How it works

We add brand value

Designed to work as a part of your visual brand identity, a custom typeface helps to express your brand’s personality. It’s a powerful asset that can help you stand out from your competitors, amplifying your brand’s voice in a unique way. We understand brand, and we know the value that a consistently unique voice can add.

 

 

We subtract complicated licensing

The type industry generally uses a license-based model for off-the-shelf fonts, where instead of owning the fonts outright, you purchase a licence and costs are based on how many people in your organisation will use them, where, and for how long. When you commission your own custom typeface or family from abcD8, you avoid expensive annual costs and remove complicated licensing agreements.

 

 

How does the process work?

We talk to you to find out what you actually need. We learn about your brand so we know what you’re saying and how you want to say it, look at the various applications, accessibility and language needs, and then make recommendations, along with costs and timings.

 

Next, we provide design concepts in a limited letterset that shows you how the design looks in a broad sense, including alternates and highlighting any specific design features we think will enhance your brand and the user’s experience. There is a very real chance you will become far more interested in letters than you ever thought possible.

 

Once we have an approved design, we move on to beta font creation. We create a working font file that contains a near-complete set of characters so you can test the design in your own working environment and make sure it says and does what you need it to. When everyone is happy with the overall design, we’ll tickle and polish each letter in the post-production phases to make sure all the technical bits like kerning and hinting are tip top.

 

Lastly, we’ll package up the final files along with a specimen document for you.

 

 

Ownership and usage

What about the licence?

Put really simply, there isn’t one. We create the typeface design and working fonts specifically for your brand, so they’re yours alone. Forever. Free from recurring fees, free from fuss.

 

So I can use them in print? Broadcasting? Merch?

Yes, all of those.

 

What about page views online?

The more the merrier. It probably means people are interested in your brand, but it doesn’t mean you need to pay us any more money.

 

What about our app?

That sounds cool and we’ll probably download it, and yes, you can use your fonts in it if you like. You definitely don’t need our approval.

 

Can I share them with other people outside my organisation?

Yes, you are free to give third-party vendors access to it to work on your communications.

 

What if all our brands, or new ones we have, want to use the fonts?

There are pros and cons to that from a brand perspective that we’d be happy to advise on, but from a legal and technical point of view, it’s entirely up to you.

 

Do you resell typeface designs to other brands?

Absolutely not. We design to your brief every time.

 

What about Intellectual Property?

Our approach is simple; you pay us for the work we’ve done and the IP transfers to you.

 

Do you offer after-sales support?

We’re here for the long haul. If you need help installing fonts or adding them to your website, just drop us a line. Luckily, fonts don’t tend to break down or get damaged by other ones bumping into them, so we don’t charge you ‘maintenance fees’. Things do go wrong on occasion though, and we promise to respond if you tell us something’s gone awry.

 

 

All about the fonts we supply

What about font formats?

All the fonts we deliver are in a variety of formats:

 

• .OTF - OpenType
• .TTF - TrueType
• .WOFF - Web Ope Font Format
• .WOFF2 - Web Open Font Format 2.0

.OTF, .TTF, and .WOFF2 font formats support variable fonts if that functionality is required.

 

What about non-Latin alphabets?

In truth, we don’t speak them all but we can create them; it just takes us a little longer. We cover most European languages as standard but if you have a specific audience, tell us who you’re talking to and we’ll give you a cost-effective solution. Plain and simple.

 

What if we need more weights?

Unlike in real life, if you want to slim down or bulk up, that’s no problem at all. As we’ll have done all the heavy-lifting upfront creating the initial set, we can provide a slimline cost for creating extra weights.

 

What about those ‘variable’ fonts you mentioned?

When it makes sense we’ll create fonts like this, where their weight, width, slant (and more) can be adjusted dynamically by your creative teams. We’ll also create specific weights too (‘Regular’, ‘Bold’, ‘Italic’ etc.) as this can be more useful for in-house purposes, where the world revolves around Microsoft’s Office packages.