May 20, 2021
Absolutely! We’ve found that clients are very open to purchasing a bespoke font in order to elevate their brand.
Suggesting a unique brand font can be a great selling point for your creative solution, as it’s another way for the client to differentiate and distinguish themselves as unique within their industry.
When purchasing fonts always, ALWAYS check the usage rights with the individual font foundry or designer you wish to purchase from. Usage rights vary greatly from designer to designer and may change depending on its final use and media type (i.e. logo, brand collateral, video, web etc).
It’s pretty easy to check, and if you’re not sure what the legal mumbo jumbo is saying, ask! Reach out to the font foundry or typographer and ensure you’ve got it right.
We want you to avoid the pain of downloading a gorgeous sample font to use for a logo, only to find out (after the client has approved the design) that it will cost you thousands of dollars to use the font in a logo.
You may not have to give up on that font completely however. The same font may only be a couple of hundred dollars if you are using it for a different purpose (for example, print publication, stationery or website). So please make sure you check before finalising your client presentations!
Why do some typographers charge so much to use the font in a logo? Usually this is the case for meticulously crafted fonts with unique features. If you decide your client’s brand is going to be a perfect match for the font, it might be worth the investment! Just be sure to have a really strong rationale ready and run it by the client prior to purchasing.
Generally, you can supply vector and pixel-based files to clients without the client having to also purchase the font. But only if you have a license to use the font on behalf of clients as their designer.
If, however, you are specifying a particular font for use on websites and other collateral that will be updated in-house by your client, they will need to purchase the correct license to be able to use it on behalf of their business.
Depending on the font foundry, the price will be determined by factors such as the number of users, audience size, page views and production size.
Yes, of course! They can be a lot of fun. But use with caution.
Firstly, make sure the font can be used for commercial use, as many free fonts are licensed for personal use only.
Next, after downloading the font, typeset the font into a few paragraphs of text and assess the general spacing, character formation, tracking etc. You may notice unusual letter spacing that will make it unsuitable for large bodies of text. Instead, keep the font for headings only.
If using a free font for a logotype, consider taking the logo to the next level with customisation—adding bespoke flourishes and custom characters by creating your own shapes within the typography.
Another tip is to always convert free fonts to outlines prior to sending to print, as we know from personal experience that some free fonts can corrupt during the PDF export process.
If you are on a mac and you install the font using FontBook, and you get a warning message about potential issues with the font, do not proceed with the font.
Myfonts.com
My Fonts is a big player for commercial fonts—many foundries are represented here.
Adobe Fonts
Well, they are kinda free if you have Creative Cloud of course. But if you need your client’s to have their own licenses of these fonts….ooof! Some of these fonts can be super pricey for to buy outright. (Tip: they might be better off buying licenses for Adobe Photoshop instead, which comes with Adobe Fonts).
Creative Market
Just a little caveat with Creative Market, some of the fonts available for purchase here are as finessed as something you could download for free from DaFont. Do remember that it is a marketplace and to check reviews carefully.
Schick Toikka
An independant type foundry with a glorious, albeit small collection of fonts. Our beloved brand font, Saol, is from Schick Toikka—we love it so much.
Milieu Grotesque
Another independant type foundry we love—you might recognise another one of the Design & Prosper brand fonts on this site 😉
P-22 Type Foundry
This unique type foundry specialises in fonts inspired by art and history.
There are many independent type foundries creating magnificently crafted fonts. Take a look further below at our ‘Font Inspiration’ section—you’ll find so much goodness to explore. ↓
Fontshare
Fontshare is the best free font resource! They offer a beautifully curated selection of free fonts, available for free and commercial use.
Font Squirrel
We like Font Squirrel because it is more curated than some other free font collections. Many of the fonts have been chosen because they can be used for commercial use. Handy!
Google Fonts
Yes, you read that right! Some of our favourite fonts are Google Fonts and some have large font families and variable weights to play with.
Hmmm: you may have noticed DaFont is missing from our list. Honestly, sifting through DaFont gives us a bit of a headache. You are very welcome to hunt over there though!
Fonts in Use
An incredible online archive of fonts in use from branding to editorial publications
36 Days of Type
36 Days of Type is a project that invites designers, illustrators and graphic artists to express their particular interpretation of the letters and numbers of the Latin alphabet.
Typewolf
A great independent resource for font inspiration, font comparisons, font roundups, all things fonts!
Have you found a font that you absolutely love and you are cannot for the life of you work out what it is? Below are some resources that may help.
What The Font?
Brought to you by My Fonts, you can upload an image of a font and the My Font’s bots will do their very best to work out which font it is. We have found this somewhat useful, however, it is limited to fonts that are available for purchase through My Fonts. You can also give their mobile apps a crack.
Fonts Ninja and WhatFont
These handy chrome extensions can help you uncover fonts used within websites at a click of a button. See the video tutorial below for more information.
Want to learn about other helpful chrome plugins for designers?
Check out our blog post and podcast episode: 5 Essential Chrome Plug-ins for Designers
Have fun with typography, it’s one of favourite aspects of the creative process! Send us a DM on Instagram if you have any questions.
With love
Kris & Donna xo
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