Any experiences with the FutureFonts model?

ValKalinic
ValKalinic Posts: 49
edited May 2020 in Type Business
I've read a few comments here in the past talking about the model of offering a minimum viable product first, and gradually building the font from there. As I've spent over a year working on my last project (as it had over a thousand glyphs per style in the end), the model of investing time as a "lump sum" - taking a long singular period to complete a project, only after which you can even test if the end product is profitable - doesn't seem completely justified for each project.
As most users would be fully satisfied with a basic character set, from which the design can be expanded later on, the concept of "early adopters" does sound feasible in type as well.

Have any of you tried out releasing through FutureFonts or a similar service? What was the process like, and would you recommend it?

Thanks,
Val
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Comments

  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,885
    edited May 2020
    I haven’t used it as a type designer, but I think it is an incredibly cool idea. Big fan of the concept! And the folks running it are really nice people—and highly skilled on both the design and creative ends.

    There is no similar service that I am aware of.
  • Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian
    Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Posts: 2,044
    I'm a big fan too.
    BTW Paratype recently started something similar...
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,431
    edited May 2020
    From some of my recent work where I offered clients a basic set, that means:
    • Latin (including European and Vietnamese) /Greek/Extended Cyrillic
    • & % and punctuation found on a US keyboard
    • copyright, phonogram and trademark
    • Numerical superiors/inferiors, ªº and fraction slash (plus OT code to compose fractions)
    • Minus, multiply, divide...no other non-keyboard mathematical symbols
    • No historical languages (that eliminates the majority of the extended Cyrillic block)
    • No precomposed fractions
    • No Esperanto
  • ValKalinic
    ValKalinic Posts: 49
    edited May 2020
    Ray Larabie said:
    From some of my recent work where I offered clients a basic set, that means:
    • Latin (including European and Vietnamese) /Greek/Extended Cyrillic
    • & % and punctuation found on a US keyboard
    • copyright, phonogram and trademark
    • Numerical superiors/inferiors, ªº and fraction slash (plus OT code to compose fractions)
    • Minus, multiply, divide...no other non-keyboard mathematical symbols
    • No historical languages (that eliminates the majority of the extended Cyrillic block)
    • No precomposed fractions
    • No Esperanto
    Thanks for the explanation. I'm surprised you include Extended Cyrillic in a basic set. My last project supported all Latin languages (per the LatinPlus set), but even then I didn't think of adding Cyrillic. Is it really something a non-negligible percentage of people buying from MyFonts and the usual wester sites use?
    I'm genuinely asking, I'd imagine the eastern market has their own stores focused on Cyrillic of course. It's something I've been thinking about recently - whether I should learn more about it, add it to my fonts, and enter them into non-English-centered marketplaces too.

    @JoyceKetterer
    no problem at all, and thanks for your help.
  • Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian
    Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Posts: 2,044
    edited May 2020
    JoyceKetterer said:
    Almost all of what I said in my reply was very clearly from my own perspective, with no effort to suggest others have the same experience.  I was simply saying to do some research into a definition based on the fact my experience suggests that it might not be universal.  I did the opposite of assert a fact.
    Disagreeing with opinions is not disagreement?

    The only problem with the "negative" buttons is that they hide who hit them; to me that almost prevents me from using them. Almost.

    I believe hiding disagreement (like social media only having Like) is already too much society-eroding feelgoodism, nevermind pampering people who can't handle disagreement. BTW most people who would run away due to the Disagree button certainly can't handle disagreement when it's spelled out.
    JoyceKetterer said:
    I'm sorry @ValKalinic for hijacking your thread.  
    Be happy you're not me, you would've gotten a bunch of Abuse flags! But I'm still not leaving. I have a job to do (and the same goes for all of us).
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,431
    edited May 2020
    @ValKalinic My version of the extended Cyrillic set doesn't add much to my workload. If you look at the Cyrillic section of a recent typeface I released, you can see how they're mostly the basic Cyrillic characters with some extra bits added. With minimal effort, a lot more currently used languages can be covered. If you look at the extended Cyrillic Unicode block, there are some difficult looking characters in there. But if you research each one, you'll find that the majority of the extended block is historical. My set doesn't cover every existing Cyrillic language but I think it's a reasonable least effort/most languages balance.

    I'm not against including historical characters in typefaces. The customers I'm catering to are designers who need display typefaces which support multiple languages for localizing ad campaigns, apps, websites etc.




  • ValKalinic
    ValKalinic Posts: 49
    Ray Larabie said:
    @ValKalinic My version of the extended Cyrillic set doesn't add much to my workload. If you look at the Cyrillic section of a recent typeface I released, you can see how they're mostly the basic Cyrillic characters with some extra bits added. With minimal effort, a lot more currently used languages can be covered. If you look at the extended Cyrillic Unicode block, there are some difficult looking characters in there. But if you research each one, you'll find that the majority of the extended block is historical. My set doesn't cover every existing Cyrillic language but I think it's a reasonable least effort/most languages balance.

    I'm not against including historical characters in typefaces. The customers I'm catering to are designers who need display typefaces which support multiple languages for localizing ad campaigns, apps, websites etc.




    Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain your approach, very helpful to me!
  • Claudio Piccinini
    Claudio Piccinini Posts: 681
    JoyceKetterer said:
    Can we as a community please do something about the disagree button? 

    Almost all of what I said in my reply was very clearly from my own perspective, with no effort to suggest others have the same experience.  I was simply saying to do some research into a definition based on the fact my experience suggests that it might not be universal.  I did the opposite of assert a fact.  

    If I were new to this forum and I had gotten a disagree, given how that button works here, to such a post I'd never come back.  I want us to be welcoming.  Instead the annonomus nature of the disagree button conveys that disagreement is a policing mechanism intended to shame people who spread fake information. 

    I'm sorry @ValKalinic for hijacking your thread.  
    I have no impression that “the disagree button conveys that disagreement is a policing mechanism intended to shame people who spread fake information". It would be so if meant to notify abuses or the like.

    As it is, I have yet to figure its purpose.
  • ValKalinic
    ValKalinic Posts: 49
    edited May 2020
    Claudio Piccinini said:
    JoyceKetterer said:
    Can we as a community please do something about the disagree button? 

    Almost all of what I said in my reply was very clearly from my own perspective, with no effort to suggest others have the same experience.  I was simply saying to do some research into a definition based on the fact my experience suggests that it might not be universal.  I did the opposite of assert a fact.  

    If I were new to this forum and I had gotten a disagree, given how that button works here, to such a post I'd never come back.  I want us to be welcoming.  Instead the annonomus nature of the disagree button conveys that disagreement is a policing mechanism intended to shame people who spread fake information. 

    I'm sorry @ValKalinic for hijacking your thread.  
    I have no impression that “the disagree button conveys that disagreement is a policing mechanism intended to shame people who spread fake information". It would be so if meant to notify abuses or the like.

    As it is, I have yet to figure its purpose.
    In my opinion, the way it works currently is contradictory. Agree+Disagree buttons could work as simple indicators without shame - but only if the people behind BOTH aren't hidden (and will then continue the conversation). Also, I'd suggest not displaying the number of "disagreements" a person has had on their profile page, don't know what purpose that serves. In fact, users might want to keep that number at zero, so displaying it as such could prevent people from voicing a legitimate opinion they fear could be controversial.
  • Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian
    Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Posts: 2,044
    edited May 2020
    This should answer everything:
    https://typedrawers.com/discussion/3219/disagree/p1
    Unfortunately.

    It's curious BTW that virtually nobody bangs their fists on the table and demands that people marking Agree write a comment explaining what it is they agree with...
    Related:

  • Ramiro Espinoza
    Ramiro Espinoza Posts: 839
    Please try to stay on topic.
  • Matthew Smith
    Matthew Smith Posts: 89
    I do not have any experience selling fonts through Future Fonts, but I do have experience there as a customer and must say that I am very fond of their platform. I've purchased 10 families through there so far.

    I am a designer that most often purchases type because I see it has potential in my collection rather than because I have an immediate project which requires it. So the Future Fonts model works very well for me in that it is low risk (small amount of money required) to purchase fonts and support type designers that I believe are doing interesting work.
  • Scott Biersack
    Scott Biersack Posts: 76
    I attempted "submitting" a typeface but was sadly turned down because the design just wasn't the right fit for the overall library. All good! The process was fairly simple to submit of course. 

    I believe they're looking for truly unique and somewhat "out there" kind of designs. I would reach out to those designers on the platform and ask about their personal experience selling there. From my perspective, it seems very viable for almost everyone on there.

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