FontYou - what do you know about it?

Eimantas Paškonis
Eimantas Paškonis Posts: 91
edited July 2013 in Type Business
FONTYOU
I've been contacted by this "social type foundry" in-the-making, asking to join them. Their idea is that some people submit ideas, while other professionals turn them into complete designs. Then the font (or vector pack) is put on the shop and everyone who worked on it receive royalties.

But how much each party gets? Also "designed by committee" doesn't evoke good feelings for me.
What do you think?

Comments

  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    vector pack
    ’nuff said
  • Eimantas Paškonis
    Eimantas Paškonis Posts: 91
    edited July 2013
    Funny detail - in their placeholder email they got my name without an uppercase.
  • Jason Campbell
    Jason Campbell Posts: 100
    does this mean the rest of us are "anti-social type foundries"?
  • Eimantas Paškonis
    Eimantas Paškonis Posts: 91
    @JasonCampbell
    Ask them :)
  • Mostafa Hajizadeh
    Mostafa Hajizadeh Posts: 35
    This “social” trend is really getting out of hands: they add “social” to everything, even if it’s not needed there. But social type design is something I didn’t see coming.
  • Max Phillips
    Max Phillips Posts: 474
    If "FontYou" doesn't sound dodgy enough all by itself, take a moment to consider the phrase "collaborative type factory."
  • Eimantas Paškonis
    Eimantas Paškonis Posts: 91
    The stress here is on FACTORY, as oposed to normal "foundry"...
  • Michael Clark
    Michael Clark Posts: 138
    At some point the -ism will work its way in here!
  • Mostafa Hajizadeh
    Mostafa Hajizadeh Posts: 35
    Interestingly, just the other day, another service was introduced: Ghostlines.

    Though this one is for real type designers who want to work with their colleagues. This might be interesting for foundries of more than one who use RoboFont.
  • Eimantas Paškonis
    Eimantas Paškonis Posts: 91
    edited July 2013
    Interestingly, just the other day, another service was introduced: Ghostlines.

    What the hell? Is that site a joke of some sorts?
    image
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 645
    Hideous! It isn't April 1, so what's the occasion?
  • Jack Jennings
    Jack Jennings Posts: 151
    Not a joke. :)

    I'm happy to answer any questions about Ghostlines. Despite both being "social", our offering is not going to be particularly aligned with what FontYou is attempting. Ghostlines will be a tool for independent type designers which streamlines the existing feedback process, rather than a marketplace for commissioned fonts.
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,208
    Would Ghostlines be a way for users to negotiate different versions of Open Source typefaces?
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 645
    OK, my question is: couldn't you find an extra condensed font to use rather than bastardize the one you did use? It's as ugly as homemade sin and just shrieks "amateur".
  • Jack Jennings
    Jack Jennings Posts: 151
    Nick, it will certainly a possibility to develop OS typefaces on Ghostlines, but our primary goal in the first version will be to offer a private channel of discussion between type designers and the initial users of a typeface as it is being developed. We have discussed allowing type designers on our platform to open access to these discussion to the public, but that probably won't be part of the first release. Ghostlines won't be a social network or a forum, nor will there be a submission process as described in the original post.

    George, I'm sorry that our design offends you so much. It is possible to "unbastardize" our font choice, however; just resize your browser window:

    image
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 645
    Jack, resizing the browser window does nothing to change the look, but let's drop it here. It's OT.
  • Ramiro Espinoza
    Ramiro Espinoza Posts: 839
    Social-anything is SO 2011! :)
  • Benedikt Bramböck
    Benedikt Bramböck Posts: 37
    Apart from the strangeness of the term «social foundry» and its business model , I would like to point out another thing.

    People posting their stuff on sites like Fontyou are generally (or partially) interested in type, so I think it is kind of important to occasionally go to one of those places to provide them with professional feedback to show them that type design is more than being bored on a sunday afternoon and putting together some vector shapes into a «font».
    The threshold to post your stuff here or over at typophile in order to get honest feedback may be too high for some, which is why they prefer to post their designs for example on Reddit (where Frode Bo Helland is already fighting a Quixotesque battle) or other sites .
    Yes, it is painful from time to time, but in the end it is about spreading knowledge and experience into sometimes fertile grounds and raising awareness about type design as a whole.
  • Anthony_Noel
    Anthony_Noel Posts: 3
    We just published an interview with Fontyou: http://www.myfonts.com/newsletters/cc/201309.html

    There's much more detail about them and their platform than you'll get from their landing page.
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited September 2013
    Thanks, Anthony. But there are still no details in that interview about Fontyou’s collaboration “tool” (Fontyou Factory?) that keeps getting mentioned. Are they being deliberately opaque about it, or have we still not asked the right questions?
  • Anthony_Noel
    Anthony_Noel Posts: 3
    Isn't the "tool" mentioned earlier in this thread referring to the Ghostlines platform? Fontyou themselves have not called it a tool. In any case, their platform is still in a private beta – so there will be a degree of opacity until they release something more public. Anyone who wants to know can always apply for access to the beta programme or simply make contact themselves.
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    From the MyFonts interview:
    It’s also a real tool where designers can share, interact, help each other and create characters together.
    But you’re right — I need to sign up for the beta to learn more. Which I have now done.
  • Anthony_Noel
    Anthony_Noel Posts: 3
    edited October 2013
    I stand corrected! But I still think they're talking more in the sense of a platform that facilitates the "sharing, interacting..." they're talking about than an application/tool that replicates or automates type design.

    I'll be interested in your thoughts though; will you report back here once you get access?
  • Jay Langly
    Jay Langly Posts: 33
    edited July 2014
    You can earn 5% royalties if a font inspired by your type idea is developed & sold.
    You can earn up to 36% of royalities if your type project is developed & sold (depending on the number of glyphs you designed)
    Co-Create FontYou

    Very curious to hear anyone's experiences of working with or for this platform…?

Categories