Font descriptions?

phrostbyte6423 January 2012 · 07:13

Who reads font promotional material? I've released a few fonts at MyFonts and Fonts.com and, I always hit a snag writing the promo material. Are such articles actually necessary? Who reads them anyway. I read them to get some idea what people are wrinting about their fonts. Some type fanatics might read them. The search engines sift through them, I guess. However, I don't think that sales are going to be improved by great copy. I never was very good at copywriting. So is there a point to spending a lot of time on a description? Maybe I'm missing something.

James

Si_Daniels23 January 2012 · 08:38

Someone needs to make an app or service that programmatically auto-generates font descriptions, based on an analysis of the font outlines. Maybe myfonts should offer this for their designers.

blank23 January 2012 · 08:54

People do read them. They especially like it when a font has a story behind it. If you don’t want to write a lot, just keep it short and make the specimens work!

Indra Kupferschmid23 January 2012 · 10:27

Or outsource your writing to Stephen Coles.

Nick Curtis23 January 2012 · 13:01

In the advertising trade, it's called romance copy. Straightforward letterform descriptions may be efficient and/or informative, but you gotta give people a reason to fall in love with your font.

phrostbyte6423 January 2012 · 13:28

Romance copy. Interesting concept. I might work in that direction.

Auto generating font description app - I like that.

Specimens are another issue entirely.

David Berlow24 January 2012 · 13:56

"Someone needs to make an app or service that programmatically auto-generates font descriptions, based on an analysis of the font outlines. Maybe..."

Maybe some dingbat stds janitors should support meta data standards that can "see" better than any outline analyzer ever could. D'oh!

Nick Shinn24 January 2012 · 14:46

Someone needs to make an app or service that programmatically auto-generates font descriptions, based on an analysis of the font outlines.

Panose.

Frode Bo Helland24 January 2012 · 15:03

The history behind the design is alpha and omega to me, or at least almost: maybe beta and psi? If there is no story, I make up my own based on the looks of it. Or I just don’t care to license it, because I suspect it’s just another trendy thing with little or no substance. Of course, if the romance copy is too Wurthering Heights-ish I might think that the designer is just trying too fool me.

David Berlow25 January 2012 · 03:47

"Panose"

Lol... Closer to useful than OS/2's width and weight attributes, but still so far from the required granularity of actual fonts, it's practically useless.

Dont you think?

Joel Mielke25 January 2012 · 20:52

You could simply post an image of a font here in these forums and ask the crowd for some descriptive phrases or adjectives that might apply. Make it pithy, and reassure the potential buyers that they're making a lasting, useful choice.

phrostbyte6414 February 2012 · 08:32

That is an interesting suggestion, but I have my doubts about "lasting, useful choice."

Yes, I know that I need to fix the 7 glyph...

John Savard14 February 2012 · 10:05

JLS Space X1C: a condensed rounded face, descended from a long line of futuristic, space, or science-fiction display faces originally inspired by MICR, such as Countdown.

JLS Space X2C (in progress): a squared gothic with rounded corners, intended to have a clean modern look; suitable for futuristic and avant-garde projects.

At least they are describable.