Typophile

Sans serif ttf font to use in commercial application

sha1dy

Hi all.
I'm new here so please sorry if this question isn't related to this wonderful forum.

I'm looking for a reasonably priced sans serif font (something like Frutiger or Myriad). I tried quoting for Segoe UI (yes, I know that it's a reap off from Frutiger) Ascendercorp who is responsible for providing licenses for it and they gave me price quote at $1500 per year for letting me distribute their font in my application. It's a bit too much for me - I'm trying to create a stylish application for personal home use and I'm doing only first steps to make it. I even didn't start selling it yet.

So enough with my boring explanation. Does anybody know good Sans Serif font with license to distribute it in the commercial application with a price below $1000?

Thanks in advance!

You should explain your application a little bit more. Will the text be editable or non-editable? Will you subset the font? Will the user have access to the original fonts?

Have a look at these:

http://new.myfonts.com/person/Jos_Buivenga/

I am sure Jos will make you a far better deal.

. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO

How exactly do you use the font in your application?

Do you distribute it so that it gets installed like any regular font on the user's computer? Or do you embed it in your application so only the application itself can use it?

And is it used interactively (the user can type in some text and it is displayed with the font), or non-interactively (only the application itself uses the font to display text)?

If you answer these questions, it might become more clear what kind of licence you would need exactly.

ah, I was too slow for Ivo :)

Sorry all, I should have described my application in more detail.
I want to make an application for managing personal finances - bills, accounts and other stuff like that :)

Ivo,
The font I'm looking for will be used in user interface for static labels and also in various grids and controls. So users will be able to view and edit texts displayed using that font. I'm not going to subset the font. Users will not be able to use the font outside the application.

Bert,
Thanks, I will try contact him - Museo is looking very good.

Jens,
Part of your questions I answered in reply to Ivo. The font will not be installed in users Fonts directory. I will also embed it so to prevent users from installing it or using it them selfs :)

Bert, thanks very much for the recommendation.

Sha1dy, if you want you can contact me at: me {*at*} exljbris {*dot*} com

I see. Then 1500$ seem to be a fair deal from my view. Other foundries may offer such a license for something less than this, but I guess most foundries may offer you a higher price. If you’d like to get another offer, just let me know ;)

You don't mention the platforms you're targeting, but an additional consideration might be hinting quality, especially if your targeting Windows. You could easily spend thousands of dollars having a cheaper font hinted for optimal screen display.

$1500 a year sounds cheap to me.

As the font is widely installed, my guess is that the price reflects that many users will already have it on their machines.

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