What is a font for most people and just about the type industry of this time.
Vasily Draigo
Posts: 46
Just my non-professional opinion.
There is no special meaning here.
Due to the wide variety of fonts, it is now the same entertainment industry.
Fonts are an integral part of design, well-chosen fonts make any product much better for perception, and perception in our time is as important as performance. But this does not affect the sales of fonts in any way, it seems that some kind of dead end. The average computer or phone user does not need to buy a font, and a big company that can bring popularity to a font buys it once and this also cannot be called a profit but most of the people who like this font will be ordinary users who don't need this font for commercial use.
Therefore, if the type industry is equated with the gaming and film industries, then the type industry is an absolute failure and not profitable, but it is necessary for other entertainment industries.But the entertainment industries need fonts that won't be popular in retail.
This discussion is about fonts for most people, and most people like fonts but they don't need them.
On the one hand, fonts are a necessary part of the whole design and we need interesting fonts that would be remembered, on the other hand, it is not profitable to make such fonts because it will be much less to buy such fonts than regular text fonts for websites.
And yet the best representative of the fact that fonts are now popular among most people is games.
At the moment it is the largest and most profitable industry among all, in which design and fonts are very important, but which do not bring the main profit for type foundry's.
Of course, we should not forget just the real world where fonts are used everywhere, we see fonts at every step, even just sitting in one place, we see a large number of different fonts, on a bottle of water, a pack of rice, on the packaging of pills, etc.
But these are all fonts that companies use and that are of interest to the user only in terms of design.
It seems to me that the type industry just hasn’t opened up to its full potential yet. But it does not depend so much on the type industry itself.
Someday there will come a time when every person will want to buy one or another font that is perfect for his project. When each person can embody their ideas.
Fonts are as necessary as clothes, but clothes are needed for every person, and fonts are for commercial use only.
As I wrote above, type design just hasn't reached its full potential yet.
Why would a person need a font if he won't use it?
Most single designers or type foundry's say that profits are either getting smaller or enough for now, but this is money for the existence of the foundry itself and just personal living as a regular job, but how much would things change if ordinary users needed fonts.
But what can be done for this? And now this is an unsolvable problem at the moment, because it rather depends on the overall development of technology. And it turns out that the conclusion is that type design is a hostage of time, it is needed and interesting to people, but it does not bring much profit.
There is no special meaning here.
Due to the wide variety of fonts, it is now the same entertainment industry.
Fonts are an integral part of design, well-chosen fonts make any product much better for perception, and perception in our time is as important as performance. But this does not affect the sales of fonts in any way, it seems that some kind of dead end. The average computer or phone user does not need to buy a font, and a big company that can bring popularity to a font buys it once and this also cannot be called a profit but most of the people who like this font will be ordinary users who don't need this font for commercial use.
Therefore, if the type industry is equated with the gaming and film industries, then the type industry is an absolute failure and not profitable, but it is necessary for other entertainment industries.But the entertainment industries need fonts that won't be popular in retail.
This discussion is about fonts for most people, and most people like fonts but they don't need them.
On the one hand, fonts are a necessary part of the whole design and we need interesting fonts that would be remembered, on the other hand, it is not profitable to make such fonts because it will be much less to buy such fonts than regular text fonts for websites.
And yet the best representative of the fact that fonts are now popular among most people is games.
At the moment it is the largest and most profitable industry among all, in which design and fonts are very important, but which do not bring the main profit for type foundry's.
Of course, we should not forget just the real world where fonts are used everywhere, we see fonts at every step, even just sitting in one place, we see a large number of different fonts, on a bottle of water, a pack of rice, on the packaging of pills, etc.
But these are all fonts that companies use and that are of interest to the user only in terms of design.
It seems to me that the type industry just hasn’t opened up to its full potential yet. But it does not depend so much on the type industry itself.
Someday there will come a time when every person will want to buy one or another font that is perfect for his project. When each person can embody their ideas.
Fonts are as necessary as clothes, but clothes are needed for every person, and fonts are for commercial use only.
As I wrote above, type design just hasn't reached its full potential yet.
Why would a person need a font if he won't use it?
Most single designers or type foundry's say that profits are either getting smaller or enough for now, but this is money for the existence of the foundry itself and just personal living as a regular job, but how much would things change if ordinary users needed fonts.
But what can be done for this? And now this is an unsolvable problem at the moment, because it rather depends on the overall development of technology. And it turns out that the conclusion is that type design is a hostage of time, it is needed and interesting to people, but it does not bring much profit.
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Comments
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Retail fonts are primarily tools for professional designers. Most professions require tools that most people don't need. An electronics engineer needs as oscilloscope, but most people don't. Some hobbyists will purchase an oscilloscope, and some hobbyists will buy fonts. But most people don't need it. While I'd like to make fonts easier for hobbyists to purchase and install, I don't think everyone needs fonts beond what's included with their devices and apps.
That's not to say you couldn't convince people that they need fonts, but I think you'd have to convince them that the fonts they already have are insufficient for their lost cat posters or whatever non-designers use fonts for....it is needed and interesting to people...
I think you're overestimating most people's interest in fonts. Apart from stale memes about Comic Sans, Helvetica, and Papyrus the subject is niche. One of the first things you learn as a type designer is that most people aren't interested...at least not to the point where they would ever think about opening their wallets and purchasing a font on a whim. But that could change someday...maybe graphic design will fall more into the mainstream with everyone having personal AGI design assistants.7 -
Rather, people are not so interested in fonts that they buy them, but are interested simply in terms of design. Of course, this does nothing for the type designer, because you can't monetize fonts for pictures, only if it is not a company logo or advertising.
Type design now like Intel, if intel stops making processors for ordinary users, then of course it will lose part of the profit, but this will not be critical for the company itself, since the main profit from narrowly focused purposes for large companies.
Perhaps I saw people's interest in fonts because I wanted to see it, but in any case, even if this interest exists, then there is no benefit for type designers.
I just really like fonts and I just want the best for the type industry
I live in a post-Soviet country, in Ukraine, and I get the feeling that people here have only recently begun to think about fonts. Companies with pirated fonts are still common, even I am not a professional type designer noticed my fonts in real life. In the first time caught quite arrogant people, it seems to me that I was generally lucky that I got at least something, and then thanks to eloquence, because you can spend much more on a lawyer than you can get from this profit, and suing a font theme without a lawyer is something impossible.
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Random assumptions can lead to random conclusions.
Due to the wide variety of cars/shoes/medicine/houses/birds, it is now the same entertainment industry.Vasily Draigo said:Due to the wide variety of fonts, it is now the same entertainment industry.
This is literally the definition of profit (ok, ok, after expenses).Vasily Draigo said:a big company that can bring popularity to a font buys it once and this also cannot be called a profit
How is type industry equated with them?Vasily Draigo said:Therefore, if the type industry is equated with the gaming and film industries
Most people don’t give a damn about fonts but they do need them.Vasily Draigo said:and most people like fonts but they don't need them.
Would be interesting to see that statistic! Is that why more and more people join the type industry every year?Vasily Draigo said:Most single designers or type foundry's say that profits are either getting smaller or enough for now
What does the fact that common people don’t buy fonts has to do with technology?Vasily Draigo said:And now this is an unsolvable problem at the moment, because it rather depends on the overall development of technology.
Don’t mean to be mean, just pointing out to some funny non-logical conclusions.
Fonts are not entertainment, they are merely part of branding for the most cases, and only brands need branding. Nonetheless, you might be surprised to learn that everyone pays for fonts, because their price is included in any product of any company.1 -
Yes, there is enough superfluous and meaningless, I tried to look at all this from a more distant side after all, all the profits in the type industry are only a small part of what could be received.
When I compared the gaming industry with the font industry, I cut out a part before publication, but I skipped this one, because it was originally a wrong idea. But in a way they are really similar. Monopoly mainly in distribution, absolutely anyone can create a font that will take off, be popular and bring a lot of profit, this is the biggest plus, everyone has something to develop and strive for more.
But need to be prepared for the fact that even a very high-quality font can go unnoticed.
Although the distributor could solve this problem, but this is a completely different matter.
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Whilst everyone in the type world needs to prepared that even a very high-quality font can go unnoticed, there is a remarkable and supportive global community.Vasily Draigo said:I just really like fonts and I just want the best for the type industry
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But need to be prepared for the fact that even a very high-quality font can go unnoticed. Although the distributor could solve this problem, but this is a completely different matter.
Long before 2022, I sought the help of a Ukrainian lettering artist – she was brilliant.
Ukraine has an incredible cultural heritage. Katerina Korolevtseva writes "We have a strong type tradition in Ukraine. Over the past few years, Ukrainian type design has been growing rapidly."Vasily Draigo said:I get the feeling that people here have only recently begun to think about fonts.
https://www.alphabettes.org/ukrainian-type-design-heritage-in-modern-context/
https://www.alphabettes.org/abetki/Vasily Draigo said:Companies with pirated fonts are still common… In the first time caught quite arrogant people, it seems to me that I was generally lucky that I got at least something, and then thanks to eloquenceThat really sucks. It's very difficult to manage the risk of piracy.2 -
Ukraine has an incredible cultural heritage.
The best reference I came across for the Cyrillic of my Scotch Modern restoration was the 1888 specimen of Harkov (Kharkiv) typefounder Adolph Darre. Beautifully sophisticated work.2 -
Nick, from my cursory research, Darre was a printer and publisher, not a typefounder. Perhaps what you saw was his house specimen of types produced by others? (See the “Адольф Дарре” listing in this bibliography.)0
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Most likely. At any rate, the specimen was superbly designed, set and printed.
It was in the New York Public Library, and I saw it during a weekend seminar arranged by the TDC in 2007.
The cover translates as “Adolph Darre/Typography, Binding and Linework (presumably engraving of blocks)/In Kharkiv.
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I think 'printing house' and 'bindery', rather than 'typography' and 'binding'. Not sure about the last word, but it will denote some sort of workshop.1
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