Fonts and business logos

[splatterhouse.livejournal.com]

When choosing a font for your business logo did you draw something from scratch or pay for a license fee for a pre-made font?

Also, what should I be looking for in a license when choosing a font for this purpose in order to comply with copyright? Are there any specific terms or phrases I should be looking for? I know the obvious basics, I'm more looking for pitfalls & things that may not be immediately obvious. I dearly do not want this coming back to bite me in the ass.

I'm going to be launching a small business soon & I hung up my artist's hat years ago so I'd greatly prefer to buy a license over drawing a logo myself. I'd love to hear any experiences & information you have to share.

Comments

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

I'd suggest buying rights to a logo from Graphic River, depending on what you find and what you like it's pretty cheap and you can outright buy the rights to it all or just have a simple license with basic rights.

I dunno much about actually buy a type face but I'm sure people usually just use what they find for free on dafont.com :P

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Quite a few fonts from sites like DaFont maybe free, but they often have a readme file saying if the font may or may not be used for commercial endevours without licensing or paying up front or something.

So checking for readmes is important!

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

Most do but not all, majority of the fonts I download just come as the font file and nothing more, lol. But yes it is a good thing to read the readme's! Just to be on the safe side.

[the-vol.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the Terms of Use are specified on the font maker's website rather than in a readme file, so it's a good idea to check the site associated with the font if a readme isn't there. I'd also be a bit wary of fonts that don't come with readmes or links to a website, since they might be illegally redistributed.

[splatterhouse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. The last thing I want is to be a year or more in, business getting into swing, and be slapped with fines or a cease-and-desist for a logo customers have come to recognize.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

If you are using fonts for commercial purposes, then no. I would not suggest just "downloading what you want from the internet."

Find the font, find out if it has a licensing fee, and purchase it like a professional would. If it is a free-font, then it will say so. Fonts are not one of those things you just "download" because it's there.

It's like the whole "google is clipart" mentality.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

They weren't suggesting the OP do that. But it is what most people do. :P

I tend to go with free fonts that allow for commercial usage without a fee (there's so many that do, anyways).

To the OP: make sure you try to find out who the original creator of the font is, too, because there are some online font shops that just steal the font and then resell it (or the font may be a free font, but they're charging for it, etc.).

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

This was where I was concerned:

"I dunno much about actually buy a type face but I'm sure people usually just use what they find for free on dafont.com :P"

My point is, please do not give advice out if you are not someone involved with, or understand about fonts, and font-licenses. It does sound as though they're suggesting doing what "other people" do. Hence why I made my comment.

[banrai.livejournal.com]

Well, while getting a licensed font is great and all, there are also a ton of very nice fonts out there that have been released by their creators for free use, both private and commercial. I would suggest checking out sites like OpenFontLibrary (http://openfontlibrary.org/) and having a look around at the different options they have and then going from there.


edit: fixed the link since I guess FontForge is borked :/

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the link! :D

[splatterhouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's a great link.

[crssafox.livejournal.com]

FontSquirrel.com is another good source.

[tifaria.livejournal.com]

Really, you just have to make sure you look at the readme file, if there is one, for anything you download, which will tell you how you can use it. If there's no file, a quick Google search will usually lead you back to the creator/source, where you can find out how you're allowed to use the font. In your case, you'll want to be sure that the font is available for commercial use, since you'll be using it in a way that will generate income for you.

Many sites that have free downloads also have fonts that are available for commercial use, but again, make sure to check the readme files. DAFont claims their fonts are free, but that doesn't always mean "free for commercial use".

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I noticed that Dafont usually have things like "Free for personal use only" above the download link, which can help narrow it down a little.

"fontspace.com" also lets you filter your search results so you can only see the ones where commercial use is acceptable.

[splatterhouse.livejournal.com]

"fontspace.com" also lets you filter your search results so you can only see the ones where commercial use is acceptable.

That is super helpful & exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for, thank you!