Type
How we test a typeface before we license it
Written by
Marcus Hill
Published
Reading time
4 min
Soft first, then sharp: how a typeface should feel
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A typeface is one of the few parts of a brand that a client pays for again and again. A new laptop, a bigger website or a new sign can each mean a new license. So before we recommend one, we try hard to make it fail.
The tests take about a week for a shortlist of three. Most of that time goes into printing and looking. Here is what we check, with our wayfinding work for Kestrel as the example.
Set the client’s real words
Foundry specimens are beautiful, and they flatter the face. They show the best words at the best sizes. We set the client’s own text instead: their name, their address, a page of real copy and their longest heading.
For Kestrel, an architecture practice in Minneapolis, that meant the floor directory for their five-storey building. Words like “Model shop, library” and “Floors 3 to 5”, and the scale “1:20” that appears on every drawing and on their gallery posters.
Sizes, from 9 pt to 200 px
Every candidate gets the same fixed list of sizes, in print and on screen:
7 and 9 pt for captions, footnotes and the small print on letterhead.
11 and 12 pt for body text on uncoated paper.
16 and 18 px for body text on screen.
48 to 72 pt for headings and posters.
200 px and up for display, and full size for signs.
Every candidate gets the same test, so the comparison is fair.
Small sizes show whether the letters are open enough. Large sizes show every curve and every flaw. A face that is lovely at 48 pt can fall apart at 9 pt, and the other way round.
Numbers
Numbers get their own page. We check lining and old-style figures, tabular figures for price lists and tables, and fractions. We look hard at the pairs people confuse: 1 and l, 0 and O, 3 and 8, 6 and 8 at a distance. On Kestrel the floor numbers are the signs, so this test mattered most.
Accents
We list every name the brand must spell: staff, clients, streets, products. Then we check that each character exists and looks drawn by the same hand. Many cheaper faces have accents that are too small or sit too high. Minneapolis has large Spanish and Somali speaking communities, so we tested Kestrel’s visitor signs in both languages as well as English.
How it prints
Screens are forgiving. Paper is not. We print the specimen on the client’s actual stock, and on a proper press proof when we can. On uncoated paper ink spreads, so thin strokes thicken and small counters fill in. Type reversed out of a color does the opposite and gets thinner. For Kestrel’s white type on blue, we went one weight heavier than on white.
For signs, we go further. We print the key characters at full size on a large-format printer and tape them up where the real sign will go. Then we walk back 20 meters and look again.
The directory at reception and the gallery poster with its 1:20. Every number on both passed the same tests.
We stood in the stairwell with a full-size paper 2 taped to the concrete. That afternoon sold us on the whole system.
Laura Bennett, founding partner, Kestrel Architects
One of our three candidates failed on that wall. From 20 meters its 1 and its lowercase l looked the same. On screen it had been the nicest of the three.
What the license costs
Foundries price licenses in different ways, so we price them before a client falls for a face. Typical ranges for a small business:
Desktop, up to 5 users: $50 to $400 per style, or $300 to $1,500 per family.
Web, by monthly page views: $100 to $1,000 for a small site.
Apps and e-books: a separate license, often $500 and up.
Logos and signs: usually covered, but read the clause on outlines.
That last point caught us once. Sign makers need the letters as outlines, and some licenses do not allow you to send them. For Kestrel, desktop for ten users, web and signage came to about $1,800, agreed with the foundry before we presented the face.
Our checklist before we buy
Real words set at every size on the list.
Numbers and accents checked letter by letter.
Printed on the real paper, and at full size for signs.
License priced for every use in the next three years.
When a face passes all four, we license it in the client’s name, not ours. The fonts and the receipt belong to them from the first day, and so does the right to use them after we hand over.
Studio notes, once a month. Work in progress, books we like, no sales pitches.
