10. Warning signs (e.g. Beware of Dog, No Trespassing)
9. Body text in a science textbook
8. Headings for the 3rd-quarter analysis spreadsheets
7. PowerPoint presentations about the Higgs boson
6. Stern memos about unnecessary font usage
5. Rejection letters to job applicants
4. Funeral announcements/obituaries
3. Newspaper headlines
2. State welfare agency logotype
1. Printed text on traffic citations
Top 10 Best Applications for Comic Sans
10. Game text in The Sims Classic
9. Er...
8. Well, there's...
7. Um...
6. Let's see now...
5. Ah...
4. Eh...
3. Hmm...
2. Uh...
1. Could you repeat the question please?
Geeking out over fonts (er... typefaces)
14 December 2012
28 November 2012
Why Swansea, Mytupi, and Helvetica can co-exist
You see it all the time. There's a Monotype version of Helvetica and a Linotype version. There's a URW version of Balloon and a Letraset version. There's a Monotype version of Trade Gothic and a Bitstream version. Why is this? It never looks like anything's been changed. If it has, it's so infinitessimal that you can't tell the difference without computer software. In the United States (a.k.a Planet Earth's ministry for de-evolution) there is a little blurb in the Copyright act that makes font liberation possible.
In a computer display font, only the source code can be protected under US copyright laws. The abstract letterforms are uncopyrightable.
Even though the entire institution of copyright is in serious need of a major revision, there are still little places like that where people can snake through the chaos.
In effect (if I had the right software) I could copy the letterforms from GE Inspira into a seperate TTF file, call it something (like maybe "EcoLogic NBP") and then I could release it into the public domain. Depending on how many boobytraps GE comissioned, I might have to redraw the entire typeface. But the point is that unless the monkeymen in business suits are hell-bent on proving that "EcoLogic NBP" is an infringement on Inspira's copyright.... more likely than anything is that it would just slip by unnoticed and work its way into publishing houses all across america as a free and highly legible typeface.
In a computer display font, only the source code can be protected under US copyright laws. The abstract letterforms are uncopyrightable.
Even though the entire institution of copyright is in serious need of a major revision, there are still little places like that where people can snake through the chaos.
In effect (if I had the right software) I could copy the letterforms from GE Inspira into a seperate TTF file, call it something (like maybe "EcoLogic NBP") and then I could release it into the public domain. Depending on how many boobytraps GE comissioned, I might have to redraw the entire typeface. But the point is that unless the monkeymen in business suits are hell-bent on proving that "EcoLogic NBP" is an infringement on Inspira's copyright.... more likely than anything is that it would just slip by unnoticed and work its way into publishing houses all across america as a free and highly legible typeface.
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