Archive for November 2013
Finding Fonts for Your Brand: 5 Free for Commercial Use Resources
I could easily spend all day playing around with typography. When I art directed magazines, I’d spend hours finding just the right font combinations to make the headlines sing. You can see what I mean about my font obsessions here, here, and here. And I don’t even want to confess to how many fonts I’ve purchased in my lifetime.
With so many free fonts available, there’s no excuse for using lackluster fonts in your branding. Here are a few resources to get you started with your own font obsession.
Start Your Font Exploration with These Sites
Behance
Behance showcases the work of all kinds of creatives, including font designers. Some fonts designers offer their work for free. Search for “free fonts” and check licensing information to make sure they are approved for commercial use.
Font Squirrel
Font Squirrel searches the web for free for commercial use fonts and compiles them for you. This is one of my favorite resources for free fonts.
Google Fonts
Google Fonts offers more than 600 open source font families that you can use for branding and on your website.
Dafont
Dafont offers more than 20,000 free fonts. To find the ones you can use in commercial projects, first click on the category of font you’re interested in finding. Then in the area of the site where you can preview the fonts, look for a link to “more options” there you can check a box for “public domain” fonts. You’ll still want to check the font’s Read-Me files to verify license.
Font Space
Font Space offers more than 20,000 free fonts. To find the ones you can use in commercial projects, first browse and choose a category of fonts. Then click on the “filter options” link. There you will be able to choose the “only show commercial-use fonts” option. You’ll still want to check the font’s Read-Me files to verify license.
Font Licensing Information
!!! When you purchase or source any fonts (free or paid) always check the font licensing agreements to see how you can legally use the fonts. For branding uses, like creating logos, you want to use fonts that are licensed for commercial use, open source, or freeware.
Most font sites will list this kind of information alongside the font. But you should check the “Read-Me” file that comes along with the font when you download it, for the exact usage details. Pay close attention to these licenses and follow them.
Pros and Cons of Using Free For Commercial Use Fonts
Pros of Using Free For Commercial Use Fonts
1) Free.
2) Lots of different typefaces to choose from.
Cons of Using Free For Commercial Use Fonts
1) Limited weights of fonts. They may not include a bold, italic, or light version.
2) Limited set of characters/glyphs. They may not include all the fancy characters you need, like letters with accents, small caps, etc.
Have fun becoming a font addict like me!
If you’re ready to take your brand up a notch, or two, and learn more about which fonts would best tell your brand story, come join The Polish Your Online Brand Workshop. It’s FREE!
Jewels Branch Showcase: Heather Ferber
Jewels Branch Showcases feature work created by folks who’ve taken self-study courses or live workshops at Jewels Branch.
7 Days of Delicious Detox for Fall
Heather Ferber is a certified holistic health coach. Heather was inspired to create 7 Days of Delicious Detox for Fall while taking The PDF Workshop and learning content creation and design skills. She collaborated a graphic designer to bring her vision to life as a digital product.
7 Days of Delicious Detox for Fall is a simple, nourishing and delicious digital program designed to help you feel and look better in 7 short days. The recipes are created from seasonal fall foods.
“I have finished my first product that I was inspired to start when I took your class a few months back. Thank you for your direction and inspiration! SO excited to finally have something to generate some passive income. It was an idea that was birthed in your class.” ~ Heather Ferber
Way to go Heather!
Ready for your own showcase?
You can learn how to create your own logos, promotional graphics, e-books, and more at Jewels Branch. Come on over and start telling the story of your business through design.
Jewels Branch Showcase: Joanna Byrne
Jewels Branch Showcases feature work created by folks who’ve taken self-study courses or live workshops at Jewels Branch.
The Confidence Boost Project
Joanna Bryne is a clarity and confidence coach. She used skills she learned at Jewels Branch, along with her coaching experience, to write and design materials for her program The Confidence Boost Project.
The Confidence Boost Project is a 21 day self-study program created to help you learn about your own self-confidence and discover tools to build and develop resilient self-confidence.
Way to go Joanna!
Ready for your own showcase?
You can learn how to create your own logos, promotional graphics, e-books, and more at Jewels Branch. Come on over and start telling the story of your business through design.