Hey folks,
I was wondering if anyone knows of good websites to download free commerical use fonts. As of now I use Font Space & Font Squirrel.
Here is a good thread to read 
https://www.graphicdesignforum.org/t/where-to-find-good-free-fonts/2398
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When it comes right down to it, there’s no money to be made in creating or offering free fonts for download. It takes many hundreds (sometimes thousands) of hours of tedious work to create a well-designed and well-built type family As a result, almost all the fonts found on free sites are junk or illegally pirated.
The consistent exception being many of the Google fonts. Like many Google projects, Google puts lots of effort into various things then makes them available for free.
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But there is always something in it for Google.
Agreed. And sometimes they don’t have all the characters you need so you have to switch to another font for those.
Not to mention that about 25% of free fonts don’t rip correctly.
That might be more costly than what you saved by using free fonts.
Been using what I learned in college years and am just delving into the graphic design field more intrusively as of late. Using only what I have from 2014. Information and technology. I’d be more than interested in learning more about the common mishaps amateur designers make. Ie. Using free fonts. vs buying them.
As an amateur designer and stay at home mom, I’m not rolling in the $$$. But I’m willing to invest time and what resources I do have to further my design skills.
Any information or direction would be more than appreciated.
Thank you folks
Well, you probably don’t (or shouldn’t) want to use pirated fonts, which a lot of them are. You certainly don’t want to use fonts with problems that will cause them to fail in various ways when sent through the RIP at final output. You don’t want to use a font only to find that it doesn’t have the % the ß or whatever other glyph you need for the job you’re working on. You also don’t want to use a font where the kerning pairs are so scarce or badly conceived that you find yourself having to adjust bad glyph combinations on every other word.
Another problem isn’t so much practical as it is about craftsmanship. As a designer, I just prefer using quality tools and producing clean, quality work. Tossing a badly constructed font into the mix just rubs me the wrong way, even when I know it will probably do the job.
All that being said, I still find myself using free Google fonts on occasion for various things since it’s difficult to justify spending a couple hundred dollars (or whatever) on a font family for a one-off project that doesn’t have the budget for it.
When I do that, I research the font to see where it originated. I also open it up in a font editor to check its character set, glyph outlines, kerning pair tables and OpenType features to make sure it meets my minimum criteria for the job. Short of that, simply typing out a few lines and looking for visual problems, then converting it to outlines to check for sloppiness and kinks would be a good idea.
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In my weird corner of the print industry, a single 48" x 96" graphic panel can run you close to $6000 (in a very specific exterior print material).
Saving $30 by using a free typeface?
Trust me it isn’t worth it if one of those things causes issues on pieces that spendy.
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If it’s an OTF or TTF shouldn’t it RIP ok?
Not if the outline file is cranked. After all these years I suspect the ones I have the most trouble with are ones with an inadvertently open path. Especially the ones where only one letter or glyph drops out.
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Hey just wanted to know if i use these above font for logo design , will i be legally bounded not to use or whether i am free to use the font in my logo ?
I can’t specifically answer that. You need to read the EULA on each individual font you are interested in. Then test the font to make sure it’s going to print correctly and isn’t missing things you will need. Using a free font is a crap shoot. As has been said here many times, sometimes you get what you pay for.
Just be careful … read the licensing information and test it out. That’s about all I can say.
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