Seeking Advice and Help from Type Techies

AlohiMaui
AlohiMaui Posts: 2
in Font Technology

I have a question about redesigning an existing font to add glyphes or diacriticals  and was advised to post my question here in the hope that someone on this forum could offer some help or advice.

I am redesigning my website and like a monospaced font pairing used on this website https://www.hermes.com/us/en/

Basically it looks like they are using OratorW01 and a Courrier font pairing. I absolutely love the Orator font but since my site is Hawaiian I need diacritical and accented charactors that are not included in the font download. I dont need many – basically a left hand quote and a macron on the vowels. Orator is an older font (1962) and it is available for free download. I dont know how Hermes added in the punctuation and diacriticals – they seem to be using this font primarily for display and headings.

Is there a way I could modify the font or hire a designer to do this? Is this a big undertaking if I wanted to customize the font and then upload it for use on my website?

 Thank you so much for your help.





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Comments

  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,227
    edited May 2022
    First, you need to confirm license permission to use and to modify the font. Just because a font is available for free download somewhere on the Web does not mean it is legitimately available under a license that permits either use or modification. So, for example, a quick search for OratorW01 online led me immediately to a site from which it can be freely downloaded but the copyright string for the font reads ‘Copyright 1987, 2001 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.’ indicating that this is derived from Adobe’s digital version of Orator. And the license text indicates that the font has been obtained from Linotype GmbH and explicitly indicates that it’s use is governed by Linotype’s end user license agreement. In other words, the site has no legal right to be making the font available. Unfortunately, there are many websites hosting ‘free’ fonts in this way, many of them ad-funded, meaning that they are making money from distributing other peoples’ fonts.

    If you are serious about wanting to modify fonts for your language needs, then you need to start with genuinely free—libre, public domain, or open source fonts—published under appropriate licenses that permit modification (as well as use, of course, and redistibrution), such as the Open Font License or Apache 2.0 license or similar.
  • KP Mawhood
    KP Mawhood Posts: 296
    Sometimes, it's easiest to use fonts that already have the support you need.

    Google fonts has a wide range of Monospace fonts with support for Hawaiian and many foundries offer web licenses for similar typefaces. If Hawaiian support is not clear, check via email. 
  • AlohiMaui
    AlohiMaui Posts: 2
    Thanks for your comments and the suggestion of Conta Mono SC. Its a good option and very nice with the proportional spacing. Is it possible to contact Linotype about making the modifications to Orator? Hermes must have done it somehow....since I checked the HTML and they are definitely using Oratorw01
  • Jens Kutilek
    Jens Kutilek Posts: 364
    It should be possible to get Linotype (respectively its owner, Monotype) to modify the fonts for you. Expect a couple hundred dollars in fees, though.

    The fonts Hermès uses contain the standard western character set, as far as I can see, which supports French diacritics but not the more "exotic" ones.

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