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One of the people involved in the project and answering questions in the article. Happy to answer more questions. We talk about reasoning for Cereal in the art
by enra 8y ago
One of the people involved in the project and answering questions in the article. Happy to answer more questions.
We talk about reasoning for Cereal in the article and in my case study too[1]. In large organizations, you often have tens or hundreds of designers, support multiple platforms (ios, android, web(mac, windows, linux) and do ad campaigns around the world. When it comes to typefaces, there really isn't any universal system fonts (other than Arial maybe), that are available on all platforms. If you use different fonts on each platform, the design will be slightly different, trying to manage a cross-platform design system (like we do [2]) becomes challenging. Every time, designer has to pick the right font, potentially do 2-3 designs with different font to make sure they all look how they want them to. Also then each time user or anyone in the company looks at the design on their device, it look will slightly different. If the marketing then also uses different type, it will look slightly off if you include product shots (one reason why Apple now uses SF everywhere). Short answer: having multiple fonts causes additional work and can confuse people, especially inside the company.
Since there isn't universal cross-platform fonts, it means you often have to embed fonts, and in some cases license them. Licensing fonts is different than just buying a font file. Even for small developers quality fonts can run up to $50,000 per app (imagine what the licensing costs are for a global company with large userbase!). With licensing you never get exactly what you want in terms of expression and functionality, and other brands can easily buy the same thing.
As the last point, what I find really exciting that we can now consider font kind of like a software. We change it whenever we find problems or just want to improve something. That is usually not possible with licensing. Obviously, you would and should only do your own typeface if you have these kind of issues and care enough wanting to solve them.
[1]: https://airbnb.design/working-type/ https://airbnb.design/working-type/
[2]: https://airbnb.design/building-a-visual-language/ https://airbnb.design/building-a-visual-language/
- baal232 8y ago> If you use different fonts on each platform, the design will be slightly different Oh no, the fonts will look different on different devices! Better commission a custom font. Back in the day, we just accepted that was how the web worked. Jokes aside, I see why you'd want consistency across devices and print. But what's wrong with using an open source typeface, or modifying one for your purposes? > and other brands can easily buy the same things. Why do you think a unique font is essential for branding? Some well known fonts are in use by many companies.
- fermienrico 8y agoI think people are perhaps downvoting you for the joke but it is a really important question. A or B? A - Design a custom typeface in 3 months for a project B - Use a proven typeface from one of the world's best designers, say Adrian Frutiger's Univers that has been tested and updated for digital medium? I am a bit old fashioned I guess. There is so much beauty in Didot, Univers or DIN than today's quickly churned out fonts. Technology has changed, but the methodology hasn't and an impeccable font takes a better half of the decade to perfect.
- brailsafe 8y agoCongrats to your team on creating what looks like a very versatile font. I can appreciate the benefits that creating a custom font will have. One of the other commenters mentioned that AirBnB's Cereal and Netflix Sans (both overseen by Dalton Maag) are almost identical. Could you speak to the differences, technical or otherwise between the results and how that relates to differentiating the brand aesthetic?
- econ_th0 8y agoop delivers a usual... the fact is 99.999999% of people do not see or notice the difference. i can say with strong belief that changing your font did not add to your bottom line.
- saagarjha 8y agoFonts are a very subliminal thing. Sure, you may not be able to point out the differences between certain fonts, but many can tell the difference between different corporate identities.
- gingericha 8y agoDoesn't that ignore OP's additional point: >If you use different fonts on each platform, the design will be slightly different, trying to manage a cross-platform design system ... becomes challenging. Every time, designer has to pick the right font, potentially do 2-3 designs with different font to make sure they all look how they want them to. Also then each time user or anyone in the company looks at the design on their device, it look will slightly different. Where simply commissioning this font to be used globally for everything from product to marketing will reduce the amount of time spent on creating design materials (ultimately saving the company money or allowing their employees to focus on more important tasks)? Or his other point where commissioning this font incurs a one off cost and reduced spending in licensing. > Since there isn't universal cross-platform fonts, it means you often have to embed fonts, and in some cases license them. Licensing fonts is different than just buying a font file. Even for small developers quality fonts can run up to $50,000 per app (imagine what the licensing costs are for a global company with large userbase!). With licensing you never get exactly what you want in terms of expression and functionality, and other brands can easily buy the same thing.
- gregoire 8y agoWill this typeface be only used for the UI and marketing, or also for Airbnb's logo[1]? [1]: https://press.atairbnb.com/media-assets/?categ=Logos https://press.atairbnb.com/media-assets/?categ=Logos
- tomc1985 8y agoSomeone else jumps on the "we need a new font!" bandwagon...
- mozumder 8y agoDid you look at making it a variable font to reduce bandwidth on web loads?