3 ms·

Nice, but I wonder why Vercel is doing this. Is there some clause in the standard VC contract, that once you’ve raised enough capital, you have to commission yo

by mikl 3y ago

Nice, but I wonder why Vercel is doing this. Is there some clause in the standard VC contract, that once you’ve raised enough capital, you have to commission your own typeface? We’re kinda getting spoiled with options, now every medium to large tech company seems to be releasing their own typeface.

slater 3y ago
It's a money-saving measure. Pay a typographer once and own your own font, vs. having to pay Monotype or whoever a yearly sub with endless licensing issues.
- CharlesW 3y ago
  If it were just a money-saving measure, I'd imagine they'd have continued using Inter with whatever complementary monospaced font they had been using. Vercel's motivation appears to be that, unlike other fonts, Geist was designed with "precision, clarity, and functionality at its core", which "enhances the visual experience of developers and designers", which in turn finally "empowers them to effectively communicate their ideas".
  - csande17 3y ago
    Even if Inter wasn't a fit, and they really specifically needed an open-source font that looked like Helvetica (er, sorry, that drew "inspiration from the renowned Swiss design movement") with a more distinguishable I/l/1 and a monospace version, IBM Plex is free.
    - Jiocus 3y ago
      To iterate on mikl's question: also nice, but I wonder why IBM did this.
      - cratermoon 3y ago
        Plex at least riffs on IBMs earlier typography efforts with the classic Selectric typewriter balls, notably the double story g.
  - hexasquid 3y ago
    At last!
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
cjbprime 3y ago
Yes, agree with you that it's a conspicuous consumption kind of thing.
cratermoon 3y ago
I dunno about VCs/ tech companies, but there are many companies with custom typefaces they use for their marketing materials, not just logos. Many of them are close to existing fonts so you don't notice. Alaska Airlines has AS Circular[1], e.g., but only type nerds would see the difference from Circular. Domino's has one, BBC[2], CNN , Coca-Cola (not just the swirly logo)[3], National Park Service has some[4], and of course Disney has Waltograph. 1 https://auro.alaskaair.com/typography/overview https://auro.alaskaair.com/typography/overview 2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/branding/reith-font/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/branding/reith-font/ 3 https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/company/us/en/visual-identity-pdf/the-coca-cola-foundation-visual-identity-2021.pdf https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/company/us/en/v... 4 https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-graphic-identity-and-style-guides.htm https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-graphic-identity-and-st...

by mikl 3y ago

slater 3y ago

It's a money-saving measure. Pay a typographer once and own your own font, vs. having to pay Monotype or whoever a yearly sub with endless licensing issues.

CharlesW 3y ago
If it were just a money-saving measure, I'd imagine they'd have continued using Inter with whatever complementary monospaced font they had been using. Vercel's motivation appears to be that, unlike other fonts, Geist was designed with "precision, clarity, and functionality at its core", which "enhances the visual experience of developers and designers", which in turn finally "empowers them to effectively communicate their ideas".
- csande17 3y ago
  Even if Inter wasn't a fit, and they really specifically needed an open-source font that looked like Helvetica (er, sorry, that drew "inspiration from the renowned Swiss design movement") with a more distinguishable I/l/1 and a monospace version, IBM Plex is free.
  - Jiocus 3y ago
    To iterate on mikl's question: also nice, but I wonder why IBM did this.
    - cratermoon 3y ago
      Plex at least riffs on IBMs earlier typography efforts with the classic Selectric typewriter balls, notably the double story g.
- hexasquid 3y ago
  At last!
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

cjbprime 3y ago

Yes, agree with you that it's a conspicuous consumption kind of thing.

cratermoon 3y ago

I dunno about VCs/ tech companies, but there are many companies with custom typefaces they use for their marketing materials, not just logos. Many of them are close to existing fonts so you don't notice. Alaska Airlines has AS Circular[1], e.g., but only type nerds would see the difference from Circular. Domino's has one, BBC[2], CNN , Coca-Cola (not just the swirly logo)[3], National Park Service has some[4], and of course Disney has Waltograph. 1 https://auro.alaskaair.com/typography/overview https://auro.alaskaair.com/typography/overview 2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/branding/reith-font/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/branding/reith-font/ 3 https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/company/us/en/visual-identity-pdf/the-coca-cola-foundation-visual-identity-2021.pdf https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/company/us/en/v... 4 https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-graphic-identity-and-style-guides.htm https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-graphic-identity-and-st...