Long live the affordable typeface (a charming artifact of the future)
Bruce Mau first wrote the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth in 1998 in which outlines his beliefs, strategies, and motivations at the heart of BMD’s design process.
The manifesto is a sentimental look at how one can grow as a person and approach aspects of life — and ergo design — in a new fashion (I believe marketing people refer to this as “out of the box”). Bullet 30 within this document is entitled Organization = Liberty, a slightly ambiguous title, but a point which Mau goes on to describes in this way:
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise […] The myth of a split between ‘creatives’ and ‘suits’ is what Leonard Cohen calls a charming artifact of the past.
Does that sound at all familiar? Read it again. The myth of a split, between ‘creatives’ and ‘suits’. The idea that the creative people now are often involved in more globalised business decisions and vice versa. To me that sounds like an everyday on the web.
Consider the marketeer who is also the copywriter, the office manager who creates the html newsletter, the designer who also provides tech support — the lines often appear blurred — and often that works well. Sometimes however — especially in the case of a one-man (or woman) shop — certain things need outsourcing. This is often where things can get messy.
I’ll give you an example.
Lets say you — as many people do — apply the ‘small and often’ principle to building brands in a predominantly online environment. That is to say, you create many sites — often within different sectors — with the hope that each will return a small amount of revenue. The premise being if each site makes a small profit, then globally you make a large one. Putting aside practicality and real life for one moment, you can’t deny the logic there.
Now let’s say for each site you’re running a theme and several plugins for a certain popular open source blog engine. So far overheads are pretty low, but each site needs it’s own logo and brand to define it; to give it an identity in the space. Let’s also assume you suck at making said logo (like me).
Where do you turn?
A popular answer seems to be to crowd sourcing sites (you know the ones). I’m not getting into that debate today, but suffice to say I’m not an advocate. However, in the space I’ve just been describing it kind of makes sense. You set the price and get something back.
It doesn’t need to be a world beater as you’re not so much building a brand as an empire of un-connected, low earning websites. We’re not looking to grow but rather maintain a brand. Give the site an identity and nothing more. But maybe there’s an alternative that doesn’t damage the design community at large, improves your brand and supports independent producers all at once.
Send forth the affordable typeface
Lets say you have a budget of say £100 per logo per site. That’s not a whole lot of cash, so not surprisingly it won’t go far to producing a well considered logo for your brand. But — you could invest that £100 in a typeface; something you can nail your brand to. Something that provides its feel, tone and message. Something you can re-use and re-image as often as you like. You’ll also be supporting the great work of independent foundries — even by using quality free fonts — and you won’t be breaking the bank while doing so.
I’d still always say, if you can afford it and your brand matters to you then still pay a professional to create something for you, they’ll always do a a great job that’s bound to pay off. However if you can’t, this solution might just be worth considering.
Not convinced, here’s a few examples (using a fictional brand)
Ostrich Sans by The League of Moveable Type
A beautiful free display condensed typeface that has a lot of charm and character. It comes in multiple weights and styles & is distributed under the Open Font License.
League Gothic and Junction by The League of Moveable Type
League is a beautiful free heavy condensed typeface based on Alternate Gothic No.1 & Junction is a deliciously light Humanist serif. Both are freely distributed under the Open Font License.
Raleway and Goudy Bookletter 1911 by The League of Moveable Type
Raleway is an elegant light sans serif display face, where as Goudy Bookletter 1911 is an old-style serif. Both are freely distributed under the Open Font License.
Nevis by TwentyTen & Brandon Grotesque Regular by Hannes von Döhren
Nevis is a strong, angular sans serif which is distributed freely under their own license agreement. Brandon Grotesque has a functional look with a warm touch and costs around $40 per weight and is available from myfonts.com
Fenway Park by Jason Walcott & Titillium by Accademia di Belle
Fenway Park is a classic “baseball” team script face that’s warm and nostalgic and costs around £35 from veer. I love this font, and it’s perfect for those projects that require a little more personality. Titillium by Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino is a free humanist sans, with the charter of Klavika and is distributed under and a Sil License.