Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

brianmoore.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 86 posts

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#41

Post by detritus »

iamcalledrob wrote: post #35
detritus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of interest, did you rename the font prior to use? I'm curious how they found it. You can also just stick them in a font-editor and re-export "as your own font" with some minor tweaks. Not that you should, of course.

You really should pay, especially for work by small foundries. Making a typeface takes a tremendous amount of work. The financial upside is extremely hard to justify. I think non-designers underestimate the amount of effort required by an order of magnitude. I put it in the territory of building indie games. Potentially years of your life go into it, and it's a huge problem if everyone pirates your work.

I'm actually a designer, have paid for many fonts - including licenses for websites - have made a couple myself and have a good idea how hard they are to make.

That said, a certain corporation's bought up a load of fonts made over the past x decades and is making a tidy sum selling old rope again and again without adding anything of value, or funding the original designers/converters, so I'm quite happy to illuminate how an individual can get around such things for use on their personal blog with an audience of ten, should they so wish.

.

ed - you're also not as likely to be able to get a whole usable font from a small foundry in the first place, without buying it.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#42

Post by russdill »

tavavex wrote: post #39

I didn't know that many brands had their own bespoke fonts. Especially the less prominent players like Colgate or Korean Air. Was this caused by normal font licensing being so restrictive or expensive that they just decided to hire someone to make a font just for them, or design teams insisting that this sans serif that looks almost like all the others (but not quite) is essential to their design?

For most of these fonts, I feel fairly certain if someone gave me a sample I could identify the brand.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#43

Post by pixl97 »

tavavex wrote: post #39

I didn't know that many brands had their own bespoke fonts. Especially the less prominent players like Colgate or Korean Air. Was this caused by normal font licensing being so restrictive or expensive that they just decided to hire someone to make a font just for them, or design teams insisting that this sans serif that looks almost like all the others (but not quite) is essential to their design?

>like Colgate

It's still an 80 billion dollar company in market cap, so there is that.

Also I'm guessing it's so they have another means of attack on knock off products that directly copy them.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#44

Post by bonoboTP »

virtualritz wrote: post #25

I love how all these 'brand' fonts look indistinguishable to an untrained eye and still brain-frying-bordedom-inducingly close to each other to someone like me who actually studied & worked in typography. Related: https://eidosdesign.substack.com/p/why-every-brand-looks-the...

Pretty sure it's just the pendulum swinging. Today its all about serious and clean and minimal. Then it will be whimsical and maximalist again. Skinny jeans, baggy jeans. Skeumorphic, flat.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#45

Post by wpm »

tavavex wrote: post #39

I didn't know that many brands had their own bespoke fonts. Especially the less prominent players like Colgate or Korean Air. Was this caused by normal font licensing being so restrictive or expensive that they just decided to hire someone to make a font just for them, or design teams insisting that this sans serif that looks almost like all the others (but not quite) is essential to their design?

I have respect for the design teams that at least just drop the bullshit and say "Yeah Inter is our font, whatever, who cares"

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#46

Post by gguncth »

virtualritz wrote: post #25

I love how all these 'brand' fonts look indistinguishable to an untrained eye and still brain-frying-bordedom-inducingly close to each other to someone like me who actually studied & worked in typography. Related: https://eidosdesign.substack.com/p/why-every-brand-looks-the...

The purpose of the brand font is to avoid paying licensing fees. Because the typefaces aren’t protected by copyright it’s usually enough to just have someone go and essentially clone an existing font. The whole thing is an artifact of peculiarities of IP law

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#47

Post by mrweasel »

russdill wrote: post #42
tavavex wrote: post #39

I didn't know that many brands had their own bespoke fonts. Especially the less prominent players like Colgate or Korean Air. Was this caused by normal font licensing being so restrictive or expensive that they just decided to hire someone to make a font just for them, or design teams insisting that this sans serif that looks almost like all the others (but not quite) is essential to their design?

For most of these fonts, I feel fairly certain if someone gave me a sample I could identify the brand.

Remove the name from the font and I'm fairly certain that I'd get none of them, well maybe HP.

E.g. the Klarna Headline is pretty distinct, but I've never seen it before. The four other Klarna fonts are super generic. Also why do they need five different fonts?

Mostly I think these custom fonts are a waste of money. If you ship software that needs to include fonts, and you don't want to pay a license, it makes sense. If you do it because of "corporate identity" it seems pointless.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#48

Post by breakingcups »

gguncth wrote: post #46
virtualritz wrote: post #25

I love how all these 'brand' fonts look indistinguishable to an untrained eye and still brain-frying-bordedom-inducingly close to each other to someone like me who actually studied & worked in typography. Related: https://eidosdesign.substack.com/p/why-every-brand-looks-the...

The purpose of the brand font is to avoid paying licensing fees. Because the typefaces aren’t protected by copyright it’s usually enough to just have someone go and essentially clone an existing font. The whole thing is an artifact of peculiarities of IP law

Is that true, though? Wouldn't it be possible to just copy a font wholesale, since they are uncopyrightable? How would licensing fees be enforced?

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#49

Post by layer8 »

virtualritz wrote: post #25

I love how all these 'brand' fonts look indistinguishable to an untrained eye and still brain-frying-bordedom-inducingly close to each other to someone like me who actually studied & worked in typography. Related: https://eidosdesign.substack.com/p/why-every-brand-looks-the...

I think they just misspelled “Bland fonts”.

Re: Font Smuggler – Copy hidden brand fonts into Google Docs

#50

Post by an-honest-moose »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #38
iamcalledrob wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really should pay, especially for work by small foundries. Making a typeface takes a tremendous amount of work. The financial upside is extremely hard to justify. I think non-designers underestimate the amount of effort required by an order of magnitude. I put it in the territory of building indie games. Potentially years of your life go into it, and it's a huge problem if everyone pirates your work.

>You really should pay, especially for work by small foundries. You can't copyright the alphabet. >and it's a huge problem if everyone pirates your work. I've never pirated a font. Not once have I boarded a ship in the middle of the ocean, gun in hand, taking the crew and cargo of typography hostage. But more seriously, I acknowledge that it's a problem. It's just not my problem.

>You can't copyright the alphabet.

You're not paying to use the alphabet, there are plenty of perfectly legible typefaces that are completely free for you to use.

Post reply on HN