Fonts bug me.
As a designer I actually LOVE a well designed font. I know the hard work it takes to design one. I believe the designer should be paid for their work. I like trying new fonts and I believe they have a big effect on a design. Yet here’s my problems with fonts:
1. There’s too many choices
My computer has 1169 fonts on it. I have done a bit of categorizing using Linotype’s FontExplorer, but who has the time to do it right? Yes, I could visit some website that has it all done for you, but I don’t always know which ones I have already. I could also go to a free font site, but then I have to look through dozens of junky ones before I find a good one. That brings me to my next problem:
2. There’s too many free fonts
Like I said, I think good designers should get paid. But dang it, there’s some really good fonts out there for free and they are always tempting me! Why didn’t you talented designers just make it easy for me and charge money for the good stuff? And what about all those fonts on my computer? Why pay when I have lots of choices already? A new font needs to have a pretty significant design flavour before I can ever get the courage to buy a new one.
3. Font rights are a hassle
Over the years I’ve had a few jobs at different places, and I’ve used many different computers. When you go from one to another, the easiest way to make the switch is to migrate everything you had on the previous computer. I’ve tried to purge myself of fonts that I know I don’t own, but who knows if I did the whole job? THE GUILT!
Furthermore, every new font I get has a different license agreement. And every font handles it in a different way—sometimes in a little readme file, sometimes on the website where you got it. How do I keep track of all this?
4. Web fonts are more hassle
Browsers nowadays finally have the ability to display custom fonts. Problem is, you still need to keep track of whether a font allows you the rights for web use. Then you have to either convert your font to the proper format or else pay an online font provider. If you get a font provider you often have to pay a subscription fee. Then you have to convince your client that they need it. I don’t know about you, but paying a regular fee so my website can have a certain font seems odd to me.
What I want
In a perfect world, every font would be a good one. I could find the perfect one quickly. I would own the rights to anything I wanted to use, and having it on my website would be as simple as naming it in the css file. Lastly, every client would appreciate having good fonts.
When Jesus comes back to make all things new, I’ll be waving my hand to ask about this font thing.