Not only companies, Sweden has this for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Sans
Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
11–20 of 205 posts
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#12It's not just tech companies. The BBC has commissioned a typeface[1] for their massively varied output, to cut down on licensing costs. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/gel/articles/introducing-bbc-reith
Aren't the fonts Google provides free of charge? At least for web-design?
By curiosity, are they guaranteed to be free forever ?
I know that the current licensing is as open as it can be, but if Google or the actual legal owner changes its mind, will the current users need to go through a clearing of everything they have that uses the font ?
I would guess there’s no guarantee, and wouldn’t take that risk if I was in the BBC.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't the fonts Google provides free of charge? At least for web-design?
By curiosity, are they guaranteed to be free forever ? I know that the current licensing is as open as it can be, but if Google or the actual legal owner changes its mind, will the current users need to go through a clearing of everything they have that uses the font ? I would guess there’s no guarantee, and wouldn’t take that risk if I was in the BBC.
Open source licenses have no expiry date and allows free redistribution, thus what is currently available will remain free for good.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#14Because they have the resources to do it abd they want that level of control?
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#15This is one of those times where as a working creative that frequently reads Hacker News I straight up face palm.
I have to imagine a lot of these commenters would say the same in regards to any sort of subjective artistic choice that isn't purely optimized for efficiency.
I would like to leave you with a quote by Briano Eno from a really good lecture he gave several years ago that I hope can provide a jumping off point for alternate ways to think about style, and why I think y'all are asking the wrong questions.
"So the first question is, why is any of that important? Why do we do it? And notice it’s not only us relatively wealthy people, in terms of global wealth, who are doing it - it’s everybody that we know of. Every human group we know of is spending a lot of their time – in fact almost all of their surplus time and energy – is spent in the act of stylising things and enjoying other people’s stylisations of things. So my question is, what is it for? In fact, my friend Danny Hillus, who’s a scientist, was asked by a well-known science website, along with about 300 other scientists, he was asked what is the most interesting scientific question at the moment? A lot of the other people replied with things about the cosmological constant and Ryman’s Hypothesis and all these very complicated things. And his question was very simple: he said why do we like music? And if you start thinking about that, that is really one of the most mysterious things you can imagine. Why do we even have an interest in music? Why do we have preferences? Why do we like this song better than that one? Why do we like this Beethoven sonata better than that Beethoven sonata? Why do we like this performance of that same sonata better than that other performance? We had very fine distinctions about things that we prefer, aesthetic things. And, yet, none of it seems to have much to do with functionalism, with staying alive and certainly not with industries I would say." - Brian Eno
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2015/bbc-music-jo...
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#16It's not just tech companies. The BBC has commissioned a typeface[1] for their massively varied output, to cut down on licensing costs. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/gel/articles/introducing-bbc-reith
"For the BBC to remain a vital and relevant digital service in an increasingly busy marketplace, we need to appeal to as many people as possible. Having a broader range of expression and visual tonality allows us to stand out in a crowd and aid recognition."
I love designer talk.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#17>I can’t help but feel that some of these companies wanted a >custom typeface simply because that’s what everyone else is >doing. This cargo cult mentality that is so prevalent in >design is at best wasteful and at worst illegal. Illegal?!? I'm going to need to see some work on this part. I couldn't find anything in the article that seemed to directly support the assertion. on edit: formatting
Yeah, the author needs to either remove that or clarify that point. That being said, I think the author means that all of these new type faces are very similar and so they may be infringing. Or that the companies want a familiar type face but don't want to pay for it, so they commission a look-a-like. But, that's just a very large grasp on my part from reading the article.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#18For the same reason some people want tailor made suits.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#19There's nothing like putting Circular side-by-side with a handful of its imitators to demonstrate how much tighter, sharper, and better-balanced Circular is than any of them.
Re: Why are tech companies making custom typefaces?
#20I've never understood the fuzz about typography. Yes, it's important that fonts that are used a lot meet certain standards - but some people seem to make a big deal out of it.
Some people spend a lot of time color coordinating their clothes, some just wear whatever. Some people try to make everything they write look beautiful while making it easier to read, some people just type the letters and don't care.
Good typography can make a massive difference to the presentation of text. To some people that makes it worth the effort