I do think that fonts represent a certain value, and it is very complicated to offer a quality typeface for free. The longest type project we’ve made took years, the shortest about 3 months of intensive work. This had to do with the certain standards that we stick to, and to make it in shorter time, would mean we compromise on those standards.

You can find well designed, and considered typefaces which are free (e.g. Gentium), but 99% of free fonts are indeed free for a reason, and they would never pass any tests that we do before publishing fonts.

We continue making new typefaces, but we will stick to the usual game that we developed, something that represent a certain value, and to compensate for the energy we put into it, we ask a tiny bit of your energy.

The reason they are free to end users is that they were in part funded by public money, with additional licensing fees paid by corporations, which allows their ‘free’ distribution. This probably differs from the mindset of others who make their fonts available for free, whose reasons may vary quite a lot. From my perspective, I do not actually consider these fonts, nor some others*, to be free in the absolute sense. They were paid for by distribution licenses, so the designer is being remunerated, which is the important thing to consider.

*Other fonts readily available ‘for free’, which should be considered bundled and value-added components of operating systems or major applications (vis. Adobe) are often of high quality. The point that these are value-added components I think is the important thing that needs to be realized by at least the professionals that use them (the general public is another matter). If a font comes with the operating system, or Office, or InDesign, it is not free, but included in the price. They are relatively less expensive then retail fonts because license fees are paid up front to designers or foundries for bulk quantities. Whether that fee is fair or not is another matter, and a point of negotiation between the foundry and distributor.

Such distribution, in the form of bundles, does have an impact on the retail font market in terms of perceived value. So too do price points established by larger foundries have great impact on smaller foundries. The fact that Adobe or others pick a $30 range price for a single font is one thing. The fact that one of their ‘pro’ OpenType versions of the same font is only $5 more has more of an impact on smaller foundries these days. Given that an OpenType font may have more then 17% more work involved in its production, a foundry should be able to charge more for it. If the professional designer can then derive more value from said font by virtue of its value as a tool, then they should be happy to pay more as well.

And for the bulk of free fonts out there, I don’t think much of them at all, and neither should professionals, unless they are of the ilk that think many cheaply (or free) and shoddily produced items are better then a single well crafted one. If designers are to behave as craftsmen, then they must also have respect for those that make their quality tools.

As for the general public–I think that bundled fonts generally and seamlessly serve their purpose. There are cases where minority languages are under-served in terms of font choices, and if the OS owners don’t address basic language support, then these languages–most of which are endangered to varying extents–may need tools to be made available. Which brings us back to the fonts I offer for free–these are principally for use for native languages (Inuktitut, Cree etc.) and not for graphic designers or scrap-bookers etc. etc. Plantagenet Cherokee, for instance, which was licensed by Apple and Microsoft for Cherokee language support, is little used for Cherokee, and pretty much all orders I get for it are for graphic designers who are matching something that was spec’d off an OS-font (which is why I charge for Plantagenet Cherokee, but do say if you are using it for an actual Cherokee project, you can have it for free).

Are there well designed and considered typefaces that are offered online for free? What are they?

Gentium is probably the best gratis typeface available. Developed with global application in mind, needless to say it is quite comprehensive. As I understand, it is available free of charge for non-profit education initiatives.

scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=Gentium

Have you or will you ever release a typeface for free?

Not in the near future. While I applaud the development of free software for educational and not-for-profit uses, I unfortunately cannot devote my time to projects that don’t offer any sort of remuneration. That being said, I have designed typefaces with limited character sets free of charge for non-profit organizations; however, as they carry limited usage rights, I may revisit them as potential candidates for future retail release.