Over the weekend I was working up some design concepts for a new client project. In my head I crafted the perfect set of type, to move and play off one another in a beautiful dance filled with rounded slab-serif italics and contrasting weights. Then my world came crashing down around me when I saw the pricetag — which was not exaggerated for today’s strip.
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?
Nate Voss: 
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Nate Voss is a designer, illustrator, talkshow host and design journalist. Working in Omaha since 2001, Nate served four years on the Board of Directors for 
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A few years ago Linotype came out with an iTunes-esque store for fonts, integrated within a really slick font manager that you could download for free. It was called Font Explorer X, and I was a huge, huge, HUGE fan.
Unfortunately, they’ve since either sold it or spun it off, because its no longer supported by Linotype and the store is no longer included in the software, which costs money now.
So on the one hand: an iTunes-style font store is a great idea, man. On the other: one of the giants gave it a solid try, and failed.
As for pricing, I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Font management remains a beast, especially for those of us who have collected thousands over the years (by whatever means). Adobe and Microsoft install dozens, if not hundreds, of fonts without permission, and the Apple system is bogged down by crazy-ass multi-language fonts right out of the box. I prefer to use Suitcase Fusion, but there are other players like FontAgent Pro and Font Explorer X. I believe some of them have shopping integration — a vague sort of iTunes Store for typography. But since I can’t even remember which one that is, It’s obviously not caught on.
I like the idea of dirt-cheap, professional typography. Recently, I have plucked a few free Open-Type fonts from the web, making certain they are released with a totally free, commercially-viable license. But I wonder, if there was an arena for regular designers to make and sell type for cheap in a level, transparent marketplace, would we see competitors in the sphere, knocking Veer and House and H&FJ down a notch.
I have never designed a typeface from scratch, but if I did, I’d probably give it away.
See, and I don’t want to knock Veer, House, and H&FJ down a notch. I want them to be accessible instead of exclusive.
As for designers — real designers, not amateurs — designing their own typefaces and selling them at reasonable prices, that’s a topic that’s certainly been floating around the ether lately. I can tell you I don’t want 1PT.Rule to be set in Anime Ace forever…
I’m not sure I fully agree with you on this one. Have I been in the situation of not being able to afford the best face? Of course. How ever I think it brings quite a bit of value to our industry and to the process of type design. I really don’t think there should or needs to be a level playing field with type cost, it devalues it. If their is no money in it then it will become another thing that is done with no thought and all we will see is crappy fonts.
I don’t understand why we would want to knock someone like H&FJ down a notch, when they give our industry some credibility.
If you can’t afford them then you should put in the time and create a better one. After you spend that much time tell me you won’t want top dollar for something you have poored your free time into creating.
Nate, a couple of points:
1) Let’s say you wanted the entire Archer family on 2 computers (40 font files x 2 = 80).
On the H&FJ site the price is listed: $478.00
$478.00/80 = $5.975/font.
It’s about a buck more than your request for five buck fonts.
1.a) While I am no accountant, I would make the educated guess that if computers and software purchased for one’s business are tax deductible, typeface purchases for a client job would also qualify.
2)You say that you can’t charge your client for the typeface purchase; but you are aware that you have use of the fonts *for life*?
In effect, the cost of buying typefaces needs to be spread out over the years one works as a designer.
3) With that said, I do see your point Nate; If type design was compared to fashion, what we have today is a “high couture” on the top levels of the field, and then a bottomless pit of free wares with not much in the middle.
I totally agree, and never thought of it that way. The first far-sighted font foundry who is bold enough to set up their business model this way (iTunes for fonts) will dominate the market squeezing out both big players and rip off artists.
Thomas bringing the math! Your price assessment of Archer is right on the money. But it breaks down without the option to purchase them individually. Hell, I might even go up to $10 a typeface if the foundry needs that price point to stay afloat. $10 for Archer Book Italic? Look at it, it’s luscious.
If I’m a smart designer and I know what type I want to specify for a job, and I don’t want to buy the whole package every time, I should be able to do that. It’s an albums vs. singles argument, to use the music metaphor again. Sometimes you can only get certain tracks on iTunes if you buy the whole album. That’s fine, too.
But one thing I’ll say for sure is should I design and sell my own typeface, I’ll stick to my guns on this price point argument.
Nate,
If I’m a smart designer and I know what type I want to specify for a job, and I don’t want to buy the whole package every time, I should be able to do that. It’s an albums vs. singles argument, to use the music metaphor again. Sometimes you can only get certain tracks on iTunes if you buy the whole album. That’s fine, too.
I think this is a “third way”:
It’s not a issue of price (as my math shows, the price/ unit is quite reasonable).
Type design foundries are used to working on commissioned projects and licensing typefaces to large publishing houses, corporations, etc.. They view the individual designer market as a afterthought, if at all.
My sense is that type designers are a insular group that look at graphic designers, at worst, as uneducated interlopers, at best, an annoyance.
Nate,
It seems like your issue isn’t exactly with the price of a typeface, but simply that you don’t have the option of buying just a face over an entire family. Is this correct?
It seems like it, and if so, then price shouldn’t even be in the discussion.
If it is in the discussion, though, I’d say I’m very surprised that you have a hard time justifying purchasing a typeface that solves the clients problem. You said you want the best for them, but you know the solution and in this case it’s just not feasible.
I don’t think it’s the type industry’s fault, but merely the clients fault for not being able to pay for their solution.
Should each client be able to pay for their perfect solution and have it be affordable, yes. However, when one can not, I don’t think the issue is to say something like type is too expensive.
Now, if your main issue is that faces should be offered separately and not exclusively in a family, then that is an issue worth tackling.
Your music metaphor is great, but I think you’re on the wrong side of it. You compare buying a single type to buying a single over an album. I then say why would you want a single, when you can have an entire album that was crafted. The single should fit into the album, not stand separately.
I see type in the same way. Why would you not want to own the entire family? That could just be me and my fondness of type, though.
Either way, great article due to the discussion it has created.
I’ll be the devils advocate and also not touch the font pricing issue.
Mid-way through college I had a layout and design class. A few of the students were already in the practicum class and therefore had access to the bigger – badder computers. They also had a much larger selection of type to choose from.
I asked the Professor in front of the class if we could level the playing field and let us all have access to the much larger font library.
In a not so subtle way he explained to me that good design does not come from endless type choices. I think Mr. Vignelli would agree with him.
I’m gonna say ‘Me too! Me too!’ to the devil’s advocate. (Oxymoron?) Granted, I keep looking at House, and Veer, and Village, and a ton of other type shops. They do come out with some sweet faces, and I would like to buy and try them all.
That said, there’s more choices on my machine now than I care to be working with already. (Not bragging, a majority are crap.) I’ve slowly been trying to pare down, forcing myself to be more resourceful with the ol’ standbys — and (groan) the web safe fonts, too.
Maybe after getting set with a tight-knit group of basics, I’ll commit to saving a chunk each year or two for the purchase of one new fancy face. Slow, methodic growth.