Comments on: Free masthead fonts?

Question: Free masthead fonts?

nyterrant — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:44:37 -0800

I am trying to find some free fonts that would be good for use in a masthead.

I'm starting an online and print newsletter on a shoestring budget. Does anyone know of some free fonts that would be good for a masthead? I am looking for fonts ranging from classic NYT-style masthead with gothic-type letters to more modern serif fonts. I've never really done this before, so apologies if I am not being clear about what I want.

By: TonyRobots

TonyRobots — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:51:30 -0800

Dafont.com is a good resource for free fonts. Typefaces are really a matter of personal preference, but if I read your particular needs right, I might consider:

Bebas
Go Long
Imprimerie
Athena Unicode
CM Tiempo

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:05:10 -0800

Goodfonts.org is another good source of free fonts.

By: atom128

atom128 — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 12:00:00 -0800

http://www.moorstation.org/typoasis/designers/steffmann/index.htm

By: blag

blag — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 17:07:12 -0800

Don't forget Ray!

By: D.C.

D.C. — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 20:21:51 -0800

Dafont and Goodfonts aren't ethical. Dafont will allow people to upload fonts they don't have the rights to distribute. (They take them down if they get a complaint, but they should be reviewing uploads before redistributing them.) Goodfonts appears to have some pirated fonts. Both sites are getting banner ad revenue.

Chank has some funky free fonts, but perhaps nothing appropriate for the newsletter.

By: luriete

luriete — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:24:02 -0800

Those places are 99% junk. There was a weblog - fontleech or something like that - which purported to find the very few original high-quality free fonts out there.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 22:31:36 -0800

Fontleech. I was about to write something up about how free fonts will get you nowhere because they all suck, but actually Fontleech has a couple of options that aren't half bad for a cheapo newsletter. If you're willing to raise your sights a bit, there are a bunch of digital type foundries that sell decent-to-great fonts for cheap; T.26 is great but perhaps a bit expensive if you're on a very tight budget, but places like Larabie Fonts and Aerotype offer typefaces in the $20-$40 range.

Don't forget about typefaces that come with certain software packages; Adobe's pretty good about putting in some basic typefaces like Myriad (the current Apple identity font) and Garamond that, if used creatively, might be just the thing. (Well, maybe not Garamond. That's best used as a body copy type, not display type.)

By: brautigan

brautigan — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 22:43:28 -0800

Atom128 beat me to it. That steffman site has the best and rarest gothics. And more.

By: richmondparker

richmondparker — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 10:54:16 -0800

Try:

http://www.1001freefonts.com
http://www.searchfreefonts.com
http://www.webpagepublicity.com/free-fonts.html

By: nyterrant

nyterrant — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:32:12 -0800

Epilogue: I went with the first couple of suggestions and came up with this.

If you can do better for a modest fee, email's in my profile.