No way to make this completely dummy proof using a font. Best bet might be to provide templates using the lock-up with the correct colors assigned so that the users never have to type the keystrokes and pick colors themselves.

In fact if you map the layers to hard-to-type locations, (such as the Unicode PUA) that might reduce the number of incorrect uses, but won't eliminate them completely.

there are too many sites selling it for it not to work. http://www.signature-fonts.com/logo_fonts.asp

I have seen fonts that have logos in them with more than 1 color assigned.

Annette, I was commenting on the 'dummy proof' part of your question. There is no way to stop a user entering the layers in the wrong sequence of coloring them however they like.

Do foul, just looking for an answer on how to assign the color in the font. Dummys always happen ... this will make it semi dummy proof >)

Sorry you can't do that either. Has to be set manually each time - hence the template suggestion.

Cheers, Si

Annette, I can conform what Si is saying. You could also go read about it on the vendor's web site. You can's assign a color in the font itself. Tough Luck, but there it is.

Maybe what you want is a Photofont.

What's this " Do foul " stuff? It sounds rude.

Eben I was not being rude to Simon, just a saying like "dude" if you took it to be rude you read into it. :) Cheers, and I found the code to assign to the bitmap Thanks all :)

In what context language does "Do foul" = Dude?

"In fact if you map the layers to hard-to-type locations, (such as the Unicode PUA)..."

Unfortunately, doing this removes the glyphs from access to applications that will not compose "unencoded" glyphs.

The safest universal solution is to encode incorrectly in simple positions, like A, B, and C.

Cheers!

PUA encoded glyphs are encoded. However, there may be apps that don't like the PUA?

Cheers, Si

there are too many sites selling it for it not to work

Yes, but notice that they say:

"Logo Fonts are Easy to use:

- Select the font name from your program's font menu
- Assign any point size (large or small) for a truly scalable signature
- Assign any color to your logo (as your program allows)
- Type in your pre-selected keyboard strokes to place your logo in your document
- Can also be used in most graphics-based programs"

So the user still has to select the color. And they have even more specific instructions:

"Multi-Color Logo Font Usage:

1. Once the font has been installed, open the program you intend to use the logo font in, such as a word processer or graphics program.
2. When you have come to the place in the document or image in which you wish to place the logo, select ANY font other than your logo font and type in the numbers 1 thru 7 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -- do NOT include spaces). Assign a point size of "120 points" for your first test. There are 7 different color elements in this particular color-logo-font, and we need assign a different color to element (number) that you typed.
3. Highlight each character one at a time and assign a different color to each one. Once all 7 numbers have been assigned a color, hightlight all 7 numbers by dragging your curson across them.
4. Once the 7 numbers are highlighted, open the font selection tool and scroll down through the list of fonts until you find "YourLogo", and then select.
5. Your multi-color logo will now appear in your document."

Yikes! It sure seems easier to just place an EPS or high resolution TIFF or JPEG into your document. I know these things are aimed at people who using logos in Office applications, so EPS wouldn't work, but the documents these people produce will be fine with an TIFF or JPEG. It's one simple step, and all the colors will stay consistent.

Richardo

Thanks for that. My initial thought was ... fonts can't have different colored elements. Your explanation shows how they fake it. Probably the elements are 0 width characters that contain the separated out elements.

As JH says, it has to be easier to just import an image.

Easier than zero width is to have all on same width and build kerning tables to pull the parts together. That way, by turning off kerning, you can more easily select the individual elements for coloring; then turn kerning back on to pull the pieces together into the composite logo.

(This technique depends upon inputting the individual elements in a consistent order, or else covering all possible combinations in the kern table.)

-- K.

Kent,

What happens when the kerning is non-existent in the app? Or worse, when you have to use Xpress, and you get those lovely rounding errors? I think the 1 through 7 color then font change is actually quite a nice cross-platform, multi-app solution.

JamesM

James --

You're right. I didn't read each post carefully. Color-then-font-change works well and is more robust. Previous work I've done was for controlled design environments. Never experienced Quark rounding errors.

-- K.

I once proposed a solution to a client that involved not only creating all the layers and making sure they composed correctly but also creating a reference doc which would have all the layers and colors pre made. Then it was a copy & paste. It didn't happen. Still too hard apparently.

I'm a bit dubious about the solution the original poster came to, using a bitmap font. This has at least a couple of issues:

- the bitmap will be RGB-only (no spot colors or CMYK)

- it won't be color-managed

- being pixel-based, it won't scale well to arbitrary high resolutions, so not so great if somebody needs to get something professionally printed.

Cheers,

T

- being pixel-based, it won’t scale well to arbitrary high resolutions, so not so great if somebody needs to get something professionally printed

If the OP ever needs to have it cut out for a stamp, a foil, or for screen printing, he needs a vector version.

If necessary, a custom font can be converted to its outlines. A bitmap cannot.

No further arguments :-)

Didn't PostScript Type 3 used to allow embedding color and patterns within the fonts?
_____________________________________________
Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com

RE: PS3: It did but it's not a format that is supported by applications so ... it's of no use.

I can see a colored vector project like this being useful or even a photofont being useful if the output it was used on was just office grade not a pro printing environment. Like for in-house manuals. But I admit it's a thin kind of utility. Embedding an EPS is probably easier.

I used to do a lot of these and the only solution I found was for each element (color) being on a zero advance except for the last one, input the strokes in another font and apply color prior to selecting the font. Kerning didn't work cause each app handles kerning in slightly different ways and doesn't always register. Why can't you provide users with pre-formatted templates in a variety of apps? All they need to do is select a size.

The voice of experience! Thanks!

"there are too many sites selling it for it not to work."

I don't think there's a direct correlation between "product doesn't work" and "selling said product".

10. One can store as many versions of a logo localized for international uses, brand uses or to address design-branching uses in a single font-based logo.
9. One can store as many versions customized for color, size and use, etc., in a single font-based logo.
8. Font-based logos can be sized to automatically scale, space and locate vertically to any one, or more type font(s).
7. The contours of font-based logos are available directly to users, to modify 'inking' options for print and screen.
6. Nearly all apps that allow skewing, rotation, perspective, etc., yield superior results with font-based logos, important for planners.
5. The font-based logo font name is usually 'CompanyName'Logofont, making detection simple to all.
4. Font-based logos, (when used outside of ClearType), deliver a single (virgin) rendering from contour to a bitmap localized for a client's or client's client's display space. No bitmap or other double rendering can compare for fidelity.
3. Font-based logos are a manageable database from which one can make sub font-based logo fonts.
2. One can take advantage of all the possibilities listed above, chuck it all, and make an image file with the font-based logo for any reason at any time.
1. or one can combine the options above and store, what would be a pile of image-based logos, instead, in documents of all kinds, from CAD to HTML, in the form of keystrokes and application treatments.
0. You can hint a font.

It's up to the use and user. If: lemonade stand for siss, eps. If Else: beware.

Cheer!