Open Source Typography: The League of Moveable Type
So I've been a bit obsessed with typography for some time now and believe me, it's hard being a web designer when you like using type - we're pretty limited in choice. Nothing hurts more than having to default to Arial when only Helvetica would do.
Sure, there are an ever increasing number of 'hacks' and 'scripts' to help us typophiles bring users the world of interesting type but it just doesn't cut it - we want mooore!
Over the coming weeks we'll feature a few fantastic resources (and provide our own expertise) for
1. Helping clients to understand type and type on the web; and
2. Helping designers get the most out of web typography
What better place to start though than with the free stuff. Thanks to my lovely wife, a graphic designer herself, her sleuthing uncovered what appears to be a website still in its infancy; The League of Moveable Type, a very select collection of open source fonts.
Their manifesto reads:
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There are people who design typefaces for a living, and we want them to make money off of something that they do well. This revolution is not a movement against type foundries and type designers; it's quite the opposite. The kind of revolution we want is a change in the way people think about doing business. We want type foundries and typographers to start thinking,
"Maybe there's nothing wrong with giving things away sometimes."
It's not always about the money, sometimes it's also about making a contribution to the society, in this case, the design community. Giving one typeface away for free will most likely only boost sales, and it's a good deed. We want more people to look at it like that: like they have a responsibility to do something good for their peers. We're not asking type designers and type foundries to sacrifice profit, we're asking them to contribute to a greater cause, to create a community where we not only have a high design standard for print and web alike, but also a community where we're able to share our creations, knowledge, and expertise with our peers and the world.
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Now, I'm the first to admit that i don't have the patience to design typefaces - but i love their creations and am certainly not adverse to paying for these beautiful pieces of work. I am however, really keen to hear about what type designers think of these sorts of 'free' services. Is this like giving your ideas away for free? Doing speculative work in the hope that it will lead to greater sales? Or is the draw of "contributing to a community" enough for you to hand over one weight of a typeface to the public domain with the hope that your reputation as a type designer will surpass even your expectations and lead to a stampede of your type foundry website for another weight and/or another typeface?
We're all very aware of the communities around open-source content management systems; Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress and the like and we should ask ourselves - has this cost the web design and development industry money? Or are people now so keen to get started that they're looking for web designers left right and centre to help get their opinions out to a global audience.
Personally, I support "The League of Moveable Type" and what they primarily stand for. I can see their efforts being highly regarded by the type-community and designers alike. I'll certainly be staying tuned to any developments in their online presence and will aim to contribute should my services ever be required. If you are a typeface designer though, and have experienced the sweat, tears and unbelievable number of hours that have gone in to one of your typefaces - please let us know where you stand.
Filed under //
design
open-source
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