Why free fonts?

USAC, Guatemala City, 2012

Dave Crossland

Please Note

• 100% Personal Opinion
• Does not represent the views of my consulting clients

Me

• Hacker Kid
• Visual Arts
• Typography with libre software

GIMP

• www.gimp.org

Scribus

• www.scribus.net

Inkscape

• www.inkscape.org

FontForge

• fontforge.sourceforge.net

Ambiguity

• Free Fonts
• Las Fuentes Gratuitamente
• Las Fuentes Libres

What?

• "4 Freedoms"
• 1. Use paid or unpaid
  2. Private Modification from source code
  3. Distribution paid or unpaid
  4. Distribution of Modified Versions paid or unpaid
• www.freedomdefined.org

Why?

• Richard Stallman "Functional" Works
• ¿Alguien puede arreglar?
• Incompl  te

Powerful Question

• Who decides?
• Developer > User
• Developer = User
• Free Will (Libre Albedrío)

Software Freedom Movement

• 3 moments

1983

• GNU
• www.gnu.org
• Cygnus, Inc

1992

• Linux
• GNU+Linux
• GNU/Linux

GNU+Linux

• Fedora
• OpenSUSE
• Debian
• Ubuntu

1998

• Apache
• Netscape
• Open Source

Open Source

• Free Software
• Software Freedom

2001

• Free Culture Movement
• Libre
• Wikipedia
• Creative Commons

Richard Stallman's 3 Categories

1. Functional - Programs, Encyclopedias, Fonts, Textbooks
2. Artistic
3. Opinion

Creative Commons

• www.creativecommons.org/licenses

CC Family

1. Attribution
2. Attribution - Share Alike
3. Attribution - No Derivatives
4. Attribution - Non Commercial
5. Attribution - Share Alike - Non Commercial
6. Attribution - No Derivatives - Non Commercial

Fonts

• Artistic?
• Functional.

Fonts?

• Black Art
• Business

Reading University

• MA Typeface Design (2007-2009)
• FontForge
• Android

SIL

• SIL Open Font License
• scripts.sil.org/OFL

Copyleft

• GNU General Public License
• gnu.org/philosophy

Open Font Library

• www.openfontlibrary.org

League of Movable Type

• www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Red Hat, Inc

• Cygnus, Inc

_______Web Fonts

Google Web Fonts

• www.google.com/webfonts

Release Early, Release Often

Pablo Impallari

• www.impallari.com/projects

Public Domain Revivals

Nathan Willis

• www.launchpad.net/newscycle
• www.github.com

Web Specific Designs

Remix

Vernon Adams

• code.newtypography.co.uk/?p=972

Incomplete

Families

Google Web Fonts

• www.google.com/webfonts
• code.google.com/p/googlefontdirectory

Google Web Fonts

• 100% Libre fonts
• Some donated
• Most commissioned
• Too much fonts? Not enough cash?
• Send me proposals
• dave@understandingfonts.com

Libre Capitalism

• www.kickstarter.com
• www.idea.me
• www.pledgie.com

Example: ttfautohint

• www.freetype.org/ttfautohint

Profit

Fun

Libre Graphics Magazine

• www.libregraphicsmag.com

Workshops

• England Belgium Portugal
• Vietnam Cambodia
• Argentina Brasil Chile
• Guatemala Colombia Venezuela Mexico
• www.understandingfonts.com

Practice