Fonts: an idiot's guide
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How does the IT department handle fonts? In my case, the answer is badly or not at all.
I've never really understood how to manage and handle the licencing of fonts. Where to buy them from? If you need to buy them? What your licence covers? We buy software packages that come with fonts, but are these fonts usage restricted?
An example case. A user receives an Adobe InDesign document from a third-party and wants to work on that document. The document uses Helvetica because the third-party uses Macs. I believe I have to buy this from Linotype.com. It's around $1500. That seems expensive. Is there a better way.
If I do buy it, how to manage it from an auditing point of view? Is there an easy way to ensure compliance?
I also have users (so called "graphic designers") who insist on using obscure fonts which causes chaos. There are hundreds of Windows fonts they could use for free. Why can't they? Why can't they just use Arial (or Calibri) for everything like normal users? /rant
I hate them. If I had my way everyone would just use Courier New for everything.
Any tips would be appreciated.
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Font management has also been a pain for me. I've never seen a "good" way to do this either and I'm interested to see what others recommend.
I suppose you could use something like SnipeIT to manage these as if they were license keys.
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I just used 1001fonts but this rarely ever happens for me. Depends on what you're using it for though.
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@DustinB3403 said in Fonts: an idiot's guide:
I suppose you could use something like SnipeIT to manage these as if they were license keys.
Something like this is about all you can do sadly. Just manage the licenses manually. I would hate to be the one to deal with this.
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Remove everything except Comic Sans. That's the best practice right?
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@NattNatt I'd do this for april fools day easy
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Google has loads of great, free fonts.
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I'm not interested in getting free fonts, I'm only interested in ensuring licencing compliance.
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@Carnival-Boy said in Fonts: an idiot's guide:
I'm not interested in getting free fonts, I'm only interested in ensuring licencing compliance.
The only way to do so is manually (at least as much as I know).
If you buy a font, you keep the details in a database, with all details.
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At bigger scale:
A really good tool for getting the latest version of a font constantly.
When combined with this:
https://enterprise.monotype.com/?show=mls
That then handles your font licensing for everything you could possibly need.
For smaller scale, buy the fonts through a single account on one of these many font web stores and then install it manually, keep a record of the devices which have the font.
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In branding, you normally have a corporate font, which goes on signage, posters, logos, business cards, properly designed materials.
Then you have a machine font, which can be one of the many installed ones or it could be a paid for one. This is up to each company.
Fonts do matter, they make one heck of a difference to a companies image, there are good reasons why you would want an obscure font.
As for the third party, tell them to use a different font, problem solved. Helvetica is a zero effort choice because its the default that most Macs start with same way that Arial of Calibri is on Windows.
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Thanks Breffni. Will download Skyfonts.
I don't agree that there are good reasons for using an obscure font, other than for a company logo. Certainly not for an SMB, unless the SMB is in a creative industry where image is particularly important.
We have now implemented a corporate branding guideline which specifies that only Helvetica should be used for all professional literature. At least there is a policy now, and it is a great font, previously it was up to the graphic designers to pick whatever fonts they wanted and they got a little "creative".
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@Breffni-Potter said in Fonts: an idiot's guide:
In branding, you normally have a corporate font, which goes on signage, posters, logos, business cards, properly designed materials.
NTG does that. We only use the one, though. We don't have official font(s) for things like literature, just for the brand name.
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@scottalanmiller said in Fonts: an idiot's guide:
@Breffni-Potter said in Fonts: an idiot's guide:
In branding, you normally have a corporate font, which goes on signage, posters, logos, business cards, properly designed materials.
NTG does that. We only use the one, though. We don't have official font(s) for things like literature, just for the brand name.
Umm...congratulations?
