Indulge me for one sec. I’ve been peering over the shoulders of the great design folks here trying to understand how they do their thing. The few people I’ve had the benefit of working with are extraordinarily talented and so I’ve been trying to learn little tidbits to help FatMixx get better and to explore this medium as a creative outlet. Anyway, one of the things I’ve noticed is that designers choose their fonts with a lot of attention to detail and care a lot about typography and font layout. For example, some of ESPN.com’s designers (along with folks around the web) came up with a technique called sIFR to allow them to use exactly the fonts they want on pages.
So, I found a page via del.icio.us today that lays out some of the best fonts they’ve found. Some of them are cool, and I was poking around wondering if these fonts were available. A couple looked pretty cool, and I would love to have em. The font used in the header above, for example, was one I downloaded off of a free font website. When I went to a couple of the sites that offer the fonts listed, they were unbelievably expensive, though. Why do they cost so much? A full pack with the different weights of one font was almost $400. I understand that fonts represent a lot of work, but $400? Seems like an insane amount to me.
If anyone knows how pricing works on this stuff, please fill me in. I’m curious as to how font designers price this stuff and why.
February 20th, 2005 at 1:23 am
Hi Sujal. I discovered your place through our referrer logs. Your question is certainly valid. I can see how triple-digit fees may seem insane after browsing the myriad free font archives and finding some decent stuff for nuthin’.
But the $400 fonts you’re seeing are those that saw months or even years of development. Most of the fonts that make up our list were created by professionals that went to school for type design, trained with other masters, and spent thousands of hours to create their fonts.
Yes, $400 is a lot for a hobbiest. But to a graphic designer who is seeking the ideal typeface for a job that can bring in thousands of dollars, it’s an accepted and expected cost.
February 20th, 2005 at 10:10 am
Thanks for stopping by, Stephen. I think for me the sticker shock comes from the fact that I think a lot of software you might buy represents a lot of work and training as well, but you rarely find anything that goes over $100 in that space. Think about programs like Mariner Write, BBEdit, Nisus Writer, etc. These are all mac programs that in their initial releases represented a lot of development by a small group of developers.
I can see that market for fonts is smaller, though, so that’ could explain it, but you see the surprise for someone who isn’t too knowledgeable about the space.
February 22nd, 2005 at 5:27 am
Good points. Also remember that the $400 is for a family of fonts, not just one. You get a full typeface family of italics, small caps and several weights for that price. Think of it as a software “suite”. One font is generally $40 at even the most expensive foundries.