Evolving with the types: When to update your font solution.
Usually, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. But when it comes to vessels carrying precious cargo, be they vehicles, bodily or fonts, maintenance checks are imperative for avoiding a crash. We usually get a clear signal when something isn’t right. With a car, you might have a “check engine” light, while aches and pains tell us when something’s not right with our bodies, but with fonts, its not always obvious when something’s wrong. Unless you know where to look, that is…
The dynamic nature of branding presents each organization with unique opportunities on how to stand out from the crowd, with fonts playing a pivotal role. Here are some key signs indicating that a business has outgrown its font solution:
1. Creatives are tired of their font library.
Possibly the most common indicator and somehow, the most dismissed, is the designer’s fashion-freeze. Like looking in your closet and declaring you have nothing to wear, it’s all too common for designers to look at their font library and feel creatively hindered. Afterall, it’s not just any outfit they are putting together, font choices are a key part of how brands debut new chapters in their story.
How to diagnose: Simply ask your designers if they want more font options.
It sounds harsh, but if your designers are tired of looking at your brand’s fonts, it’s only a matter of time before your audience will do the same. Invest in their vision. Like giving a costume designer a bigger wardrobe of clothes, you never know what creatives will come up with when you broaden their toolset.
2. More touch points mean more fonts.
As a business grows, it is only natural that its use of fonts will grow with it. Picture a dinner table, the more dishes offered…well…more the more plates required. Likewise, offering more products and services or expanding to new markets requires more fonts to help a customer distinguish between what they are eating, sorry, reading. Perhaps new fonts would serve some channels better than others or help distinguish one product from another. As organizations scale up, it’s paramount that the technological support matches its pace.
How to diagnose: Ask your product managers if the range of offers is expanding.
3. Sharing content on the cloud? Check your desktop license.
As companies grow, so do their sharing processes, often, through cloud servers. Think back to the dinner table, more mouths means more seats! This is often the most important indicator that a standard desktop license is no longer adequate, and a company desktop license is required.
How to diagnose: Checking your font license agreements. EULAs will reveal how your current fonts are licensed for use. Read about Company Desktop Licenses
What’s next?
It can be hard to predict how a company will evolve and at what pace. “Growing” can involve fluctuation in the numbers of employees, locations, channels, services and/or customers.
Want your font solution to adapt to your organization, rather than the other way around? Start by perusing our Plan Agreements, then reach out to us to not only find a font solution for now, but one that is flexible enough for the future.
You can find our range of Monotype Fonts subscription on our website, simply head over to our Plans page to find the one that works best for you and your organization.