First the State Department and now NPR, we are seeing government entities and businesses starting to balk at the cost of commercial font licenses in favor of open-source fonts. While you may give little thought to fonts, font choice is extremely important for your brand and business. Making a bad choice in this area can perk your reputation, make it difficult for people to read your content, or most importantly cost you way more money than you need to be paying.
Why do businesses pay for fonts?
Businesses pay for fonts to legally use them for specific projects, advertisements, and branding purposes, to ensure unique and high-quality typography, and to avoid copyright infringement issues. What you may not realize is that the cost of using fonts is included within your Microsoft Word or graphic design suite. These kinds of programs tend to have specific terms on where you can use them and how many impressions you are allowed to get depending on your plan. What businesses sometimes don’t realize is that when you build a website, that license does not always carry over to online use. If you’re working with a company like McNair Media, we have font licensing included in our hosting plans. we are also the belief that font cost should be taken into consideration at the time of your branding and logo creation. Are you going to be printing signage out? Doing billboards? thoughtfully choosing a font family that is affordable and has a far-reaching license will allow you to keep costs down in all your marketing efforts.
Why are fonts so expensive?
Fonts can be expensive because they are often considered software and are licensed for specific uses, such as for personal or commercial use. Additionally, the cost of font creation, design, and development can be high, and the demand for high-quality and unique fonts drives up the price. Some popular font foundries also charge more for their fonts due to the reputation and quality of their work.
Is the cost of fonts going up?
It’s difficult to generalize the cost of fonts as it depends on several factors such as the font foundry, popularity, quality, and demand. However, some popular font foundries and high-quality font families may see an increase in price over time due to their reputation and demand. On the other hand, the availability of open-source fonts and free font libraries has made many high-quality fonts more accessible at little to no cost.
How do open-source fonts work?
Open-source fonts are fonts that are licensed under an open-source license, allowing users to freely use, modify, and distribute the font. This means that anyone can download, use, and alter the font without paying any licensing fees or seeking permission from the font creator. Open-source fonts are often developed by communities of designers and typographers who contribute to their creation and improvement. The goal of open-source fonts is to provide a free and accessible alternative to proprietary fonts.
Have open-source fonts gotten better?
Yes, open-source fonts have gotten better over time. The quality and variety of open-source fonts have improved because of advancements in technology and the contributions of designers and typographers around the world. Many open-source fonts are now of high quality and are comparable to proprietary fonts. As the demand for open-source fonts continues to grow, it is expected that the quality and variety of open-source fonts will continue to improve.
