The most expensive typefaces (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#21

Post by iNerdier » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #15

TwoBit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article implies that they weren't paying millions. Am I reading that right?

From paragraph 2: > It solves a couple of problems: first, Netflix was paying millions every year just for the privilege of using Gotham. When you license something at such a scale, it gets really pricey.

And just below that:

‘It’s worth noting that Jonathan Hoefler, founder of the Hoefler&Co type foundry that designed and owns the Gotham font, says that the company has “never quoted a client anything close to a million dollars for anything.”’

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#22

Post by OzzyB » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

snazz wrote: post #18

OzzyB wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total pageviews which is an unknown, so the price is unknown, which is prohibitive in the sense that I'm now tied to a font license that penalizes me based on the success of my website. Or, I could use Inter which is similar, free, better (more weights, filetype op…

I get your point, but I don’t think Inter is similar enough to Circular to be a replacement for it. Inter is more of a San Francisco replacement in my book (which is how I use it on one of my websites—SF for Apple devices and Inter as a fallback). They’re both pretty, but Spotify’s UI looks very different than a UI set in Inter.

Tbh I was just reaching for a good "free font alternative" -- ofc they wont be exact clones -- but captures that "clean sans-serif design spirit" that seems to be all the rage at the moment.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#23

Post by tptacek » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

OzzyB wrote: post #13

tptacek wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand the logic here. Webfonts are a thing now, which makes all kinds of fonts, both free and expensive, available for websites. How is that anything but a good thing? Of all the things that message board copyright activists get up-in-arms about, it's hard to imagine one where they have a weaker case than typefaces. Literally nobody needs an expensive typeface; we have more high-quality free typef…

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total pageviews which is an unknown, so the price is unknown, which is prohibitive in the sense that I'm now tied to a font license that penalizes me based on the success of my website. Or, I could use Inter which is similar, free, better (more weights, filetype op…

We may just be saying the same thing. I think all I'm saying is that there doesn't seem to be anything problematic about the arrangement we've landed on.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#24

Post by etaioinshrdlu » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 9:25 PM UTC

Artbreeder (https://artbreeder.com/) is likely to have a font generation mode eventually. This can generate high quality fonts (as well as lots of Unicode codepoints) and even interpolate between fonts in latent space. You can also take an existing font and find it in latent space, and then regenerate it. Take a look at the header of the Artbreeder homepage to see a small sample of font interpolation. (Apparently the interpolation is not even as smooth as it could be yet.)

I would not want to be a manual font designer in the future.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#25

Post by Etheryte » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 9:47 PM UTC

iNerdier wrote: post #21

tomcam wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From paragraph 2: > It solves a couple of problems: first, Netflix was paying millions every year just for the privilege of using Gotham. When you license something at such a scale, it gets really pricey.

And just below that: ‘It’s worth noting that Jonathan Hoefler, founder of the Hoefler&Co type foundry that designed and owns the Gotham font, says that the company has “never quoted a client anything close to a million dollars for anything.”’

If you bill 80k a month you still end up with ~1M annually but get to say the above line to prop up your business.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#26

Post by oh_sigh » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 9:50 PM UTC

OzzyB wrote: post #13

tptacek wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand the logic here. Webfonts are a thing now, which makes all kinds of fonts, both free and expensive, available for websites. How is that anything but a good thing? Of all the things that message board copyright activists get up-in-arms about, it's hard to imagine one where they have a weaker case than typefaces. Literally nobody needs an expensive typeface; we have more high-quality free typef…

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total pageviews which is an unknown, so the price is unknown, which is prohibitive in the sense that I'm now tied to a font license that penalizes me based on the success of my website. Or, I could use Inter which is similar, free, better (more weights, filetype op…

If you don't have an idea of how many users to expect, your server costs are an unknown too. I don't see how paying per view will change that.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#27

Post by TheRealPomax » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 10:42 PM UTC

enriquto wrote: post #3

They are not that expensive. I would gladly pay a similar amount for a decent Baskerville LaTeX font with math support. I would have to hide it to my wife somehow, though...

This wasn't about whether they "are" expensive, but about that they are "the most" expensive. If you think this is perfectly affordable, then cool: you can clearly afford every professional font on the market, use that power wisely.

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#28

Post by lallysingh » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 10:58 PM UTC

enriquto wrote: post #3

They are not that expensive. I would gladly pay a similar amount for a decent Baskerville LaTeX font with math support. I would have to hide it to my wife somehow, though...

https://tug.org/FontCatalogue/baskervillef/ ?

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#29

Post by ElFitz » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 11:05 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #26

OzzyB wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total pageviews which is an unknown, so the price is unknown, which is prohibitive in the sense that I'm now tied to a font license that penalizes me based on the success of my website. Or, I could use Inter which is similar, free, better (more weights, filetype op…

If you don't have an idea of how many users to expect, your server costs are an unknown too. I don't see how paying per view will change that.

Unless gp doesn't use any sort of auto scaling what so ever. In which case, the cost will be that of the (known) provisioned amount

Re: The most expensive typefaces (2019)

#30

Post by dirtydroog » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 11:08 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #28

enriquto wrote: post #3

They are not that expensive. I would gladly pay a similar amount for a decent Baskerville LaTeX font with math support. I would have to hide it to my wife somehow, though...

https://tug.org/FontCatalogue/baskervillef/ ?

When did the dog become sleazy?