Choosing between the Font Giants

Fontfruits
Fontfruits Posts: 51
in Type Business
Another interesting topic! If you had to choose between putting your type on Adobe Fonts or on Monotype Fonts - which would you choose and why...I'm sure many of you would say neither, but if you were forced to choose - which would it be?
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Comments

  • Alex Visi
    Alex Visi Posts: 185
    edited December 2022
    Adobe, at least they do something useful, even though the direction over the last years has been somewhat questionable. Monotype is merely an oversized middle man, isn’t it?
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 454
    Adobe. As a graphic designer in different teams, Adobe Fonts has been super helpful practically as there is fairly high confidence everyone in the team has it already, and I find myself and others experimenting more as there are no additional costs to try different fonts out. 
  • c.g.
    c.g. Posts: 54
    From a consumer point of view, I prefer Adobe (with all its downsides) because has a very curated font library. Seems an Italian restaurant, while Monotype seems an all-you-can-eat.
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,429
    I wouldn't exclude Type Network, Font Spring and Creative Market itself from this, they address different audiences, and even Adobe themselves retail their originals through TN and FS
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,992
    Adobe has class and I think their products are excellent. That’s what I want to be associated with.
  • JoyceKetterer
    JoyceKetterer Posts: 812
    @Dave Crossland, TypeNetwork is a different animal.  Closest analog is a publisher.  Also Font Spring is owned by Creative Market.  The whole question is a bit of a false construct because no one requires that you choose only one anyway.
  • Fontfruits
    Fontfruits Posts: 51
    edited December 2022
    JoyceKetterer said:
    @Dave Crossland, TypeNetwork is a different animal.  Closest analog is a publisher.  Also Font Spring is owned by Creative Market.  The whole question is a bit of a false construct because no one requires that you choose only one anyway.
    True! But it's a good way to see what people feel about both I reckon. It's great to see all the reasonings. I find it most interesting!
  • Christopher Slye
    Christopher Slye Posts: 150
    The problem with choosing one or the other (Adobe or Monotype) — and I take it as more an academic than practical question — is that Adobe’s licensing options are different and limited. Some designers/foundries think of a distributor as a supplement for their own direct licensing, and others really want a partner to handle everything so they don’t have to. Obviously I’m glad people generally like Adobe as a distribution partner, but Adobe can’t sell a self-hosted web license or an app license for you. Monotype can. (So can Type Network, and others.)

    Is Type Network like a publisher? Sure, sort of. These days we try to think and act like an agency, representing our foundry partners for sales, consulting, and other professional services. I think all font distributors at least dabble in that, but every distributor has to choose a customer and business model to prioritize, and everyone is different. And I think designers and foundries have different goals with distribution, so it’s nice to have choices.

    Since the OP refers to “Monotype Fonts,” I wonder if it was a more specific question about their subscription service, rather that broader distribution through MyFonts or whatever. (And by the way, I will never tire of wishing that Adobe and Monotype had just stuck with “Typekit” and “Mosaic,” respectively. It would be a lot less confusing.)

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