Forum dedicated to font sharing

[alupizor]

A few years ago, I came across a forum dedicated to fonts/font sharing.

I couldn't get an account there because they had a rule that you needed to share a font that's not already in their database in order to get an account.

I was a newbie at the time and didn't bookmark the forum's address since my knowledge of fonts was limited. I'm now interested in finding that forum.

Do any of you have any idea of what I'm talking about? I hope so :)

[alupizor]

110 views and no one has a clue. I know I didn't dream it, so I'm still hopeful...

[megabyteme]

Not a dedicated site, but IPT has A LOT of fonts under the "apps" heading. Did a bit of searching for you, and read a thread written by font designers. They indicated that the one floating around on torrents were all fairly old since their newest ones had only been purchased by a handful of people.

That said, there are multitudes of fonts available, what are your needs beyond the tens of thousands that can be had easily?

[alupizor]

Thanks for the effort, megabyteme.

I don't really need a tracker, since they only post new stuff. I wanted a forum where you can find more stuff and people are helping one another.

I sometimes look for the font used in a poster or in a company's logo and I identify it to be a commercial font. Now the company usually doesn't have the fonts used in the design of their logo (I'm talking small firms) and I would like to use those fonts when I design their homepage. Unfortunately, they don't wanna splash the cash to buy the font and they ask me to use a 'close enough' font, which always looks terrible. So I usually get the font off the internet to not make a crappy web page design.

I can't buy the fonts each time this happens, it would cost me hundreds of dollars a year and it would only be a one-time usage for me.

And you are right, I have 60,000+ fonts and they're only helpful 30% of the time.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to look into this, I guess I'll find that forum again someday.

[megabyteme]

I sometimes look for the font used in a poster or in a company's logo and I identify it to be a commercial font. Now the company usually doesn't have the fonts used in the design of their logo (I'm talking small firms) and I would like to use those fonts when I design their homepage. Unfortunately, they don't wanna splash the cash to buy the font and they ask me to use a 'close enough' font, which always looks terrible. So I usually get the font off the internet to not make a crappy web page design.

I can't buy the fonts each time this happens, it would cost me hundreds of dollars a year and it would only be a one-time usage for me.

That certainly creates an ethical issue. If you do the right thing and insist the customer pay the font designer for their work (you wouldn't be happy to see your websites shamelessly copied and used without compensation, I assume), the customer will most likely find someone who will cheat the font designer- as is likely the reason why they do not have the fonts used in their logo.

Not sure of the real-world solution, but this unfortunate for font designers. There is a line between filesharing for single viewing, and downloading for profit.

[alupizor]

You are right. And sometimes it's sad to see how far rich companies go to not pay for a font.

I was recently working on a project and I identified the font as Galette. I asked the company for the font family and they sent me Galette Medium, which is the free font of the family (that also contains Light and Bold). I told them I needed at least the Bold version and they said to fake-bold the font in Photoshop so they would not pay $25 for the Bold version of the font.

[megabyteme]

It is easy to take fonts for granted. We have so many available to us for free that paying a premium price to use one that is slightly different seems exorbitant. And some of them are.

The current pricing structure, as well as actual piracy is a circular problem not so dissimilar to the cost of DVDs/old music distribution schemes. Perhaps time and digital competition will alter things. However, companies should expect to pay for artwork used in their logos/sites.

[piercerseth]

paying a premium price to use one that is slightly different seems exorbitant. And some of them are.

Kerning is earning/Justification? Compensation.

[alupizor]

Perhaps time and digital competition will alter things. However, companies should expect to pay for artwork used in their logos/sites.

Or maybe it's about education. Because it's not about the money for a company when considering buying a font. As you point out, they should expect to pay for them.

[megabyteme]

That is interesting. I wonder how many actually feel you are gouging them when you tell them it will be $300 extra for a matching font. I've had so many on my computers at times that they were an interference to using certain menus. This was before I began filesharing. The movie Industry has had some success with campaigns like "You wouldn't download a car..." These have at least made the general public feel shameful/secretive when downloading. However, BT traffic still accounts for half the bandwidth used on the internet, so someone still does it.

Fair value certainly comes into play with fonts. Convenience and pricing (Netflix model) is the answer for media. I say "is" because the two have to be combined or it does not work. Perhaps a unified clearinghouse which would allow designers massive choices for a reasonable subscription similar to Spotify would work. Granted, the artists do not currently receive fair compensation through that system, either...

Kerning is earning/Justification? Compensation.

Right, center, or left?