Are there any general type distributors that can handle variable fonts? Some distributors allow variable fonts as an attachment with a family, but customers can’t preview or purchase it separately. On MyFonts, I can see typefaces with the word Variable in the name, but they only show the regular style and the only indication that they’re variable is in the description. I’m starting to produce variable fonts for existing families, but it seems like none of my current distributors can deal with them.
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(They are up to 18% of their families—261 of 1451—being variable fonts.)
I suspect much the same is true of other font distributors; Variable fonts aren't a priority since consumer interest is still low.
Customers must still remember Adobe Multiple Masters
If distributors allowed promotional videos, that could be a way to work around the lack of a test drive feature.
You can also filter by available axes from the sidebar.
- Most designers are vaguely familiar with variable fonts but are a bit sketchy about what they do or how they work.
- Very few designers have used them or had a good opportunity to do so.
- Designers tend to buy only the one or two weights and styles needed for the project.
- Client budgets usually preclude purchasing an entire family. Since variable fonts often include every weight and style in a typeface plus everything in between, they're generally much more expensive than buying only what's needed at the moment.
- The examples used to demonstrate variable fonts are interesting but tend to imply that animated tricks are the purpose of variable fonts. This perception undercuts the far more important practical value of the fonts in everyday design.
- Designers are a bit leery that variable fonts might cause problems when ripped at output.
- Adobe's UI for working with OpenType and variable font capabilities are somewhat buried in obscure places within the applications. In addition, the UI varies from one Adobe app to the next.
- The Affinity suite and most other graphics and web development applications do not support variable fonts yet.
To sum it up, we've heard about them, but we don't know enough to tell how useful they might be. We're moderately curious, but not curious enough to do research or experiment. Besides, they're too expensive for the project at hand and might end up causing problems with our software or when we send them out to a printer. It's safer, cheaper, and less risky to use fonts we're more familiar with.Apparently, not the ones aimed to the average user like MS Office. (see Variable Fonts – Support (v-fonts.com))
This may explain the lack of success.
Not speaking of the additional time to create well-designed errorless variable fonts.
And how to test them if you don't own the professional softwares? Only with Axis-Praxis?
@Cory Maylett You make a lot of great points, especially the one above. I’m just suggesting that interest is not low. Like every significant advance in technology, full-scale adoption in the mainstream market takes time. It always starts with those willing to experiment and take the risks you describe. Naturally, that experimentation began in smaller websites and other digital media, as the entries on Fonts In Use indicate, but we’re seeing plenty of variable fonts in print output too.
I agree with you that the word low doesn't accurately describe the underlying interest, even though current sales might not reflect that interest. However, I don't hear the same buzz in the design community regarding variable fonts as I did two or three years ago.
I'm old enough to remember the buzz over multiple masters in the early '90s that came and went. A superficial look might lead to concluding that much the same will happen to variable fonts. However, I see differences that I hope will keep variable fonts from meeting the same fate.
First, variable fonts are often a byproduct, of sorts, of larger font families. When type designers use interpolation to create intermediate instances, simultaneously producing a variable font is often a simple matter of exporting it. The relative ease of doing this will help ensure that typeface designers will continue to produce variable fonts, even when subsequent use and sales are relatively low.
Second, as more designers get inexpensive or free access to variable fonts through Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts, they will realize the benefits of using them, and the demand should, I hope, increase. The increased demand will pressure font distributors and graphic software developers to up their games and take variable fonts more seriously.
I'm not great at predicting the future, but I'm still optimistic about variable fonts.
On the other hand, most users are only utilizing the performance benefits of having multiple styles in a single file, not the benefits of fine tuning adjustments (e.g., a weight value of 525).
That's not to say that there aren't some significant gaps and hurdles. There's certainly a significant desktop app gap: variable fonts would certainly be beneficial in apps like PowerPoint, and in an informal survey I did late last year, I heard over and over people saying they didn't understand why variable fonts aren't yet supported in After Effects. But there were also other recurring themes, including the challenge of explaining the benefits to customers and a big need to educate graphic designers generally.