I’m as excited as the next web designer when it comes to all this @font-face business, but when it comes down to the legability of it all, making my way through all the opinions on how it can or can’t work, how TypeKit isn’t really the right solution to fight the DRM problems et al, then I must admit that I’m beginning to get a little bit lost.
Too much of a good thing…
This is why this definitely isn’t another blog post to add to the pile of ‘how will we put a stop to those font pirates’ blogs, because to my knowledge, if you want a font that bad, then it would be pretty easy to get your hands on it. Plus, what average web user, browsing say for example, a site on plumbing hiring, is going to download the copy of Avant garde Demi that has been uploaded to ‘Paul the Plumber’s server? Not many.
The question that I wanted to ask after reading a little bit about where we are now with this recent type revolution is, will we now gorge ourselves on accessible yet badly designed and utilised typography just because we can? There are obviously web-designers and even non-web designers out there with the knowledge and love of typography that will make this change in web design an exciting one. But for every skilled and knowledgeable designer out there just itching to use some uber-accessible ‘Baskerville old Face’ or some Kubrick-esque ‘Futura Extra Bold’ for that oh so punchy H1, there are a few more shall we say amateurs that will be plastering home page after home page with a healthy dose of ‘Rosewood’ or dare i say it ‘Comic… no, I won’t say it.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
Yes, I know that if the designers I have mentioned want to design in this way then they probably already have been, but my opinion is is that the opening up of accessible typography on the web to any font in existence will create web design that up until now has at least had a bit of constraint. I’m well aware that this may sound like an ungrateful rant, but just imagine all those lovely print designers that you have come across in the past (please don’t say its just me, please) that send over a beautiful Photoshop file sprinkled with some Futura light at 9pt in a delicate shade of grey. Now this has happened to me in the past, but unlike now I, at the time had the line ready and waiting….”Ah, I’m sorry but we can’t use this, you’ll need to use a WEB FONT”.
I may be wrong. I hope I’m wrong.