Have a closer look at our typefaces, image by Thomas Edward Joy
I have been providing test fonts for years now and generally had good experience with this practice. The test fonts had a very limited character set, which should be enough for designers to see the letterforms and create simple applications. These test fonts with their reduced character set could be downloaded without any registration.
Over the years, I’ve received different feedback on this practice. For some designers, this was more than sufficient, while others wanted a broader character set.
A few weeks ago, a colleague in academia asked me for classroom licences for their students. A bit hesitant to upload my complete font library to the school server, I felt the need to address this as well.
Introducing my new test fonts with a much broader character set. The significant difference is the full coverage of diacritics, making them more useful to my non-English writing clients.
The test font package contains all our published typefaces as desktop (.otf) and web fonts (.woff2).
Each test font family name ends with ‘TEST FONT’.
The test fonts include complete spacing, kerning, alternate glyphs, and ligatures.
Due to this broader character set, a slightly more closed system is needed, giving me some control over how the test fonts are used. Because of this, registration is now required.
Some of my designer friends asked me, “But why not provide the complete glyph set for trial?” My answer is that there needs to be a distinction between the full version and the test version. Test fonts are created for trying out fonts to see if they are a good fit for a project or for seeking approval from clients. Users should have considerable freedom but also be reminded to obtain a full licence once they use the fonts publicly.
The new test licences are exciting news for designers as well as for students, who should be able to use the typefaces in their educational projects.