There are a number of foundries who offer bespoke, one-off typefaces but these can end up costing £50k plus. That means any company can use that typeface. Exclusive licenceĬommercially available typefaces are licensed, rather than sold. But, be cautious: like anything, things that are free are sometimes lower quality and most certainly overused, so may not be suitable for representing your brand. Open source usually refers to ‘free to use’. These can usually be used both online and offline for print. There are a number of services that provide access to many typefaces for a monthly fee. These can be one-off, monthly, or annual charges-often based on the amount of monthly traffic you get. Increasingly, font foundries are offering a special licence for use exclusively on the web. These fonts are predominantly used for offline use (for print, static graphics etc). This means you can pay once and use it as much as you like within the terms of the licence. Some font foundries (the company that makes the font) will offer a one-off fee to licence a font. There’s a few ways that fonts can be licenced: Full licence purchase Make sure you work with an agency who can provide guidance. Even if your designer or agency has created a logo, artwork or a website on your behalf, it is the client's responsibility to ensure the correct licence has been purchased. In short: because you’re liable if you’re found to be using a font without a licence. Some are extremely restrictive (more on that later). Some licences are very relaxed about their use. What is a licence?Ī font is technically a piece of computer software, and just like any software you need to obtain a license before installing it. For that reason, and for simplicity I’m going to use the term ‘font’ from here on out. So, it’s often cheaper to buy licences for the individual ‘fonts’ you need, rather than a whole ‘typeface’. The entire collection of weights and styles make up a ‘typeface’. A ‘font’ refers to a single weight, style or size of text, such as Light, Regular, Bold or Italic. The terms ‘typeface’ and ‘font’ are different. So, you know typography and fonts are important, but do you know enough about licensing to ensure you’re legally protected? Here’s a quick guide.īefore we get into detail, let's bust a bit of jargon that might be confusing.
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