The game being run is specifically detailed here, and it was run like fast break. As much as I want to hold Adobe up as the bastion of great software design, there are far too many troubles and inconsistencies in it's "suite" of software to do so. It's little things, as it so often is, that are cause for concern. The way a window resizes when you zoom, the default direction of rotating objects. What "transparency" is called, or how to make a dotted line in different programs. I swear you need a Ph.D. in Illustrator to suss out how to make a dotted line if you were never explicitly taught how, and in InDesign you select from a drop-down menu that is always there.

These little inconsistencies between their programs, programs designed to be a family, are so minor that I can deduce not one reason besides apathy and/or hubris that they haven't streamlined the whole package. Illustrator is, of course, the worst offender, and Flash, still holding onto a lot from it's days as a Macromedia application, is a close second.

It's like they just need to put all these teams together in a room, or something. Have an office lunch to say "You know, Illustrator, when you resize a window or turn on your rulers, the page should re-size and re-center, the way it does in InDesign, Photoshop, and everything else." Until then I will always think of Illustrator as the dickhead jock of the group.

You may be asking why this strip has a certain pink-and-magenta-based holiday at its core, and I will tell you. If you are doing a Valentine's self promotion for your design business, now is the time of making. Not that I'm going to, necessarily. No, my efforts are being put into this contest for the Nebraska AIGA chapter. They do this sort of thing from time to time as a creative exercise and a fundraiser (free to enter, though). Since there's absolutely no rule stating that you must be a Nebraska resident to enter, I highly suggest rocking something out and entering it. I expect my entries to be full of ... character?

That is all. Voss Out.

I admit though, I am very turned-on by the idea of developing a typeface of my own at this point. Something to replace Anime Ace here on the comic would be good. I'm not guaranteeing anything here, but it's something Jeff Smith did for Bone a decade ago and it worked wonders for the lettering-to-art juxtaposition in his work. And based on what Newton's face looks like these days you can bet just about anything that man does is something I want to do.

Also: Designing your own typeface. Done it?

My disappointment turned into anger, and from anger to feelings of persecution. My client deserves a perfect solution to their design problem, as does any client. But my client can't afford a perfect solution, and I cannot justify four hundred dollars for two typefaces. In my entire career, I have never, ever been able to justify the purchase of a typeface for a project. Not when I was working for an employer, and not now that I work for myself. Maybe at the $50 range, and maybe once. Even then, we're talking about a single style at a single weight. For fifty. Dollars.

I'm of the opinion that typographic design world faces a similar problem the music industry faced a few years ago -- only worse. Essentially they're selling computer software, and when you sell computer software, you deal with piracy. Sadly, type designers also have to deal with amateur hour over at every 1001 free font dot com in the world, peddling crap that just might work for us designers (like Anime Ace, the current type that 1PT.Rule is set in) when we can't afford the real deal. Did I go to Veer and House to check out type when I started this strip? Hell yes. Did I balk at the pricetag and settle for less? Hell also yes. If you think graphic designers have it bad justifying work and pricetags in the face of amateurs and undercutters, I can tell you we've got nothing on type designers.

So in order to combat those issues, and make the most of the sales they get, new type designs are priced sky high. This also demonstrates the principle of value-through-price-point, as in, "our type is better because it is wicked expensive," a marketing trick that almost all of us fall for every single day. My problem is that this has created a serious barrier for entry for those of us with small operations and small-budgeted clients. So it is in fact tougher for the little guys to produce big design -- despite talent, enthusiasm, knowhow, and need.

To this day I believe that Helvetica Bold should cost $5. Helvetica Bold Italic should also be $5, and they should be sold through an iTunes-like service that also manages the fonts on your computer system. An iTunes Music Store for fonts, with matching appropriate pricing. Granted, Helvetica Bold Italic is not going to sell near as many copies as Lady Gaga's latest single, but under this model it would solve at least the piracy problem (look at iTunes' $1 price-point effect on music piracy for the general public) and by making the great typefaces as readily available as the crap out there for free, you stem the tide of garbage in, garbage out from designers using them.

I could go on. For $400 I could buy a Dyson, a Playstation 3, a Kindle, or two iPhones. Or two fonts. I know they take a long time to make and are a delicate craft, but after eight years and maybe only one purchase, how can these prices be justified?

This one goes out to a friend from whom I pulled the initial client quote, which I think we've all heard at one point or another. I call it the kiss of death, generally with "projects" and "success" as the victims. There could be other interpretations, I suppose.