What is a "standard" equivalent of Futura?

yahooboy3 August 2005 · 18:44

Hi,

My company's typeface is Futura. We encourage everyone in the office to use it for everything that will leave the building, but not every machine has the typeface installed. We are being completely legal and licensed it for the critical machines, but we can't realistically put it on every machine. Is there a typeface found in Windows PCs that would be an acceptable substitute?

The electronic default for web and emails is Verdana, but the sizes aren't equivalent (ie. 8pt does not = 8pt)

Thanks for the advice,
Scott

antiphrasis3 August 2005 · 18:50

Scott,

Century Gothic is somewhat close to Futura and is included with some versions of Microsoft Office.

So if your company has Office installed on the machines give that font a try.

Mark Foster3 August 2005 · 20:06

Even closer is Twentieth Century, which is standardly bundled with MS Office as well.

Hrant H Papazian3 August 2005 · 20:08

> we can’t realistically put it on every machine.

What's your budget?

hhp

fsd4 August 2005 · 05:22

Spartan of Linotype

yahooboy4 August 2005 · 14:42

hrant, I don't deal with the money...I've just been told we don't have the budget for it. Whether that is licensing the font, paying IT to install it or just the VP not wanting to deal with it, I don't know.

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone.

Hrant H Papazian4 August 2005 · 14:45

"We are being completely legal and licensed it for the critical machines"

My point is this might be enough machines for you to be able to afford a site license of a cheaper alternative. But probably not I guess.

hhp

Vickers Creative12 January 2011 · 05:54

Sorry to dig up this old post!

Are the suggestions here still valid, 6 years on? I'm building a site and want to use Futura for Mac-based visitors and something very similar for the Windows folk...

Nick Shinn12 January 2011 · 09:09

http://www.fontspring.com/fonts/fontsite/function-pro

Vickers Creative12 January 2011 · 10:37

Thanks Nick - does this come pre-installed on Windows XP/Vista/7?

I'm looking for something that the browser will default to if Futura is not available...

Hrant H Papazian12 January 2011 · 10:54

Don't pull an IKEA!

hhp

Nick Shinn12 January 2011 · 10:58

I'm looking for something that the browser will default to if Futura is not available...

Fontspring is predicated on the "@fontface" command.

Vickers Creative12 January 2011 · 13:59

Ha hrant - no chance I'm using Verdana.

Thanks Nick, I wasn't aware of this. I'll have a look into it.

Reynir Heiðberg...12 January 2011 · 14:30

Universalis ADF isn't Futura, but has a lot of Futura in it. Might be worth looking at if you're OK with the GPL.

John Savard14 January 2011 · 12:15

Some of the other Arkandis typefaces look interesting, although I did not find Universalis particularly impressive. From the site, though, while the logo says "Free fonts for free publication", on this page it is noted that the GPL v2 applies with the font exception.

So I don't think you have to GPL any text you typeset in these faces. I'm not sure how else the GPL could be a concern.

Reynir Heiðberg...14 January 2011 · 22:40

GPL weenies insist that embedding a GPLed font forces the GPL onto the document, hence the font exception, which counteracts that. Personally, I think the Arkandis gang thinks more like libre-free than gratis-free.

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