Fonts - Why is it so Easy to Find Free Fonts?

[caribmike]

As I was downloading yet another family of fonts that I was looking for, I wondered why its so easy to find free fonts. I've been a graphic designer and print and sign shop owner for 20 years and have never found a problem finding almost any font I've ever needed. To be honest, I have over 10,000 now. Why are fonts so often free? Even the ones from big font foundries can be found on the net for free if you look hard enough. Does anyone know why?

 

[BigNate]

... have you verified that you actually have the right to reproduce, or to reproduce and sell, the fonts that you so freely download? this is actually an area where intellectual theft runs rampant. A lot of times the font is free to download and use personally, but as soon as you use it commercially you have violated the copyright protection for that font. (even packaging fonts with a file to send to another printer can violate the use agreement of some fonts.)

Be aware that a lot of "free" or cheap fonts do not always scale or kern correctly. If you use them to replace another font that is supposed to be the same, the file may not format or print correctly.

 

[visual800]

Ive noticed that also. You can find just about any font if you look hard enough. As far as using them for my purposes or copyright issues. I dont worry about the font police getting on my back

 

[rjssigns]

A lot of the free fonts create issues. I see it in the classroom all the time and warn students not to use "free" fonts. It's all fine until we start to impose the file or send it to one of the RIP's in the lab. When a project fails, more times than I care to count it's a font related issue.

Buying direct from the foundry ensures you have a workable font with correct kerning, ligatures, etc...

 

[DeadDoc]

I have over 16k in my personal library(some handed to me from my old graphic designer) and assume that some of them have been obtained through means that shouldn't have been and or aren't for profit. Those do not go onto my work computers just for ethical reasons and as noted above, some of them actually have noticeable print issues.

You can find almost anything given enough time; hell, I'm sure a handful of us had ill-obtained copies of photoshop at one point.

A lot of the free fonts create issues. I see it in the classroom all the time and warn students not to use "free" fonts. It's all fine until we start to impose the file or send it to one of the RIP's in the lab. When a project fails, more times than I care to count it's a font related issue.

Buying direct from the foundry ensures you have a workable font with correct kerning, ligatures, etc...

Turning it into morse code? Had that with some business cards yesterday. We have been having lots of student files crash our fiery servers this past month. Fun days.

 

[rjssigns]

I have over 16k in my personal library(some handed to me from my old graphic designer) and assume that some of them have been obtained through means that shouldn't have been and or aren't for profit. Those do not go onto my work computers just for ethical reasons and as noted above, some of them actually have noticeable print issues.

You can find almost anything given enough time; hell, I'm sure a handful of us had ill-obtained copies of photoshop at one point.


Turning it into morse code? Had that with some business cards yesterday. We have been having lots of student files crash our fiery servers this past month. Fun days.

All kinds of fail including crashing the RIP for the Indigo. Takes a minimum 20 minutes to get it back on line. More recently there has been some BS going on with Adobe Typekit. Some of the Adobe fonts will crash SmartStream. Typekit fonts were always safe and always worked. Not anymore.

 

[Boudica]

Ya know, you post this and the next day I get a request for numbers in a font I don't have, and while I can find a free version for personal use everywhere, the numerals are replaced with 'download full font from...'
Smart move on their part, sending their partial fonts direct to the online font whorehouses who really f*ck over whoever is creating these fonts. I just wrapped the $29 into the price and shot it back. I would rather not waste time making parking spot numbers anyways.

After realizing that what I had was the "free" version, I actually went to the main foundry (Zeta) for that font. You can sign up for a free trial. I thought I was going to be clever - but even their trial download didn't include the digits. foiled again.