If you need me to prove anything I write here,
I can do so.

I am looking for certain fonts for personal,
non-commercial use. I am not a designer.
I am not an artist. I do not offer anything
I create on my computer for sale.

Nor will I ever earn any money as a designer.

I am not a student.

I have no business. I am disabled, and receive
food stamps. I hope someday soon to change
this status.

I draft personal letters. I am attempting
to get one of my business ideas or one of
my ideas to better the world off the ground.

I am just trying to promote myself, my
services, and my ideas. Nothing I offer has
anything to do with design.

I seek fonts to create brochures, flyers, and
business cards for a one-man air conditioning
business I hope to start, and possibly other
businesses I hope to start. I am not worried
anyone is going to sue me. I have no money,
and own nothing of value.

I am just struggling to make enough money to
eat and pay my rent.

This being the case, I am looking for fonts that
will make my resume, and my promotions
stand-out.

I use MS Word Home & Student 2010. This is
not exactly the software a professional designer
would use.

I seek the following fonts: MinionPro, Myriad,
Helvetica, Frutiger, Univers, Mrs. Eaves,
Garamond Pro, Interstate, Gotham,
Avant Garde, Avenir, Futura, Akzidenz Grotesk,
Optima, Bembo, Din, Kabel, Officina, and
Thesis, Sabon, Stone, Agenda, Cezanne,
Didot.

I have never used these fonts, and I don't
even know what many of them look like.
I seek these fonts because in my research
on fonts, I have come across these names
quite a bit as far as fonts I can use for the
purposes I wrote above.

I wrote a book on air conditioning. Can you
recommend a serif and non-serif font for the
book? When I am ready to publish the book,
I may be able to buy these two fonts.

Can you recommend a font for business letters
that would impress others?

I do my own legal work. Can you recommend
a font for motions and briefs?

I have a high IQ, and a lot of talent. I should
be able to support myself, but I also have
several crippling disabilities.

Any help you can give me would be
appreciated.

Thank you very much.

You're asking someone to provide you with commercial fonts to start a commercial air conditioning business.

You won't get much help on this site with that particular request.

FWIW, there's plenty of good free typefaces available these days for commercial use. No need to use pirated typefaces if you're looking to save a buck.

No I am not looking for commercial fonts, I am looking for standard common fonts for personal use, for many non-professional, non-commercial personal purposes that have nothing to do with commercial design or professional design except with regard my own personal business needs, and my own personal projects.

It is ridiculous to think that I would pay several thousand dollars for a font when I don't have money to pay for food. I am a perfectionist. I like my work to look the best I can make it. The last I heard fonts can not be copyrighted or patented in the US. Designers just want fonts to be expensive so they remain in their exclusive domain.

The biggest software pirate of all is Bill Gates. He stole DOS from Gary Kildall and Windows from Steve Jobs. He stole countless other software applications from countless other businesses. I don't see anyone criticizing Bill Gates for serial thefts. I guess that is because if you are a billionaire it is okay to steal software, but if you are starving and disabled it is immoral? Right?

I would gladly pay a fair price for the fonts I seek for the use I seek. I guess those involved in selling those fonts really aren't interested in selling them to end users like myself for personal use. This encourages piracy.

By the way, I like the striking, simple, bold, modern, clean design of your avatar. I just noticed the D is identical to the A on its side. So, I guess you created the font yourself. Cute.

" The last I heard fonts can not be copyrighted or patented in the US. Designers just want fonts to be expensive so they remain in their exclusive domain."

1. The font design cannot be copyrighted but the underlying code which makes up the font is. Designs can be patented but it is quite costly.
2. Designers make a pittance in most cases. Exclusivity has nothing at all to do with it.

Every single font you listed above is a commercial font and they are not "free for personal use". Never have been, never will be.

Fonts today don't cost "several thousand dollars", as you put it. The vast majority are less than $50.

Typophile is definitely not the place to be asking for free commercial fonts. As another poster said, there are many free fonts available today, and some are excellent quality.

> I am not a designer....
> I am looking for fonts that will make my resume,
> and my promotions stand-out.

I'm a professional graphic designer, and my advice would be to just make good use of the fonts you already have on your computer. You don't need a bunch of new fonts to "stand out", you need simple, clean, easy-t0-read layouts that clearly communicate your qualifications and info about your company.

Most small businesses that can't afford designers have awful-looking literature. Just use clean, simple, readable designs and you'll be fine.

And as others have said, there are tons of free fonts available.

> The last I heard fonts can not be copyrighted or patented in the US.

Somebody else already commented on copyright. Fonts are subject to design patent in the US. Heck, the very first design patent issued in the US was for a font, in 1842.

For more on the most prominent case in this field:
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Systems,_Inc._v._Southern_Software,_Inc.
http://directory.serifmagazine.com/Ethics_and_Law/Copyright/judgement.php4

Um, Guys, you're being trolled...

Sounds like you are asking for random fonts for random reasons, so...
http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Where_can_I_get_good_fonts%3F
http://www.fontsquirrel.com/

Oh, and one thing: You won't find any warez d00dz on Typophile. What you will find are folk that can handcraft fresh fonts out of recycled beziers.

I have a high IQ, and a lot of talent.

Awesome!

I think that we're pretty much in very similar situation. Except that: I'm NOT very talented and my IQ is just average (around 90-105). I may not be physically disabled, but man, I'm one of the MOST unluckiest people in the world. :(

Like you, there are fonts that I seek too like: Compatil Exquisit, DTL Dorian, FS Sally, and Optima Nova. I don't just seek them. In fact, I crave for those stuffs so bad! And I can't even afford any of them, which sucks a big time for me.

So out of desperation, instead doing something like this, I have decided to do the other way around. To design a font for my personal typing and printing pleasure, as well as to somehow fill the gap.

Here's my progress so far.
I'm yet to make the italic by next week (hopefully), so I can only show you the roman characters.

This is actually my second attempt, because my first one, which I made on May, this year(2013), is a complete disaster. XD

In text usage @ 48pt:

@ 72pt:

@ 128pt:

For me, you don't need to be a specific person to do specific things. As long as you're willing to do it, then you can most likely find a way to make it. And do not be afraid to fail, for everybody has failures in life, especially the first time.
And in your case, since that you GOT a lot of talent, for the love of God, use it! You'll only live once, so don't let your talents rot in vain.

Now, since that you have a very high IQ, I'm sure you already realized that people tend to buy useless stuffs just because they want it. Those impractical decisions for temporary satisfaction is a significant thing that makes us humans, is it not? :)
I don't think it's such a big issue if you sometimes set aside the essentials to buy something you want. It's impractical, yes, but not completely stupid, imo.

So if you have the chance to buy some of the fonts you seek, then go for it.

But I highly encourage you to attempt to make your own fonts. And it's also a privilege, because since you are the designer, you can make it fit perfectly to your own taste and style, without any kind of disrespect.

I recommend TypeTool, but if you really don't want to throw a buck, you're still in luck. There is a font production software called "FontForge" which is absolutely free of charge!

Trust me man. There's no harm in trying.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the looooooooong post.

- Nate

Bizzare discussion.
Might indeed be a troll, or just misguided.
There are many good quality fonts that are freely distributed by designers. With careful selection from them you can produce pretty good results. If you are looking for such fonts Dafont and Font Squirrel have a better record of purging pirated fonts than most other sites. A good way is to learn the names of designers who have produced good quality fonts for free distribution. For example check out the work of Claude Pelletier, Nick Curtis or Pablo Impallari.
I you really have a high IQ -- I doubt that I have -- you could learn to make fonts. It's nice to have a commercial program like FontShop, but far from essential.
Most font designers are far from rich. For every commercially successful font maker there are many "starving artists." Stealing from them is an insult.
Don

Might indeed be a troll, or just misguided.

Let's see. He is -- or at least claims that he is
1. a genius,
2 .very talented, and
3. entitled to free stuff.

This is the internet. If he's misguided, he needs help well beyond what can be obtained here. But since this is the internet, it's 99 & 44/100 percent probable he's a troll.

Besides, a genius would have figured out that displaying one's design talents would come from using type well, not selecting certain fonts.

1. The last time I looked the Avenir font package cost several thousand dollars.

2. I asked if any of you could recommend any fonts for certain specific applications.
2a. None of you answered even one of these questions.

3. When someone downloads a font they would never buy because they
can't afford the font, no one loses one penny, and the world benefits.

4. In any event, I am pretty sure I read somewhere the actual artists and
designers make very little money from the sale of their fonts. All the
money goes to people who exploit the creative talent of the actual
font designers.

5. I doubt any successful designer would care that I used their font
for the purposes I intended to use them. I presume if they knew
me and knew my situation, they would permit me free use of their
font for the use I intended. If I had someway of contacting the
actual font designers, I would write them a letter and ask them
myself.

6. I am not a designer, nor do I ever intend to become a designer.

7. I went to all the foundries and asked if I could buy a package of
fonts I wanted for personal use at a reasonable cost, and they
were all pretty nasty. They had no interest in doing business with
me. None of these foundries makes these fonts available to the
public for personal use at a reasonable price.

7. I am not familiar with the exact procedures people use to acquire
software or fonts that are normally sold. I will ask a friend of mine
who is an expert with computers to obtain the fonts I seek from
Pirate Bay or some other file sharing web site. I just visited Pirate
Bay, and it seems I can get all the "commercial" fonts for free not
just the ones I was looking for.

8. I will make sure all the effort I put into this pursuit is not wasted.
It is ashame I am going to have to take this route. The more I
sour on humanity, the less I care about others.

9. If the designers of successful commercial fonts really had a
conscience, they would help new designers get fairly compensated
for their efforts. All hugely successful font designers just care
about are themselves, or they would sponsor the creation of a
fairer system.

I am not a material guy. If I had carried about making money, I could
have been a wealthy a long time ago. All my life I have helped
everyone who has ever asked me for help. My not being able to earn
a living now is not just hurting me, it hurts US taxpayers. I could paying
taxes instead of having to rely on your taxes to pay my basic expenses.

At one point in my life, I could have discovered a cure for cancer or
made a significant contribution to mankind's energy needs. But our
society makes it hard for talented people to realize their potential.

Humans are a foolish species. They think life is a zero sum game.
Instead of trying to help each other, they seek to take advantage of
each other.

As far as fonts not being able to be copyrighted in the US, I believe that
"MS Segoe UI" is a knock-off Frutiger. Frutiger sued MS in Europe and
won, but lost in the US because in the US fonts can't be copyrighted.

So, I wanted to know if their were high-quality knockoffs of the fonts
I listed.

US laws in general are designed to protect corporations and those
who can afford lobbyists. US patent laws don't protect poor US
inventors. Bill Gates was able to rip-off Gary Kildall. John Pierpont
Morgan ripped-off the original Tesla and Westinghouse. The only
people able to get justice in our legal system are people who already
have money. Even the Wright Brothers were not able to benefit from
their discovery of the airplane. And you care about wealthy designers
who wouldn't lose one penny from my personal use of their fonts?

I am sorry I came here asking you for help. I won't be back. There
was a time I would not have thought twice about risking my life to
help any human, or thought twice about giving the shirt off my back
to help anyone truly in need. Now as time passes, I can't stop myself
from inwardly smiling every time a fellow American is a victim of
crime or suffers some loss.

I am not happy with the person I am becoming. I wish I had a way
to stop it. It has nothing to do with no one here helping me with my
request. It has to to with the general nature of human beings today.

I wish all of you the very best. I hope none of you ever run into
anyone like the person I may eventually become against my will.
I really hope I don't become that person, because that would be
the opposite of everything I have fought for my entire life.

Once again, my reaction here has nothing to do with your lack of
of help. Fonts don't have that kind of importance to me. I won't
miss them, if I don't get them. What bothers me is the selfish world
we live in today; how no one is willing to help anyone else in desperate
straits. Helping someone with fonts is a trivial, but even something
so little as help with fonts is hard to come by these days.

I hope someday someone distributes all your precious commercial
fonts free so all members of the public have free use of them. After
seeking your help here, that is the feeling I come away with.

There are enough genuinely-free fonts about that one can go for years without commercial fonts. I can only assume you ignored the links I gave, preferring to drift on down the River Styx.

> 1. The last time I looked the Avenir font package
> cost several thousand dollars.

You can buy a set of 12 Avenir fonts (ranging in weight from light to heavy) for $298.
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/avenir/

The price you saw may have been a license for multiple users, like a corporation might buy.

Humans are a foolish species.

Could be. However, if you're not human, likely you could get more satisfactory responses from your own species.

Another human failing is separating many things into "us" versus "them." Moreover, "us" and "them" constantly form and reform as the topic changes. If you're from a species that has moved beyond such arbitrary classifications, good fortune to you -- though you're already quite far along the line of good fortune if you've moved beyond us versus them.

Yet that assumption makes your bitter, puerile attack hard to understand...

The posts from "cyberflor" remember me those from Gustavo, a young guy who came here asking for free fonts about two years ago. As expected, he received negative feedback from us and begun to attack everybody mixing nonsense arguments and unpolite vocabulary. Gustavo came back some months later using another nickname but causing similar confusion. Both these accounts were closed. If cyberflow is not the same person, he/she is surely following Gustavo's behavior manual. Anyway, it is clear that logic does not work in these kind of thread.