Does anyone know any good typography programs, apps, or platforms?
To do what? Manage font collections? Design and create installable fonts? Learn about typography? You need to be a little more specific.
Probably by Typography he means creating Fonts … if so I would like to hear GDS members opinion about FontLab … actually I’ve never opened any such app, so some good tutorial will come handy!
~ https://alexjohnlucas.com/type/software
~ https://alternativeto.net/software/glyphs-app/
yet not all can import svg and like that broaden the possibilities …
hm, so now we can play as we like with fonts, for collections it would be nice to have smooth ai pipeline eg. for the halftone effects [1][1]
If you’re talking about font management, I have used Font Agent Pro for many years.
wow I didnt knew about this …
Fontself - The Easiest Font Maker For All Creatives
some ask for refund!
https://community.fontself.com/?_ga=2.38737312.2056532121.1691190651-1184060424.1691190651
but some made ideal investment!
I use both FontLab and Glyphs to build fonts. Out of the two, FontLab has the steepest learning curve. Glyphs is less expensive and a bit easier, but it’s only available for Macs. Out of the two, I prefer Glyphs. However, both are top-quality, professional-level font design applications.
This isn’t a professional piece of software. It’s an easy-to-use, limited-feature product designed for amateurs. Which to get depends on what you need and what you plan on doing with the fonts once you make them.
Glyphs for me. I used Fontlab many moons ago and found it to be more cumbersome. I am sure it has moved on since then, but I found glyphs far more intuitive so have just stuck with it ever since.
When I first started to learn, I used fontlab’s more basic cousin, typetool, which was a good way to start, but is not as feature-rich (or daunting) as the full fontlab.
hm hm hm depends how You exploit some app, in my opinion professional piece of software means You are full time dedicated to typography, yet if some app like FontSelf speed up the work You can use it for basic concept and finish it up in eg. FontLab or Glyphs …
https://help.fontself.com/en/articles/904377-fontself-vs-fontlab-fontforge-or-glyphs
Now I cant say is this case coz not familiar with the apps, but guess what makes some work professional is the eye behind the work more than the pen in the hand, altho one need fine balance between creativity and craftsmanship so would get unique result in the end!, “SunTzu” would say what the use of artillery if You are blind!"
On other hand there are moments where You’ll need to improvise so FontSelf could be useful as smooth for cheap tablets so one would indulge in creativity swirl even hiking in mountain or riding on a bus i.e. for OnTheGo moments guess would be irreplaceable!?, also its budget app as cheap pipeline to Illustrator [1] that in the end will sell a font too, and eventually more affordable variant would be the free opensource pipeline of Inkscape + FontForge [2][3][4]5] altho someone had have glitches in both cases [6]
That’s not really how it works.
As an analogy, let’s say I wanted to build a house, and that I hired someone who wasn’t a professional to pour the foundation. They did their best, but they used poor-quality concrete, didn’t set up the forms correctly, didn’t use rebar, got the measurements a little off, and cut lots of corners to get the job done.
After that, let’s say I decided to hire a professional construction company to finish the house. More than likely they would tell me that they couldn’t build a house on the bad foundation because it was crooked, didn’t meet building codes, and wasn’t poured or finished in a way that would enable them to proceed. Instead, they would need to tear out the entire foundation and begin from scratch.
Much the same is true of building a font. Setting up the foundations of the font is extremely important. There’s no easy way to improve upon a poorly built font short of starting over.
Yes, you could use something like Fontself for conceptual experimentation, but you could just as easily do that in any drawing program or with a pencil and paper. In any case, you couldn’t simply open a poorly built font in FontLab or Glyphs and expect to finish it up to professional standards without redoing it from scratch.
Good parallel, but You didnt point what exactly would be that bad foundation, guess it has something to do with the coding 
anyway I’ve got hooked on the investment meme of review seeing it from investors perspective, but after all the majority of the graphic design in the world is done for camp sites
As observer I can just say its good that the market got diversification as of tools so as paradigm shift what would be the Opentype Color Fonts, and here think the pipeline between AIL+FS or INKS+FF comes more than handy!, not sure how this integration is intuitive with AIL+GF or AIL+FL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType#Color_fonts
Hm, I’ve been bit rusty and havent catch the appearance of those SVG Fonts and how they work!?, this is more than mess for me!, maybe someone can point to good webinar about Opentype SVG Fonts … also any thoughts on this bitfonter tool?
Ok. Thank you for your feedback.
Specifically, designing and creating fonts.
Do you think FontLab and Glyphs are the best programs to build fonts?
Yes, as has been said already, those are the professional tools and are both more than capable of producing high quality fonts. It comes down to personal preference (and whether you are using Mac or PC).
Be aware though, they are both also capable of producing very low quality fonts if the person using them has no idea what they are doing. Type design has a very steep learning curve, both from software and design perspectives.
If you think, you can do it quickly or take shortcuts, you are doing it wrong. It requires huge amounts of patience, dogged tenacity and a slightly (more than slightly) obsessive personality!
This is true for every field of work, yet it should not be norm or issue for/with Graphic Design, coz first of all as Art it should convey Beauty and then after craftsmanship, keeping it real yes can make You pro but not per’se Beyond Pro, think the reality in the graphic design realm (by my criteria) is inspirative Art So first train Your creativitY [1] then improvise with what You have at hand and then after reach for the expensive toys …
btw I am just like You lost in translation around these apps, but as I can notice its comparison eg. between TheWailers [1] and TV [2] could it be done with them more tight or loosen work logically yes, so dont expect that with Glyphs or FontLab it will be easily achieved perfection, there are simply tons of fonts that will or not be sold, for what tho as I can see one need label and branding as in every business [3] … if dont care what or why You sell (and/or dont need to catch a fish) then enjoy in creating fonts as graffiti artist as is proposing the Man on the last footnote it takes time but eventually You will be recognized and the name behind the fonts paid off!
I’m afraid that is simply not correct. You are describing art. Design is something entirely different. It is not about personal creative endeavour or expression. It is about using your knowledge creativity and skill to solve someone else’s problem.
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