Need more fonts

[Tim N]

Who has the best font collections. I'm looking for some bold and racy looking fonts. I am doing mostly motorsports stuff and would like some unique fonts to set my work apart from some of the competetors. I have bought some individual ones but would like to start building a collection. Any advice or links would be great.
thanks Tim

 

[theroq]

fontfreak.com free fonts if you down individually or $6.95 if you download all at one time.

I don't get anything from this site, i just found it and it's cool

 

[Dave Drane]

Sign DNA would be a good place to start looking for what you are seeking.
Also Letterhads has some excellent fonts also.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Signfonts.com and Letterhead Fonts both have great libraries. Just click on the small logos for each of them at the bottom of each page here at Signs 101 to have a look.

 

[Tim N]

Thanks for all the help these sites are just what I was after.
Is there anyone who sells a collection along the lines of the Mega Collection with a catalog for customers to look at?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Among what is available from first tier font developers, the best bang for the buck is the font library included with Coreldraw and other Corel products like Corel Gallery 1,000,000 which I was able to get at Office Depot for about $50.

These fonts represent about 75% of the Bitstream library and a couple of hundred others from URW. Both of these companies went into bankruptcy in the early 1990's (from pirated clone collections) and have since emerged from that. Along the way, Corel got some great deals from them on fonts.

Something like this then becomes your core library and then you can purchase individual fonts or smaller collections as needed to add some variety.

No one puts out a nice printed catalog anymore. You can make your own with a variety of methods and software but you may find it to be a huge mistake to put a printed type catalog in front of a client. We use TypoGraf to satisfy that requirement, which allows us to preview uninstalled fonts in whatever text we want to see and either have the client sitting right there or printing out a short list to present later.

 

[jimdes]

I would agree with Fred and I know Rick has opinions on this too. If you submerge the client in a quagmire of fonts and clipart, one of two things can happen:

1. The client becomes utterly confused and needs to have a hand-holding session to guide them to a solution that is most appropriate for their needs.

2. The client sees all of the information in front of them and associates this with a "cut and paste" or "you just punch it in" mentality and immediately has a lower perceived value of your product.

If the client leaves the design work up to you or you show them something simple to start with (a sketch or text set in times or arial) they go away satisfied that they are getting a "design" for their money. When you present them with a design or two to choose from, it looks like you did a lot of work, which you most likely did, at that point, their perceived value is high.

Try this approach and let us know how it works out for you.

 

[cbcie]

Where can you get TypoGraf? Sounds like a great thing to have.
Cheryl

 

[jimdes]

It is . . .

You can download it here. It is shareware and it's worth the Thirty-five bucks!

 

[cbcie]

I just got it, wow it is great!
Cheryl

 

[ChiknNutz]

Fred, do you like Typograf better than Extensis Suitcase? I know that Suitcase is more $$$, but I like Suitcase better from what I've used of it so far. I admit, I haven't spent a lot of time with Typograf, but just seemed like a better interface. Maybe there's other stuff that I'm missing, too.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Fred, do you like Typograf better than Extensis Suitcase? I know that Suitcase is more $$$, but I like Suitcase better from what I've used of it so far. I admit, I haven't spent a lot of time with Typograf, but just seemed like a better interface. Maybe there's other stuff that I'm missing, too.

I can't respond regarding Suitcase because (1) I didn't know that they had even written a Windows version. It has always been a Macintosh only product. (2) It only runs on Windows 2000 and higher even though it tells you that you need ATM on Win 98 systems, the installer won't allow it to install.

Extensis writes very good products so I have no doubt that Suitcase does its job. The main thing with most people I've helped with Typograf is just getting them into the Options area and seeing where they can input sample text and control what they see. It's very easy to miss turning on the "Preview" mode for uninstalled fonts and end up only seeing your installed fonts.

 

[smullen]

Among what is available from first tier font developers, the best bang for the buck is the font library included with Coreldraw and other Corel products like Corel Gallery 1,000,000 which I was able to get at Office Depot for about $50.

Is this still avalible??? I went to Office Depot and Office Max, neither had a clue... Wouldn't happen to have a SKU# would you?

 

[jimdes]

Not anymore.

There are still new copies of clickart 1,000,000 400,000 and 250,000 available on eBay and other sources.

For the most part, you will find t clipart collection incorporated into Broderbund's "Clickart" collection and devoid of any fonts.

Ebay

 

[Fred Weiss]

:Oops: I did not realize that Corel Gallery is evidently no longer available in the retail channels.

The next best bet would be to check around at eBay or used software dealers for a copy of Coreldraw 5 or higher ... any of which has got the Bitstream fonts on it.

 

[TerryStolmeier]

I know Corel 12 comes with a CD that is packed full of fonts. I personally havn't installed them yet, but I did browse through it a bit.

While it may be frowned upon, there are some really good sites out there that offer free font downloads. I've used acidfonts.com quite a bit in the past.

 

[Fred Weiss]

While it may be frowned upon, there are some really good sites out there that offer free font downloads. I've used acidfonts.com quite a bit in the past.

I think most would agree that freeware and shareware fonts can be used to one's advantage. The issue for me is that I find more and more of the time, I am not the one doing the original typesetting in a job. When I'm handed a business card set up by a printer which the client views as his "logo", for example. My problem then is to identify the type used and to have the needed font(s) available. That's where having a good core library comes in handy.

 

[signadvantage]

www.fontdiner.com has great fonts, cheap.

Also, for those who aren't quite so high tech, a great font utility, which is free is TheFontThing. Great way to preview and categorize all your installed fonts w/o having to be too much of a "professional" to use it.

 

[TerryStolmeier]

TheFontThing is great. Probably the best part is the ability to browse fonts that are both installed and those that are uninstalled. Pop in a CD of extra fonts and viewing them is a sinch!