Font Tip

[JohnBarton]

Here is something that I offer to my customers that has started saving me A LOT of time. I used to spend a lot of time playing with fonts to find "the one" that looks right. Of course there are a few favorites.

Well, I got tired of sending font suggestions to customers and the back and forth that goes along with it.

Sooooooo, I got on google and discovered www.dafont.com where most of the fonts are free and the customer can type in their text and see it displayed in all the fonts they have. Plus it's good for me since I can go there and find stuff I need - like recently a customer said he wanted "the Brooklyn Dodger font" ????? And that is? So I found on DaFont that was very similar - customized it a little and problem solved.

Since doing this my design time on names is drastically cut down, the lettering is exactly what the customer wants and the pieces are that much more unique since I am not playing favorites with a few fonts I really like.

So I hope this helps some of you out. www.dafont.com

This is how I present it to the customer - How To Order a J.Flowers Case Still a work in progress.

Edited January 14, 2009 by JohnBarton

[tashabear]

Here is something that I offer to my customers that has started saving me A LOT of time. I used to spend a lot of time playing with fonts to find "the one" that looks right. Of course there are a few favorites.

Well, I got tired of sending font suggestions to customers and the back and forth that goes along with it.

Sooooooo, I got on google and discovered www.dafont.com where most of the fonts are free and the customer can type in their text and see it displayed in all the fonts they have. Plus it's good for me since I can go there and find stuff I need - like recently a customer said he wanted "the Brooklyn Dodger font" ????? And that is? So I found on DaFont that was very similar - customized it a little and problem solved.

What do you do if the font maker restricts the use of their font for commercial use?

[JohnBarton]

What do you do if the font maker restricts the use of their font for commercial use?

Most of the fonts are free for personal use. The customer is using them personally to decorate their case. I am just the tool the customer is using.

Commercial use would be using the fonts in a "typesetting" environment such as brochures, books, banners, websites and the like. Or if I took the fonts which are labeled "free for private use" and used them to make cases for sale without any customer in mind then I would consider that to be "publishing" using the fonts in a commercial setting and off limits.

As long as the customer however chooses the font and it's listed as free for private use then I think it's alright. To me it's not any different than if a customer sent me a Harley Davidson patch and asked me to inlay it in their custom case.

I realize that this is a grey area but the legal questions aside I think that this has the most to do with intent. My intent for example is not to commercially use all the fonts in the world but instead to allow the customers a path to choose that which they would like to see on their case. The sale of the product does not depend on the font chosen, i.e. if one is not available then the customer chooses another and the deal continues. This is quite different than if a customer comes to me and says that they want to have an exact replica of a Harley Davidson case where the deal depends on my legal right to reproduce the Harley logo in order to close the deal. In that situation I would technically be selling a "Harley Davidson" product as there would be no sale without it. If the customer however provides the logo then I operate under the assumption that they have legally purchased it (ex. Harley patch) and are free to have it attached to anything they want.

For fonts that are not listed as "free for private use" I have in the past purchased commerical fonts and either charged the customer for it - about $20ish - or not if I thought it was something I would use often. Or I ask them to find a similar free alternative if they aren't dead set on one particular type. Most aren't.

So, that's how I view it.

[JohnBarton]

Update: I had a customer choose a font that is listed as "shareware/demo" and in the terms the author asks to be contacted if you want to use the font for "commercial projects". (I think he means print/graphic design type projects)

This is Joe's website www.joebob.nl

I asked Joe what he thought of using fonts for leather projects and he didn't reply to that but he did give me permission to use his for mine and asked only that I send him a picture of the finished item.

This guy's fonts ROCK - I highly suggest that you check them out and he has many completely FREE ones.

[Ian]

That's a great resource - there are quite a few fonts that I'd like to save.

Now, I believe I saved them correctly (i.e. windows - fonts). But I can't find them to use in a document - I tried using it in Photoshop and it's not there. What's the problem?

[ferret]

most fonts come zipped, did you remeber to extract them?

[Ian]

most fonts come zipped, did you remeber to extract them?

Now I have to show my ignorance again. How do I extract them?

[ferret]

right click on the icon and select extract

[tashabear]

Now I have to show my ignorance again. How do I extract them?

After they're extracted, they need to be installed properly as well; just saving them to the fonts folder doesn't do it. This is how I do it:

1. Download the zip files containing the fonts to the desktop.

2. Create a folder called "fonts" on the desktop.

3. Double-click on the zip files I downloaded and move the font files from the zip folder to the "fonts" folder.

4. Click on Start --> Control Panel --> Fonts. In Windows Vista, this will open an Explorer window. (If you have XP instead of Vista, let me know and I will make instructions for XP.)

5. Right-click on Fonts in the side panel and select "Install New Font..."

6. In the dialog box that pops up, navigate to the Desktop using Folders box (the file path is usually c:/Users/[your username]/Desktop/fonts).

7. Select the font(s) you want to install (Select All works well for me) and click Install.

You can put the downloaded zip file and the fonts folder in the Trash when you're done; the Font Install utility copies the files over to the Fonts folder. This is why I download everything I want in a session, move the files over to one folder to select from, and *then* install them, because there are a bunch of steps.

[JohnBarton]

Once the fonts are unzipped you can also just drag them to the Fonts folder in the Control Panel.

I keep a control panel icon on my quick task bar and for fonts I open it and open the fonts folder. Then I just drag the font file from wherever it is to that folder and it is installed. Saves a lot of clicking.

This works for me on XP.

[scottishshoemaker]

been looking for a font for my work and phamplets, great web site and if possible can you give details to unzip in xp. thanxs

[tashabear]

Once the fonts are unzipped you can also just drag them to the Fonts folder in the Control Panel.

I keep a control panel icon on my quick task bar and for fonts I open it and open the fonts folder. Then I just drag the font file from wherever it is to that folder and it is installed. Saves a lot of clicking.

This works for me on XP.

That's never worked for me; I can't see them thereafter in Photoshop.

[tashabear]

been looking for a font for my work and phamplets, great web site and if possible can you give details to unzip in xp. thanxs

1. Download the zip files containing the fonts to the desktop.

2. Create a folder called "fonts" on the desktop.

3. Double-click on the zip files you downloaded and move the font files from the zip folder to the "fonts" folder.

4. Click on Start --> Control Panel --> Fonts.

5. Click on File and select "Install New Font..."

6. In the dialog box that pops up, navigate to the Desktop using Folders box (the file path is usually c:/Users/[your username]/Desktop/fonts).

7. Select the font(s) you want to install (Select All works well for me) and click Install.

Pretty much exactly the same, except for where to find the "Install New Fonts" choice.