Type Business — TypeDrawers

Does someone here trade in Adobe, MyFonts or other similar stocks?

Vasil Stanev — Thu, 14 May 2026 21:37:42 +0000

Does someone here trade in Adobe, MyFonts or other similar stocks?

New Foundry Website & Actual Cost of MoR

Shina Design — Sat, 09 May 2026 14:52:12 +0000

Hi there,
Shina Design restarted a foundry website in 2026.
https://shinadesign.com

Using Squarespace only. Currently it is missing the reverse charge feature, but I published it for now.

Before that I tried to combine Squarespace & Lemon Squeezy (MoR).
It is easy to use, looks good, and works seamlessly. But I found managing two platforms was feeling strange & losing brand control. And I found this article.

"The problem is that once you understand tax thresholds, you realize that this way, you earn less."
https://www.easy.tools/guides/international-taxation-for-digital-products

It explains the actual cost of MoR is not always 5~8%, sometimes around 20% and more.
And if more people use MoR, more often tax will be added. Moo...🐃

Squarespace without the reverse charge feature may come to a similar result, but at least one platform management is comfortable. (But still global tax issues...)

If someone has a good outlook of foundry (tax) management, please share it here. Thank you. 🙂

Tool for indie foundries: Finding where your fonts are being used on the web

Lars Schwarz — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:21:00 +0000

Hi all,

I've been building a tool for independent type designers — a way to see where your fonts are being used across the public web — and I'd like to share what I'm aiming at and hear whether it lines up with what you'd actually find useful.

A few principles that have shaped the direction, informed by the recent FontRadar thread and conversations with designers I've worked with in the past:

You keep the customer relationship. The tool never contacts anyone on your behalf. No emails signed in your name, no legal letters, no outreach campaigns you didn't approve. A license inquiry is a conversation with a potential customer — you're the right person to have it.

Discovery first, enforcement if you want it. Most of what gets found won't be infringement. It'll be real uses of your work — for your portfolio, case studies, social posts, or just the quiet pleasure of knowing. Licensing gaps are one signal among many, not the whole product.

No font uploads, no customer database required. The tool identifies your fonts from what's already on the public web — including subsetted and renamed versions. You never hand over your catalog or your sales data. If you want to cross-reference against legitimate customers, you do that locally.

Flat monthly pricing. A predictable fee covers detection and the dashboard. If you use the tool to sell a license to an infringing site, I take a small processing fee on that transaction only. No contingency cuts on recovered revenue, no percentage of settlements you handled yourself, no contracts that penalize you for growing.

Honest coverage. I'm actively crawling a large pool of domains, prioritizing sites with real traffic, and expanding coverage as the project grows. I find a lot. I don't find everything. I'd rather tell you upfront if your library looks like it sits mostly outside my reach than take your money on a bet that doesn't work out.

I'd rather talk to the people who'd actually use something like this than keep building in isolation. If any of this resonates — or if there's something obvious I'm underestimating — I'd value hearing from you.

Happy to talk privately as well if you'd rather.

Lars

Fontdue. No Paypal?

Supherb — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:54:25 +0000

I’m really frustrated right now. I genuinely loved the Fontdue platform, but after investing a lot of time and money into building my website, I later discovered that they don’t support PayPal for client payments in the U.S.

That’s a huge setback for me and honestly has killed my motivation to keep working on the site. From my experience, most people I know here primarily use PayPal rather than the other payment options available.

Does anyone know of a simple workaround to integrate PayPal with a Fontdue site? If not, are there any alternative platforms similar to Fontdue that do support it?

Thanks!

Optical sizes for icon fonts for the web

Vasil Stanev — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:40:42 +0000

Currently it dawned on me that icon fonts can be made to have optical sizes to help UX with desktop webpage resizing and mobile. There seems to be a Google font just for that but beyond that I couldn't find others (nor did I search tooo hard lol ) Has someone here done such a type of font, are there highly marketable, or not so much, or not at all? I am thinking mostly custom work for business clients that want things like their logo to be turned into a company font (I've done this, but only for a static font) + and added suite of icons for their in-house materials.

Monotype Exchange rates

Miles Newlyn — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:01:13 +0000

Does anyone have any thoughts on why Monotype prices have sterling:dollar parity? The exchange rate 1:1.35 is far from equal.

Commissioned Retail Font: questions/seeking advice

Brian Dove — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:46:58 +0000

Hey y'all,

First, if there is an existing thread on this topic, feel free to point me in that direction, but I couldn't find anything that helped with the exact scenario I'm curious about.

I've been contacted by someone interested in commissioning a typeface that they will use for their brand as well as sell on a few different platforms. Their budget is fairly low ($3-5k, scope is 7-8 weights with matching italics) so they are pitching this as a sort of "retail font collab" project (i.e. I get paid some $ for making the typeface, and also get some sort of royalty split and/or distribution rights). This is not a type foundry, but they do have one other typeface they distribute on a few platforms (another brand font, so I'd imagine it was a similarly structured project).

We haven't discussed details about rights, distribution, or royalties yet so I am here to see if anyone else has tackled a similar project. Curious about your thoughts on what royalty share and/or distribution rights seems reasonable for that budget, and any other advice on structuring this kind of project.

Thanks in advance!

Where's my 1099 at MyFonts?

Michael Wallner — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:16:39 +0000

I can’t seem to figure out where to find my 1099 tax form on MyFonts. I’ve reached out to them, but it’s been more frustrating than helpful, so I’m hoping someone here can help me.

Thanks

Announcing Type Advisor

Doug Wilson — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:48:03 +0000

ADVERTISEMENT

---

Working and being friends with so many type designers in the industry, I have noticed that often why you got into type design was, well, to design type. Not to make a website. Not to market a font. Not to figure out a social media strategy.

With this in mind, today I am announcing the launch of my new company: Type Advisor.

I’ve had a unique and varied career trajectory, but the one constant for the past 20 years has been typography. I’ve helped creatives at global companies choose the right type for the right audience at enterprise scale. I’ve worked with a dozen independent type foundries as well as the biggest distributors.

So I am taking my experience in design, advertising, filmmaking, writing, creative direction, and hard-earned type industry knowledge to create a service for creators and users of type.

I bring an outside perspective from actual users of type and a deep understanding of the ever-changing industry and now, you can utilize my expertise to make your life easier.

---

Perhaps you’re a type designer confident in your design skills but unsure how to market your fonts or where to best sell them for future growth?

I’ve got you.

Perhaps you’re a growing type foundry that has seen some modest success but understands you need help to get to that next level of sustainability?

I’ve got you.

---

If this is something that sounds interesting or if you just need an outside perspective from someone that intimately knows type but isn’t a “competitor” since I am not a type designer, please visit typeadvisor.com and schedule a free 30 minute call to discuss ideas.

Zero obligation, reasonable fees, and as much (or as little) type-nerd talk as you desire.

Commercial Support For Type

Scott Briggs — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:32:44 +0000

Hi All

After 10 year with The Northern Block as Head of Operations, I am starting up on my own helping Type Designers/Foundries with the commercial side of the business.

The aim is simple: help foundries handle licensing opportunities confidently and convert enquiries into well-structured, higher-value agreements.

Many foundries regularly receive licensing enquiries from agencies, brands, and software companies, but responding to those requests, evaluating the opportunity, and structuring the right commercial terms can take significant time alongside design and production work.

I will be operating on a retainer plus commission model, and I hope this approach will allow foundries to know they can access experienced licensing and commercial expertise without needing to build an internal business development or licensing function.

Areas where I will typically can provide support include:

• Assessing and responding to incoming licensing enquiries
• Structuring appropriate licensing terms for agencies, brands, and enterprise clients
• Supporting negotiations for extended or enterprise licences
• Advising on commercial positioning of existing libraries
• Helping formalise licensing agreements and partnership discussions

If additional support around licensing enquiries or commercial discussions would be useful, I would be happy to arrange a short introductory conversation; or you can email me
hello@font-license.com

Thank you all for reading!
Scott

Custom fonts that blend two existing typefaces — any other examples?

Raven — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:16:21 +0000

Recently saw the release of Nebula Sans, a custom font for Nebula TV that serves as a close alternative to Whitney ScreenSmart, but the drawing is based on Source Sans 3. It's also released as an open source family.

This got me thinking — are there other examples of a custom typeface where the brief is essentially "take the drawing of Font A and adjust it to resemble Font B"?

I don't recall seeing this kind of dual-influence acknowledged so openly in type documentation before. Would love to hear if others have come across similar cases.

AI.com was reportedly sold for 70 million USD.

Typedesigner — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:41:16 +0000

AI.com reportedly sold for 70 million USD.

Just two letters: AI.

As a type designer, I find this fascinating. Two characters, maximum meaning. The combination lends itself naturally to distinctive lettering, bold logos, or refined monograms.

It’s also worth noting the historical context: the AI.com domain was originally registered in 1993, when the internet was still in its infancy.

Sources: DomainNameWire, ICANN

Your experience with Lemon Squeezy...

Tural Alisoy — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:47:28 +0000

Hello. What is your experience with Lemon Squeezy? Has anyone used it? I want to use it to sell my fonts.

Embroidery fonts

Yves Michel — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 15:46:17 +0000

Hello,
While searching for my fonts on pirate sites, I found one of my fonts on a site, used for embroidery by a small business, under a different name.

I searched sites with theses BX fonts and found many well known fonts, sometimes under names different from the original TTF or OTF ones. I understand some very expensive software convert TTF to BX.

Are those BX fonts retailers authorized to sell them without paying for a licence? And I didn't see them mentioning the original designers.

fontke.com - Evolved piracy!

fabrizioschiavi — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 08:32:49 +0000

Do you already know this strange “distributor”?
Every user is incentivated to upload fonts to obtain credits to download other fonts.
I don't believe some of you authorized this kind of “distribution” in this way but if you looking for one of your fonts you’ll see it on the results of your search.
Take a look at https://en.fontke.com/

How we can stop something like that?

Need a Foundry Website? Font Bros Has You Covered!

Stuart Sandler — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:10:48 +0000

Oftentimes we’re asked the question, “What value does a distributor bring to the table for the percentage they keep?” Sometimes it’s eyeballs, sometimes it’s handling license upgrades, but rarely is it something tangible that can really help foundries.

Building and maintaining a foundry website takes a lot of work, from adding new fonts to ongoing maintenance, and it’s an ongoing expense - especially for smaller foundries who would rather focus their efforts on creating fonts instead of running a website.

We felt there was a better way to help foundries and created our free “Powered by Font Bros” websites for any Font Bros foundry who wants their own site. We’ve spent a few years in development and testing and have slowly been rolling this out with select foundry partners, and we’re pleased to announce it publicly.

Here are a few we recently launched:

Your “Powered by Font Bros” foundry website automatically pulls all of your font listings from your library at Font Bros and dynamically builds your very own branded site that automatically updates whenever you add new fonts or make changes to the listings in your Font Bros Foundry Portal.

Visitors can browse your fonts, test them out with a live “Test Drive” feature, and then click over to Font Bros to complete the purchase. These sites will be in a constant cycle of upgrades as we continue to release new features, so they will automatically get new features as we roll them out!

So what’s the catch? There is no catch! We want to help our foundries generate more income and help them focus on creating more great fonts instead of running their foundry website.

There’s gotta be a catch… How much more will you guys take out of my royalty? ZERO! You get the exact same 65% from EVERY online sale and license we negotiate on your behalf. There is no charge for the setup or hosting of the website, but we only allow the purchase links to go to Font Bros.

Ready to get started? We'd love to hear from you!

An informal research poll regarding type designers

Igor Petrovic — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:58:03 +0000

I have a premise I would like to explore: that a typical type designer is a younger child in their family, meaning they usually have older siblings.

I made a very informal poll to see what the numbers look like:
https://strawpoll.com/e7ZJarP8Mg3

The poll isn’t scientific. For example, by family logic, there are naturally more younger siblings than oldest children. I’m just curious about general trends, not trying to draw firm conclusions.

This idea ties into broader questions about how family structure might influence personal and social choices. Relevant research seems to find no strong correlation, but I notice some patterns in everyday life. For instance, I’m a younger child, and many of my closest friends are too.

An important note is that this isn’t about stereotypes. It’s just a fun, informal look at a possible pattern.

Recommendations on building a foundry website

Igor Petrovic — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 23:08:06 +0000

What approach would you recommend for a simple foundry site: coding in HTML/CSS from scratch, CMS like WordPress, website builders, or something else?

A simple foundry site showcasing fonts with the usual type sampler and a few classic pages & functions (blog, about us, FAQ, licensing, newsletter subscription .etc)

Option A: Using external payment processing like Gumroad
Option B: Selling fonts directly from the site

Industry Letter to Copyright Office - Please Share

Stuart Sandler — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:03:56 +0000

Frank Martinez of the Martinez Group PLLC is known throughout the font industry as "The Font Lawyer" and for decades has been the champion for font copyright IP protection for fonts. I offered to share his request to this forum in the hopes that many of my fellow US based font creators will reach out to him directly to participate.

From Frank:
"I am working with Monotype on an industry letter (on behalf of US based font foundries) that we will be sending to the Copyright Office and for use in legislative lobbying. The purpose of the letter is to urge the Copyright Office to return to a policy of granting copyrights for font software and to inform the Congress how the loss of the ability to protect font software is harming the font industry."

Those wishing to participate should e-mail Frank directly at fm@martinezgroup.com with the name of the foundry/foundries and the name of the person who is authorizing the inclusion of the foundry name(s) as part of this industry letter - which I am participating in on behalf of all of my font foundries in support of this initiative.

What is Chat scraping when it provides answers to font licensing questions?

Nick Shinn — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:32:01 +0000

Because this is the norm that our clients and customers recognize.

Current approval period for Fontspring uploads?

Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.) — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 19:54:50 +0000

I just submitted a font to Fontspring. The acknowledgement only stated that it will "take some time" to approve my upload. Anyone know what the current turnaround is? Hours? Days? Months?

Workshop Pricing

Fie Clarke — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:17:01 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Im in need of some advice and pointers. I have been approached by a college/university (UK). They have asked me about running a one day workshop for some students, teaching them how to turn hand lettering into a font. It's something I have never done before but would love to do.

Its one things showing a colleague and design friend how to do it, but this will be quite different

How do I even begin to price something like this?

I know im going to need a proper plan and structure, maybe a guide of sorts for them to take away - Very open to tips and advice!

Thanks

Does anyone here have experience with licensing for SharePoint?

Max Phillips — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:48:45 +0000

Someone requesting a price has said that SharePoint font theme packages makes it possible for users to view a theme using a font, but not to create or edit using that font. Anyone here know if that's true? Thanks!

How do I use the Typographer App?

John J. Blair — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:19:55 +0000

I have signed up for a trial of the Typographer App which is a subscription service similar to Adobe Fonts. However, i have not been told how to use the synched fonts in "Affinity Trinity" This app looks VERY promising IF I could just use the fonts.

Two articles about Monotype’s busines travails and HR practices

John Hudson — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:37:11 +0000

[Disclaimer: I can’t vouch for the accuracy of these reports, but they come across as well-researched and informed. As far as I can tell, these arise out of Monotype India, but discuss the impact on the corporation as a whole.]

Is Monotype Running Out of Type? Layoffs, AI Failures, and the Price of a Lost Culture
[27 September 2025]

The Redundancy Lie: Inside Monotype’s HR and a Culture of Deceit
[5 October 2025]

Is Microsoft Coming?

John Savard — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 05:50:23 +0000

Over the last couple of days, the login screen of my Windows computer has asked me:

"Put a finger down if you have ever spent way too much time choosing a font"...

which leads me to suspect Microsoft is going to offer something to make people's lives easier by quickly recommending the perfect typeface for any document or web site. The typefaces presumably will just happen to be from Microsoft, so all you independent type designers - and even the type designers who work for Monotype instead - will be out of business.

Except this won't work because everybody only uses Google Fonts because they're free and legally safe.

I'm probably just being paranoid, but this doesn't worry me nearly as much as it may worry many of the people here who actually do design typefaces for a living.

Critical Question: What Font Usage Data is Missing for Licensing & R&D Strategy?

FontScope — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 11:51:05 +0000

Hello TypeDrawers community,

We're working on a project that maps real-world typeface adoption across global brands. Our background is in brand intelligence and large-scale data systems, and We're trying to identify the crucial analytical gaps facing the font industry today.

We're building a database of font fingerprints across the web—including families, weights, styles, source and domains— and mapped to tens of thousands of the world's top companies.

I'd appreciate your expert insight on the key metrics you need to drive business decisions.

1. The Usage Verification Gap

Foundries who sell directly may know who bought a license, but not always where that typeface is deployed across a vast corporate ecosystem (subsidiaries, microsites, international domains). Others who sell via marketplaces may never know who bought a license.

If you could get the data of all the URLs/Domains across 10K-20K top companies which are loading one of your typefaces, how would your team use that confirmed deployment list
What specific piece of deployment metadata (e.g., page URL, font-weight, source domain, page view estimates) is most critical for your internal licensing verification process?

2. Market Intelligence & R&D Metrics

This data is vital for assessing market position and guiding product investment.

When evaluating the potential ROI of launching a new typeface or acquiring a legacy one, what competitive usage metrics (e.g., market share by style, regional adoption shifts, usage by industry) do you wish you had access to?
Would your team prioritize a platform that offers real-time data on the technical footprint of your fonts or one that focuses on market share trends?

I'm focused on solving a blind spot in the industry's data visibility. Thank you for your time and expertise.

Best,
Deepak aka FontScope
FontStat.com

An Interesting Case of (Mis)Appropiation of a font for Trademark

mitradranirban — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:21:56 +0000

Here the typeface designer is chronicling his struggle in fighting a multi-national beer brand who downloaded a pirated version of his font and made their Trademark in EU with it
https://grodnacase.com/

Palatino in book publishing

Figaro — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:57:10 +0000

Is there a publisher around the world that uses Palatino as official typeface for its books?

Design your Arabic custom font

qassimhaider — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 20:33:08 +0000

For whom want to develop an Arabic custom font that nobody else has!

A font to represent the values and the spirit of your enterprise?

Please don't hesitate to contact me at:

design@qtypography.com, Qassim Haider,
A Type-Designer with more than 10 years in designing Arabic Types/fonts for worldwide & GCC clients.

Hand in hand with you, we will develop the font to your satisfaction.

Maybe you have a design that is not a font yet?, or a Latine version & you want to Arabasize it, We will help you to transform your idea into a font.

And we will help you with as many steps as you wish: digitizing, spacing, kerning, or the development into a font-family with multiple weights or variable weights.