Hi, Kris,

You could try asking the web designer about whether getting paid for his design work is against the spirit of art.

For your type tutor, ask if he pirates his software as well. If not, why not?

Regards,

T

Kris, send them over here.

hhp

He had an interesting and insightful comment about paying for typefaces, that "it's against the spirit of typography". It is probably quite indicative of a lot of people's attitudes towards type: to expect payment is nonsense because one creates type for the love of it.

Give me a break! Type designers are people too. They need to eat, live, and buy useless crap like everybody else. It's not like we charge an arm and a leg for our work; we in fact get paid peanuts. If paying for typefaces is 'against the spirit of typography', then designers

What spirit of typography is this individual referring to?

I suppose it's a bit like insurance, folks think someone else is paying for it. Same for worker's compensation fraud. I lump all these criminals together and find no need to associate with them.

As far as students pirating fonts, it seems that design schools should either supply legitamate fonts as part of the tuition, that instructors should require that the student supply a copy of their license to the legal department of the school for records, and that anyone using an illegal font receives an incomplete for the lesson.

I am mean.

>How do other type tutors instill a sense of ethics in their students?

I teach a course at York University that's part of a BA program in graphic design. The course is "design a typeface". This shows students what goes into making a typeface/font.

It also helps that I am a type designer: putting a face on the victim should make the crime less likely.

As well as myself, Val Fullard and Paul Sych are two other published type designers who teach this course.

Nick Shinn said

> I teach a course at York University...


Congratulations! I admire anyone in the field who can take the time to 'give back', by way of teaching.

Can anyone think of a way of getting some sort of 'bulletin' out to design teachers across the spectrum of schools, to remind them of the ethics of use of fonts?

Is/are there any well established organization/s that most such teachers are fairly guaranteed to belong to?

Joe

When I was in school, we had access to any typeface you could find a complete copy of... in a book. I comped a lot of headline type by hand. Even in the early 90s, it was assumed that the body type would be provided by the typesetter. You didn't key in your own type, if it was a headline you either drew it or ordered it. So, essentially, the fonts were free, you paid for someone's time, or you did it yourself.

When we all (us graphic designers) migrated to the computer, took the work away from the typesetter, we didn't ever think about why we would need to pay for fonts. Thus the corundrum about teaching an old dog new tricks.

I buy lots of fonts now, because I respect the work that goes into creation of type. It doesn't bother me to drop some cash to get something great like HTF Gotham or FF Scala Sans.

Plus, it keeps me from having to comp type by hand.

Joseph Pemberton said

>Typeright is doing something similar,
>but I don't know if they target educators.
>http://www.typeright.org


Yes, thanks. We're a member of it. I appreciate your suggestion, nontheless. (www.typeright.org does a wonderful job, by the way. A suggestion to readers here: check it out if you haven't previously.)

What I meant was an organization such as AIGA, that design instructors would already belong to. And get to them through a house publication such as an existing organization newsletter.

Nick, perhaps you could ask at the University, whether there's a publication for design instructors, or whether all there is for something like this are just general instructor/teacher magazines.


Mr Pemberton, I like your picture that you post here, by the way. It fascinates me every time I see it.


Sean Glenn said

>When I was in school, we had access
>to any typeface you could find
>a complete copy of... in a book.


Yes, I rather enjoyed those days. You can actually do a lot with a Pilot Razor Point pen, and sometimes, a Sharpie.

As much as I love electronics, I pine for those days. Four or five hours with those thicker markers could really take its toll on one's nose, though.

Thanks!

Joe

TypeRight is dead.

hhp

>Is/are there any well established organization/s that most such teachers are fairly guaranteed to belong to?

I don't know.

The problem being a part-time teacher (at least for me) is that you're not in the academic loop. Being paid by the hour, I try to minimize the time spent in delving into the workings of Academia. It's tough ehough to figure out the workings of the place I teach, let alone the big picture.

I do know that being an RGD (Registered Graphic Designer of Ontario) is becoming important for design teachers in Ontario, so perhaps there is a role that a professional organization can play.

The question is, how seriously do members follow their code of ethics?

Typeright is doing something similar, but I don't know if
they target educators. http://www.typeright.org
____

Many schools teach about responsible design -- environ-
mental, social, etc. Font piracy is a topic that could easily
be added to that discussion.

I find it surprising that many in-house art departments
expect you to give them the fonts you've specified in the
style guides you provide. "Hey, you told us to use Thesis,
please send it over." My standard email response is "For
legal reasons, we cannot send you this font software."
Somehow reminding them that it's software helps soften
the reply.