By Sebastien Hayez. Published June 27, 2023
License?
Font license
Typeface licenses are rarely explained to students or employees of design agencies. Just like the administrative aspect, licenses correspond to the legal aspect of the profession, and designers often prefer to look the other way, claiming they don't understand anything about it. And yet, ignoring the law is never a good idea, especially if you're practicing what the law forbids.
Licenses at most foundries
A license is a right granted by a creator to a person in compliance with a commitment. In this respect, a license is validated by a contract. When you buy a typeface, you're not buying a creation, but the right to use that creation within a certain framework: graphic design.
For example, it is usually forbidden to
- Modify the font (this is intellectual property);
- Resell it (the license is non-transferable)
- Distribute it free of charge. If you pass on a font to a friend, colleague or printer and it ends up being used for another project, you risk being convicted of recele.
At Blaze Type
We see things differently: the user is a responsible individual, and surveillance is a utopian threat in an international, capitalist and constantly evolving market.
At Blaze Type, 2 kind of licenses with two "addons" are available:
Licenses:
1. Student & Academics (Get the rights to use the fonts at a 80% discount for personal / commercial projects). The rights to use the fonts extend after the end of one's studies and are validated as a "Freelance" License and might be updated to a Company sized license depending on your activity's growth.
2. Company: starting from Freelance to Unlimited. If you plan on using the fonts on anything related to social media, know that the Social Media for up to 10K followers across platforms is included for free. (Make sure you don't need an upgrade here depending on how your followers base evolve)
Addons:
3. Social Media (with the possibility to pick the right amount of Followers —across all social media platforms combined— starting from 10K Followers to Unlimited): grants you a licensing right to use the fonts on anything related to Social Media communication.
4. Logo: whether or not the font is to be used as part of a brand identity or as a logo
As a result, choices are limited, and updates to your business information are the only exceptions:
- After you're no longer a student, the license turns to a "Freelance" one automaticcaly
- If the company using the font grows in size you can upgrade the amount of employees
- When the social networks concerned exceed 10K followers
So there are no restrictions in terms of sector of activity, usage or number of CPUs, or the number of Users. Our fonts are updated frequently and free of yearly charge.
A whole chapter is dedicated to Licensing model in our recent book How to design fonts?
For more information about our licenses, please visit: