Where are (web) designers going with web fonts?

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

WHERE ARE (WEB) DESIGNERSGOING WITH WEB FONTS?

TYPECON 2011: SURGE

WHO ARETHESE GUYS?

BRIANWARRENHAPPY COG/BUTTER LABEL

LUKEDORNYNEWSVINE/BUTTER LABEL

SCOTTBOMSLL&S/BUTTER LABEL

THE PAST

500+YEARS OF PRINT

15YEARS of CSS TYPE

10YEARS of HACKS

2YEARS of WEB FONTS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TYPE ON THE WEB

We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” MARSHALL McLUHAN

“

This photograph is copyright © Henri Dauman/The Estate of Marshall McLuhan and may not be used without permission.

SURVEY The complete results are available at http://bit.ly/wfsr2011

A BIT ABOUT THE SURVEY

13QUESTIONS

5DAYS

235RESPONSES

A BIT ABOUT THE SURVEY

94%of web designers are using web fonts

6%

94%

YES NO

HOW DESIGNERS ARE CHOOSING TYPEOptimized for Small Sizes

Fallback Font Availability

Range of Weights and Styles

Number of Glyphs

Language Support

Availability of Special Characters

Pairings from Same Web Font Service

Appropriateness for the Project

0 50 100 150 200

91%want better quality web fonts rather than just more of them

9%

91%

QUALITY QUANTITY

66%prefer hosted web font services such as Typekit,FontDeck, WebType, etc.

34%

66%

HOSTED SELF-HOSTED

84%sometimes or always talk to clients about using web fonts

47%

16%

37%

YES NO SOMETIMES

WHERE WE’RE

GOING

Web designers simply want the same control print has enjoyed for decades

BY EXAMPLE

SAGINAW by ?

BASKERVILLE by Monotype

MOD REGULAR by Font Fabric

HERO LIGHT by Svetoslav Simov

BREE by TypeTogether

Skolar by TypeTogether

LIQUORSTORE by Chank Co.

COQUETTE by Mark Simonson

HELLENIC WIDE by Veer

PROXIMA NOVA by Mark Simonson

01. RENDERING

PLATFORMS & VIEWPORTS

02. LITTLE DETAILS

We’re rediscovering typography.” JON TAN

“

03. IDENTIFICATION & PAIRING

04. WORKFLOW & INTEGRATION

What would be most helpful to you as a designer to make web fonts better?”

SURVEY QUESTION:

“

It’d be really great to have some way to design in Photoshop/Illustrator with a font I have a web license for.”

ACTUAL ANSWER:

“

Original concept by Elliot Jay Stocks

05. POLYFILLS

Polyfills close the gaps created by browsers that support more advanced features of the HTML and CSS specs

06. BEYOND THE BROWSER

The future of the web is the future of typography.”

N I C K S H E R M A N

“

THANK YOU@scottboms @mrwarren @luxuryluke