Web Font Services
Wouldn’t it be great to use your brand font on your website?
A few months ago I wrote an article about web fonts - the new web standard that will allow us to potentially use any font we like online.
Despite the fact that all modern web browsers now support web fonts there have been very few available. That’s because all fonts require a license to use, and until recently web font licenses were non-existent. Even with the new WOFF (web open font format) designed to stop piracy, foundries were reluctant to sell web licenses. The other issue was what to charge for web fonts, as traditional models are not very lucrative.
There have been a lot of exciting developments in the last year. It is now possible to use a vast number of fonts online, more importantly your brand font is probably available too.
What’s New
A year ago a service called Typekit was launched. Typekit registration (with an annual subscription fee) gives you access to a relatively small selection of fonts. These fonts are served directly to your website so you never actually own a copy. It’s a very clever technique that hinders piracy and controls pricing. Typekit’s popularity was huge despite the limited number of fonts on offer.
Over the last year some of the smaller font foundries also announced their own service or partnerships with the likes of Typekit, WebINK and FontDeck, all offering licenses for web use serving the font directly to the website.
On August 16th this year Adobe announced a partnership with Typekit that would bring many of their very popular and widely used fonts to the service. This was a massive announcement, as Adobe owns a very large collection of fonts. A few days later on August 18th a service called WebType was announced with a business model of per-font annual licensing. More importantly its backers include The Font Bureau and Ascender Corporation, companies that also own a large collection. On the September 14th last week, Monotype Imagining finally launch their own service on their website Fonts.com offering over 7500 more fonts. Its annual subscription model for access to the whole library is similar to that of Typekit.
It is clear now that the model for web fonts is through annual subscription services like those mentioned above. If you’re starting to get confused don’t worry! You’re witnessing very large companies make their play in a brand new and lucrative market. What this means for us as website owners and creators is that over 10,000 fonts are now available to use online legally, and among them is very likely our brand fonts.
What are the costs?
Traditionally when we have bought fonts for print we pay upfront for the font file and a lifetime license. Font foundries don’t like this model but it has to exist for technical and legacy reasons. They don’t like it because people will only pay around £10 to £100 per font as a one-off fee. They hate this model because that person can (and will) share the font with friends, with little regard to the license.
The new services like Typekit and WebType have found a solution that stops piracy and allows for an annual fee. If you don’t pay they can simply revoke access to the font, and your website will suddenly look very different. There are two types of annual subscription – per-font, which WebType and FontDeck prefer, and whole library access, preferred by Typekit and Fonts.com. Whichever service you use will ultimately depend on the particular font you need. But rest assured the cost of fonts online is a lot more expensive than in print!
These services are all aimed at web design agencies, so as a client you should ask your agency to see if your brand font is available and what the options are. For web design in general this is all great news. Expect to see beautiful typographic content online more often.