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Why are they so expensive? It’s a combination of the attention to detail that goes into a professional-quality font and the sheer scale of the work, which is m

Why are they so expensive? It’s a combination of the attention to detail that goes into a professional-quality font and the sheer scale of the work, which is multiple orders of magnitude greater than writing a good smartphone app. I wrote about this once before if you’re interested in a deeper explanation: http://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/zaxs1/pick_your_5_goto_fonts_ill_start/c633iqh http://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/zaxs1/pick_y...

pron 13y ago
Read your post. Interesting. Do professional fonts, then, come in restricted versions with fewer options at a lower cost (just to differentiate between professional and amateur users)?
- Chris_Newton 13y ago
  Do professional fonts, then, come in restricted versions with fewer options at a lower cost Sometimes you do see that quite directly. A font might be available as a basic version, probably with enough characters to set text in a few common Western languages but few frills, and a “professional” version, which might have a much larger character set, more support for OpenType features, or other enhancements. There are other ways that pricing scales as well. For example, professional-grade fonts are almost always presented as part of a family, with different variations of weight (often far more than just regular vs. bold), style (roman/italic/slanted) and perhaps other characteristics. Buying a single font (just one style/weight variant) is usually disproportionately expensive, so most people would buy a bundle. An entry-level bundle might contain just a couple of weights and plain vs. italic versions of them, and those four variations might be more than enough for a lot of users. On the other hand, professionals typesetting a book or magazine would almost certainly want a wider typographical palette, and would therefore buy a more comprehensive bundle with perhaps dozens of different variations within just one font family. The price-per-font for both bundles might be about the same, but that means the comprehensive set is many times more expensive in absolute terms. Another common means of scaling is that, like software, computer fonts tend to be licensed per device. That means someone buying one copy to use for a personal project will pay far less than a company of 500 people that wants to install a font for their new corporate look on every employee’s PC. There is also the possibility of exclusivity. Some professional-grade fonts start life as a commissioned work for the exclusive use of a specific client, again usually as part of a branding exercise. Of course those clients will pay a premium for that work, which is far beyond the budget of most of us. In many cases they will only pay for exclusivity for a limited time, and the font’s creators can then add that font to their public catalogue for others to buy. As a final example, with the rise of fonts-as-a-service on the Web, we now commonly see licensing based on page views, so large sites with many visitors are paying significantly more to the hosting service (though almost certainly at a lower cost per individual page view). Given that a major web site will receive orders of magnitude more hits than a typical personal blog or small company, that can make a big difference in how much a font service brings in if their fonts are chosen for major sites. As far as I’ve seen, the fonts themselves tend to be identical in these cases, though.
lifeformed 13y ago
I spend years of soul-consuming work making a game, yet only charge $10 for it. Although I guess fonts are a bit different, because the end user (the reader) doesn't buy it, just the publisher (the writer). Perhaps I should view them more like game middleware - I would gladly pay $100 for a nice toolset.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Years? Exaggerate much? I'm not a game dev, but when I think about the projects that I've put literally years of effort into, they are far more complex than the typical <$10 app store game.
  - epaik 13y ago
    Many indie developers spend years developing their game, yet charge ~10$. Games can be incredibly complex, you're underestimating the amount of effort it takes to write one. You're also assuming that he's selling his game on a mobile app store, which may not be case (there's Steam, Desura, and other online portals).
  - lifeformed 13y ago
    Well, it wasn't an Appstore game, but rather a desktop one. It was also pretty high-tech under the hood, and the scope of the game was quite large. Also, we didn't really have any experience making games, and our team was tiny (2 coders, 2 asset makers).

pron 13y ago

Read your post. Interesting. Do professional fonts, then, come in restricted versions with fewer options at a lower cost (just to differentiate between professional and amateur users)?

Chris_Newton 13y ago
Do professional fonts, then, come in restricted versions with fewer options at a lower cost Sometimes you do see that quite directly. A font might be available as a basic version, probably with enough characters to set text in a few common Western languages but few frills, and a “professional” version, which might have a much larger character set, more support for OpenType features, or other enhancements. There are other ways that pricing scales as well. For example, professional-grade fonts are almost always presented as part of a family, with different variations of weight (often far more than just regular vs. bold), style (roman/italic/slanted) and perhaps other characteristics. Buying a single font (just one style/weight variant) is usually disproportionately expensive, so most people would buy a bundle. An entry-level bundle might contain just a couple of weights and plain vs. italic versions of them, and those four variations might be more than enough for a lot of users. On the other hand, professionals typesetting a book or magazine would almost certainly want a wider typographical palette, and would therefore buy a more comprehensive bundle with perhaps dozens of different variations within just one font family. The price-per-font for both bundles might be about the same, but that means the comprehensive set is many times more expensive in absolute terms. Another common means of scaling is that, like software, computer fonts tend to be licensed per device. That means someone buying one copy to use for a personal project will pay far less than a company of 500 people that wants to install a font for their new corporate look on every employee’s PC. There is also the possibility of exclusivity. Some professional-grade fonts start life as a commissioned work for the exclusive use of a specific client, again usually as part of a branding exercise. Of course those clients will pay a premium for that work, which is far beyond the budget of most of us. In many cases they will only pay for exclusivity for a limited time, and the font’s creators can then add that font to their public catalogue for others to buy. As a final example, with the rise of fonts-as-a-service on the Web, we now commonly see licensing based on page views, so large sites with many visitors are paying significantly more to the hosting service (though almost certainly at a lower cost per individual page view). Given that a major web site will receive orders of magnitude more hits than a typical personal blog or small company, that can make a big difference in how much a font service brings in if their fonts are chosen for major sites. As far as I’ve seen, the fonts themselves tend to be identical in these cases, though.

lifeformed 13y ago

I spend years of soul-consuming work making a game, yet only charge $10 for it. Although I guess fonts are a bit different, because the end user (the reader) doesn't buy it, just the publisher (the writer). Perhaps I should view them more like game middleware - I would gladly pay $100 for a nice toolset.

ams6110 13y ago
Years? Exaggerate much? I'm not a game dev, but when I think about the projects that I've put literally years of effort into, they are far more complex than the typical <$10 app store game.
- epaik 13y ago
  Many indie developers spend years developing their game, yet charge ~10$. Games can be incredibly complex, you're underestimating the amount of effort it takes to write one. You're also assuming that he's selling his game on a mobile app store, which may not be case (there's Steam, Desura, and other online portals).
- lifeformed 13y ago
  Well, it wasn't an Appstore game, but rather a desktop one. It was also pretty high-tech under the hood, and the scope of the game was quite large. Also, we didn't really have any experience making games, and our team was tiny (2 coders, 2 asset makers).