you buy direct from the source or from a reseller, remember that fonts are like any other software, they require proper licensing and the royalties that a designer receives when you make a purchase only gives us more opportunity to see what other wonderful prolifications these unsung heroes have to offer.
The Font Research Department Is In
Some font retailers offer additional services with their expertise such as custom services like corporate fonts, logo fonts and font identification help for the times that you only know what it looks like and not the name. Some sites have automated font id tools that can come in handy in a pinch. Identifont walks one thru a series of questions narrowing down options by what kind of letterforms are within your perimeters and then provides showings of possible matches. "WhatTheFont" by MyFonts actually compares your digital file to their database of typefaces. And if all you have to go from is your memory, the sophisticated TypeNavigator developed by Hansjörg and Robert Stulle (presented by FontShop) is a superb and addictive search mechanism.
Try Before You Buy
A fun and useful feature that some font sites have implemented is the ability to test-drive the font before making the purchase commitment. The font samplers often have clever names attached to them, like IHOF's TypeCaster™, or Veer's Flont™, and Émigré's Typetease™. Some sites provide a range of features with their samplers such as viewing fonts side by side, displaying characters in a range of point sizes, printing the images, and linking a URL with your own customized sample. All of which can save time and money when the final design choice is still pending.
Read All About It
Foundries love to show off their wares. Most font sites have mailing lists, or e-news that you can opt-into, which is a great way to hear about what promotions and special pricing are being offered, as well as to see what's new and "hot". Often the limited edition printed catalogs and type specimens that foundries publish become collector's booty for their design and artistic qualities. Émigré's magazines and catalogs are a great example of this phenomenon. Recently I've been enjoying Rian Hughes' Device Fonts Ten Year Itch, which is a cool and beautifully smart little book showing off a decade of type talent. The cool stuff doesn't always come in print form either. FontShop's Calendar is a perfect example of a successful digital exploration by font designers that is offered free with a click.
The First One’s Free
Another way to explore good type without an initial cost is to find the foundries that offer free fonts. In this case I don't mean the quick and dirty 1001 free font sites, but the reputable foundries releasing a teaser as a limited time offer. Sometimes these are announced in e-news, and often they are available just from the website. FontShop and MyFonts seem to keep this feature regularly in their repatoire.
More Is Less
Depending on your font needs and budget there are a few ways to stretch the dollar to get the most from a purchase. Some foundries have gathered popular favorites, best sellers, or fonts by theme, and made them available as special collections with a price tag that is much less than if one purchased each font family individually. A few good examples are, Linotype's Font Compilation Value Packs, Bitstream's Cambridge Collection, and FontFont's Select Libraries CD.
And if it's within reach, licensing the complete library by a foundry offers an expanse of options to a designer without having to obtain them piecemeal. One tip to remember is foundries often run specials near the end of the 2nd and 4th quarters of the year (budget closing times), reducing the price of their treasure troves at a fraction of the regular cost.
Just Can’t Get Enough
When your thoughts turn to fonts when you aren't a consumer, there are other places to go to find sympathetic kin in your passion for typography. Being involved in, and supporting the type community can be an inspiring and educational journey. There are forums for folks like you and blogs that announce news, and ask and answer questions about all aspects of type and design, such as Typographica, and Speak Up. There are also some great events put on by tireless and wonderful Typophile's such as the aforementioned's own Film Festival, and SOTA's yearly TypeCon. These events are a great way to meet the font designers themselves and the folks that use them as well as engaging in workshops that delve further into the technical process, business and philosophy of typography. Who knows?, maybe your own HandFont will one day be along side Herman's swashbuckling Zapfino.
More Apple
More News
iPad Costs
iSuppli Corp., which generally waits until it can actually get the new Apple product to estimate its production cost, has decided to forgo hands on examination in the case of the iPad. They have--from just looking at it, it's amazing--decided the base model only costs $219.35 for Apple to produce. According to AppleInsider the base model won't make Apple anywhere near as much profit as the 32 GB model with 3G wireless priced at $729...that one reportedly costs only $287.15 to produce.
That's some profit! No wonder Apple execs have said they'd stay nimble on pricing! With demand for the iPad under scrutiny and this week's news that the "Take Picture" hint was removed from the Address Book app in the iPad simulator even we are starting to wonder if it's not worth waiting for the 2nd generation.
Trust us, it's painful to say.
Google Challenges the Internet
"Think Big" indeed. This time, Google is setting its sights on the very way we transmit information and asking people from around the country to nominate their city or state to be included in an ultra-high speed open internet network of Google's building. Set to include anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people, this network will boast 1GB per second fiber optic connections that Google reps are hoping will bolster developer creativity, test new ways to build the infrastructure and challenge internet service providers to band together to create a better internet instead of shunning change to maintain their bottom lines.
This is huge news, and we hope our city is on the receiving end of the new interwebs...here's the official Google Blog if you want to read it all in detail or submit your community.
Dogs on Twitter
From the country that's given us karate and karaoke comes the newest iPhone app: that's right, Japan's Index Corp. has announced the release of "Bowlingual," the dog emotion translator. Latest in a long line of technological advances, this app (to be released this summer) analyzes Fido's bark and puts it into one of six categories, like "needy." Or "happy." Then it adds a caption based on the emotion and allows you to snap a photo of your pooch in its current mood; as if that weren't enough it can modify that photo to enlarge your pet's eyes...oh...so cute.
Seriously, the app is set to sell for $5 and will post your pet's barks to Twitter. Silly? Yes. Fun? Probably!!
Will you let your dog speak his mind? Tell us here.
