Doug WilsonNov 12

As a (now former) employee of Monotype, and someone who has been around the type industry for 20 years, I have been having many of the same thoughts that @flaviazim expresses here.

I can feel something changing, but what is it?

https://contraforma.substack.com/p/can-we-still-build-a-future-in-type

Can We Still Build a Future in Type?

An insider's look at the future of type design amid corporate consolidation, AI, and cultural volatility—and why collaboration and shared infrastructure might be the only path forward.

Contraforma
Show threadFlavia ZimbardiNov 12
@onpaperwings it's both comforting and quite scary to know I am not imagining things—especially considering your experience and inside view. but I truly hope we can open more conversations and find some answers together.
Show threadthierryblancpainNov 13

@flaviazim @onpaperwings Might very much just be me but to me the industry feels okay (*), it’s the world that makes it all feel that way.

*within boundaries. The huge influx of people and foundries definitely seems to have made it a lot harder for newcomers. We were extremely lucky to start in 2009.

Show threadDoug WilsonNov 13

@thierryblancpain @flaviazim thanks for sharing your point of view. The world certainly feels messed up right now.

Yeah, the industry is certainly different than 15 years ago with a huge influx of new designers. I just fear there isn’t actually an industry for all these graduates and talented designers to work inside.

Show threadGraeme SwankNov 15
@onpaperwings @thierryblancpain @flaviazim
I think the truism of “There’s always room for one more” can be applied. But I think there are other concerns for newer designers that is more market based. In a broad sense, for smaller one person foundries, we are essentially local businesses operating in a global marketplace that favors larger entities. Then there’s two issues I see, one that has happened and one that is in the near future (not AI)
Show threadGraeme SwankNov 15
@onpaperwings @thierryblancpain @flaviazim
The first is that font license prices over time have not kept pace with CPI or cost of living, meaning that fonts now are deeply discounted. I have some data I have analyzed on that, but I would like to have more data points.
Show threadGraeme SwankNov 15
@onpaperwings @thierryblancpain @flaviazim
But, if discounted fonts due to inflation is real, then I would think that favors established stakeholders (as they have more of a library, more capital, etc.) and can bear that cost more than someone starting out. To compound the problem, they’re generally the ones setting the going rate (setting aside Google, MT, Adobe, etc.).
Show threadGraeme SwankNov 15

@onpaperwings @thierryblancpain @flaviazim
The second is what happens when legacy indie foundries start to reach retirement age? Do they sell their IP? Do they give the foundry to employees? Something else? If it’s the first I think that would make it even harder to compete against.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, I’ve been thinking on these structural things for a while, and I’m not sure how much of that is on point.

Show threadDoug WilsonNov 15

@swanktype @thierryblancpain @flaviazim I agree on both points. I wish every type designer would agree to raise prices — I bought fonts over 15 years ago at $50 per style 🤯

And yes, there are multiple and the foundries that don’t want to keep making fonts into their 60s and 70s. But what can they do if they don’t want to sell to Monotype?

Show threadBen KielNov 18
@onpaperwings @swanktype @thierryblancpain @flaviazim
Show threadDoug WilsonNov 18
@benkiel @swanktype @thierryblancpain @flaviazim Hell, yes! My first type license I ever purchased, around 2005 or so?
Show threadKent Lew

@onpaperwings @benkiel @swanktype @thierryblancpain @flaviazim @klim Ha! I probably have my receipt for Gotham 1 up in the attic with the old tax documents. Not my first license, though. I have plenty of earlier licenses from HTF — Hoefler Text, Hoefler Titling, Requiem, the Allsorts, Knockout. (All orphaned PS T1 now. 😝)

I licensed from a lot of small/medium foundries back in the day — HTF, Emigre, House, FB, Stone, Storm, C&C, et al.

Licensing direct was more the thing before MyFonts.

Nov 18 at 4:58pmWeb