You Cannot Not Use Type
Typography is everywhere in communication design and influences the meaning and character of a message. Choosing a custom typeface will improve that message by underlining your philosophy and culture. We design typefaces that reflect your corporate personality, in any media, on any device.
Design
With sense and sensibility
At supertype® we approach the design of a typeface with sense and sensibility. Understanding and utilising our clients’ individual company values, we define the formal characteristics they wish to see reflected in their typeface and corporate design identity. Together we test our initial designs until all parties are satisfied with the basic characteristics of the key letter shapes. Only then do we follow through with the development of glyphs in all weights and styles, as well as the technical differentiation required for use on all platforms and media.
Technology
Font = Design + Software
Beyond the aesthetics, fonts are essentially software containing intelligence that further defines how they look and function. Examples of this are OpenType features that control ligatures or support language-sensitivity, and hinting which optimises the display of fonts for the screen. These technologies demand precision and skill to ensure the optimal use of fonts worldwide.
12 Good Reasons
Why a custom typeface is a good idea
There are many requirements for a typeface to work seamlessly within a certain context, which is why an off-the-shelf font is often not the ideal solution. The three main pitfalls of a retail font are licensing, aesthetics and functionality. The license agreement of an existing font may not allow its usage on your desired platform or may entail fees which are too high. An off-the-shelf font might also lack the typographic features (small caps, arrows, figure sets or your logo design) required in your company’s everyday work flow. The final challenge is to find the right ‘look’ in an existing typeface – one that works for all your company’s communication and expresses the unique quality of your corporate culture. We would be happy to visit your offices and discuss these and the other potential benefits of a type design tailored to your individual needs.
Off-the-shelf fonts will always have restrictions such as extra license fees for additional users or platforms, while custom type design offers you control over your costs and full freedom of usage.
| System Font | Retail Font | Custom Font | |
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| Expression of character |
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| Unique Characteristics |
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| License-free for Additional Users |
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| License-free for Additional Font Formats |
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| Additional Language Support |
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| Optimised Screen Display |
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| Multiple Figure Sets and Small Capitals |
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| Harmonising Sans and Serif |
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| Integrated Customised Symbols |
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| Optimised to Workflow |
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| No data protection issues: clients host the fonts themselves; no data is being collected by third party |
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| No staff needed to check on license agreement compliance |
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Pricing
Starting at € 6,500.— for a Sans Serif
To give you a rough idea of the costs and timing involved we have assembled this example calculation based on a sans-serif typeface with a Latin Extended glyph set (approximately 450 glyphs). Depending on the size of your company we have used different multipliers which influence the end price. Keep in mind this should only be taken as an indication — we are enthusiasts willing to compromise for the challenges of an exciting assignment. Our delivery time for a type design concept is approximately four weeks. The design of one font takes roughly 6 weeks while multiple fonts with extended glyph sets including Greek and Cyrillic, may take several months. Further details can be provided in a full written estimate based on your specific needs.
| Example calculation | Local company, non-exclusive | International corporation, world-wide exclusivity |
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Base price Sans Serif, Latin Extended glyphset | 6,500.— Euro | 6,500.— Euro |
| License/client factor | × 1.0 | × 2.5 |
| 3 Fonts, Regular, Bold and Italic for example | × 3 | × 3 |
| Font production for 3 fonts | + 4,500 | + 4,500 |
| Price (one-time payment) | = 24,000 € | = 53,250 € |
Sounds great?
Get in touch with us for a detailed look at your project and how we can help create a font which suits your company the best!