“Typeface connection visualization,” what exactly does that mean? Well, apparently it’s a method of displaying fonts and their connections through a series of rubber band vectors, images and links - all in a 3D space.

Created by So Won-young, TypeSQL is a fun little bit of frivolity that for some reason reminded me of the visual search engine KartOO. Here’s KartOO in action. Unfortunately, since it’s Flash-based I wasn’t able to link directly to my search results for “Extensis” but you get the general idea.

While it doesn’t contain all of the cool previewing capabilities of our font management products, it’s sure to give you a few minutes of click-and-read fun.

I’ve been talking recently about the importance of End User License Agreements (EULAs) when working with fonts and typography. I’ve heard back from a number of users who wish that these documents were more easily understood and readily available for reference.

Well, here’s the good news. While at a recent conference at Microsoft called The Business of Type, there was a definite consensus that making EULAs clear, explicit and readable was desirable. We’re not all there yet, but we’re definitely moving down the path toward transparency and a decent process.

Take for example, John Collins of MyFonts gave an interesting presentation at type conference. His company takes an open approach to license agreements.

• All licenses are publicly accessible from the MyFonts.com website.
• You are given a chance to review the EULA as you purchase fonts as well as any time after from your order history on the MyFonts.com site.
• The installer presents the license during the install process.
• Updated licenses only apply to future purchases.

The MyFonts.com model doesn’t make you jump through hoops to understand what you’re purchasing, and is fairly straightforward. This is the way that licensing should work. Yet, from what I’ve seen there are still some foundries and software companies out there need to update their licensing processes.

For example, when you install software from Extensis, you will always be presented with a copy of the EULA in the installer. And, if you can’t easily read the license in the installer window, we always install a copy of the EULA for you to print, review and keep. We will always present a copy of the EULA in our Help systems for Extensis Portfolio as well as in the forthcoming Universal Type Server product.

Since not all companies are being so open with their licenses, I would like to make a public call for all companies who make software (fonts are software after all) to handle EULA in the following manner:

1. Write EULAs in plain language, not legalese. Users want to understand these agreements - no one likes to go to court.
2. Display license agreements in as many locations as possible - on the web, in the installer, installed with the product, etc.
3. Clearly delineate EULA variations available. For example, if for an extra cost users will be allowed to transfer fonts to a printer, make the options clearly understood, even if pricing is not immediately disclosed.
4. Be reasonable. Most users want to do the right thing. If you find out about a license violation, approach the situation politely, without an immediate legal threat. Even with digital piracy rampant these days, some polite conversation goes a long way, and will more likely earn you a friend than a foe.

Is there something else that you think companies should do to make licensing easier? Let me know in the comments and I’ll send you some stuff from my pile of Extensis swag.

As always, if you ever have a question about the Extensis EULA, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our corporate sales representatives. They are happy to discuss all of your concerns.

I admit, my Mac-fu is strong. As a result I have a fair number of people ask me things because they presume I will just know. OK, usually I do, but I had to learn it someplace. Here is a list of good places to check out for support tips or just for fun bits of info:

Do you have Leopard installed on your machine? Did you know if you scratch the surface just the teeniest bit you can find all kinds of other cool stuff? Macworld has a list of 25 features that are overlooked and underrated (I’m here to tell you the sidebar saved search tidbit is phenomenal!) and easy to check out. You might just find something there that makes you even more productive!

If you have an Apple Store near you there are some tips on dealing with the people there over at Consumerist. Not that it’s a chore to go to the Apple store, but there are tips in this list from an actual Apple Specialist might come in handy (there’s some useful stuff in the comments too).

When things go south (as they do, even on a Mac), you should have some good support tips handy. MacFixIt is a great place to start-whenever I have had an issue I didn’t know how to fix I always found it there. They are also good about reporting things that are sent in by readers, and when they find out there is a fix or an update that helps resolve it they are very speedy about getting it online as well.

If everything is working and you just want to up your efficiency factor, check out 43 Folders for some excellent ideas. Merlin Mann runs this site which is a productivity site but he uses a Mac so there are lots of handy things there for you like the article about Smart Folders in Mail.app which I found immensely useful after years of using color labels for my mail.

Another good source for general tips is Apple proper. In their Support forums they have a forum titled User Tips Library which is also pretty handy and a nice way to get information straight from the source.

Now if you want to poke around a little deeper in your system, there’s a page called Secrets where you can find out how to tweak secret settings or files for your applications and unlock special features or extend current features to do new things. I have spent a lot of time here and I’m always fascinated with the stuff that pops up.

If you just want tidbits, you can get the real deal from The Apple Museum who keep a nice list of Apple facts handy. There are quizzes around the internet as well to test your own knowledge.

Should it be rumors you are in search of, Marshall Kirkpatrick created a customer search engine that crawls the usual Mac rumor sites and aggregates that information for you. Thanks Marshall! Hopefully this will SAVE me time looking for rumors on pending updates from Cupertino.

Do you have a favorite site for tech tips or rumors? I’d like to add it to my list if you have a good one. Fire away!

There is a long-running joke here at Extensis that asks, “What’s the hype with Suitcase? It turns fonts on; it turns fonts off - what’s the big deal?” That very simplicity is what makes for the best font manager. It should run seamlessly, even if those using it don’t realize what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, there are additional legal and compliance factors to consider when implementing a font management strategy that go well beyond enabling and disabling fonts, particularly in an enterprise environment.

Printing and publishing industry guru, Chuck Weger has authored an informative white paper that addresses critical issues organizations need to consider when implementing a font management strategy. The paper titled, “Compliance and Control in Font-Intensive Workflows: The case for enterprise font management” explores the issues surrounding enterprise font management from compliance to cost savings.

Weger has included some interesting stories on the real dangers of not having an enterprise font management solution:

“With good enterprise font management in place, an organization is much better prepared to deal with possible software audits. Although these audits are somewhat rare, the do occur, and when they do, they can be very expensive; for example, a UK publishing firm was recently fined £80,000 for font license violations.”

In this second outing into the conversation about font licenses (or End User License Agreements - EULAs) let’s explore another “outside the box” use that you might come across when working with fonts and typography.

So, what happens when you’ve purchased a license for a Postscript version of a font, and then your client/printer/whomever indicates that they only want you to use True Type fonts. You’ve already purchased a license for the font, so can you convert that font using a tool such as FontLab’s TransType and still stay within the terms of your license?

Believe it or not, some licenses will allow such conversions! Adobe® fonts are allowed to be converted from one format to another, even though some other foundries specifically prevent this type of data manipulation. When manipulating a font, whether to convert it’s format or to add a new glyph, the most important thing to remember is that you should never expect any technical assistance with the resultant font.

Adobe product manager for fonts and global typography, Thomas Phinney, confirmed Adobe’s position during a panel discussion at the recent Business of Type conference held at Microsoft this spring. That’s good news for those of us who have purchased an older copy of Adobe Font Folio® in Postscript and are aching for some font format flexibility. Heck, if you’ve got the cash, it’s probably best to just avoid font conversion issues and move your font collection over entirely to OpenType fonts.

Of course, if you have any questions about what you’re allowed to do within your own font licenses, be sure to consult with your legal advisers.

You see them every time you install a new product, those long documents presented in dense legalese, yes, it’s the End User License Agreement (or EULA pronounced “ewe-la”). Most of us don’t typically read them, and in many cases don’t really know to what we are agreeing when we click “Accept.” Of course, most of the time, if you use the product in the manner in which it was intended, you’re probably not going to get yourself into trouble.

Though, when you license a typeface, the ways in which you are allowed to use that typeface may be restricted in ways that are not immediately apparent. When purchasing fonts for multiple users, fonts are typically licensed on a per-user basis. This means if you have ten people in your office, and four of them will have access to and need to use the font for their job, you will need a four-user license.

Older license models may licensed fonts on a CPU or printer basis. This is from a time when fonts were commonly installed into different hardware devices, and the end user was not of great concern.

So, most of us know that it’s as wrong to give your friend a copy of Adobe Photoshop, yet often that same individual would have no qualms about giving a copy of a font. While you don’t have to enter a serial number to use a font, it’s important to understand that fonts are also pieces of software, and should never be shared.

So you ask, “Does this mean that you can transfer the fonts to my printer to complete a job?” Most likely not. Most font licenses do not provide the ability for you to transfer the font from one company to another. Typically, the printer is also responsible for purchasing a license for the font too.

If you’ve never tried your hand at font creation, it may be difficult to understand why there’s so much protection and consternation around something that “just displays letters.” Well, typically fonts are created by small teams, often one or two individuals, who work very hard for a considerable amount of time to create a typeface. To create a high-quality font, one that you would be happy to use in your projects, takes time (often many months for a single face). Good fonts will contain all of the appropriate hinting and glyphs so that the spacing between letters is always correct, the ligatures between letters connect well, and fits the intended purpose well.

In addition, some licenses prohibit the use of an isolated glyph in logos. So, for example using one large character of a specific font, say the letter “A” for an imaginary company “Aberfeldy, Inc.” could be prohibited. Especially if this letter is a very well known letterform design of that letter. This all depends upon what language is contained within the EULA, and varies from foundry to foundry.

While font foundries genuinely want you to be successful, and don’t want to unduly restrict your use, there are areas where they may have legitimate concerns. For example, say you purchase a license for a single user, but then you use that typeface to create a series of heat transfer lettering that you sell. Since you’ve just copied the uniqueness that is that font, I’m willing to bet that you’ve just violated your license. The same situation would apply if you created a set of rubber stamps each with a different character glyph. And heck, what about creating the little metal letters on the back of an automobile - Volvo, Corolla, Fiero, Festiva, etc. You can see that there are many cases where a creative project could violate your license.

I suppose that my main point here is that when in doubt, please contact the foundry. They are reasonable people and will help you understand what is permitted and what is not. And if your usage is outside of the normal range of use, many will do what they can help you be successful. For example, it may be cheaper to have a custom typeface created than to license a current font. And heck, who doesn’t want to have a font named after themselves or their company? I can see Kidwell Italic and Extensis Extra Bold in our future.

Now a final disclaimer. Please be aware that I’m not a lawyer, and don’t even play one on TV, so please do not take this as legal advice - contact your legal representation for that.

I’ll have more on font licensing in the coming weeks. The seed of these posts came from discussions surrounding John Collins’ (of MyFonts.com) presentation at The Businss of Type conference at Microsoft, spring 2008.

Brent Simmons, author of NetNewsWire, the leader (in my humble opinion) of RSS news readers on the Mac platform, posted a pretty interesting little article on two examples of what attention to detail means in Macintosh application development.

The first involves what happens to the horizontal splitter when you resize the window. Notice that the Universal Type Server Mac client does the same thing, starting with a small size:

And resized to be a larger width:

Notice the width of the workgroup/set table doesn’t change? It’s a small thing, but it just makes the application feel that much more polished.

Brent also mentions how certain applications leave the border around a table view. We don’t - notice in the image below the one pixel line separating the two tables:

This is one of the first things I changed after getting the basic bones of the window laid out. Having the table showing it’s outline was just too distracting, your eyes were immediately drawn to this weighty feeling in the middle of the application window.

I’m quite proud of this little font manager client that we’ve been building on the Macintosh - it’s almost like a child to me.

I’ve enjoyed reading the feedback from the beta users, we appreciate all the time you’ve been putting in. I might give posting a try there soon. In the mean time, I expect you’ll be getting a surprise soon that will invigorate your testing.

PS: If you can figure out why I have the first set named the way it is currently named, I’ll see if I can find a trinket in Jim’s office to send your way. I warn you, it’s complicated. Almost impossible really, you’d have to read the bug. (We have crazy good QA people here).

You might like to think that you have mad Photoshop skillz, and you might be right. Yet, at times it’s nice to be humbled at the feet of a master. Christophe Huet is one of those masters. He’s taken his skills into the world of advertising, producing some truly memorable imagery for clients such as Sony, Rossignol, Stihl, and Citroen.

Many of the surreal images on his site include a “Making Of” link where you can step through screen shots of his work in progress. If you’re a current student, or have ever just wondered “how’d they do that?” it’s definitely fun to browse through his collection.

Here’s a sample of his before and after work in an image created for a Motorola advertisement.

And now, the fully updated image, ready for placement in the ad. (Pay special attention to the model’s left arm.)

[via IO9.com]

Extensis Technical support is trying something new. We’re trying to take computers AWAY from our support technicians.

Taking a walk through your typical technical support department is usually akin to strolling through innards of a Jawa sandcrawler from Star Wars. Support technicians can have up to 3 computers at their desks, with 2 keyboards, 2 mice, one KVM and usually a rats nest of wires underneath.

Typically they’ll have a Windows XP system, an OS 10.4 system, another running OS 10.5. We have a little farm of computers that we call ‘One Back’ that run everything from OS 9.2, to Windows 2000, OSX 10.2 along with the older versions of Extensis software. While we do have supported versions of the software, often customers will call in trying to transition from old versions to the current versions, or any number of odd situations.

In an effort to try and minimize cost, clutter, hardware and energy, we’re trying a new project. We just got a new 8 core Mac Pro with 4gb of RAM. We are using one Mac Pro to do the work of 2. By using virtualization software we’re able to have essentially a Macintosh AND a PC running at the same time, with two separate monitors, two separate keyboards, two separate mice, two network interfaces but only ONE box. We also have the ability to do a ’snapshot’ of a configuration and then make the changes we need to test a customer setup, and quickly roll back to where things were before the test. As another benefit, we can even have the virtual PC and Mac environments interact, running a copy of Suitcase Server on one, and Suitcase Client on the other.

Our goal is that we can remove some of our computers that are older, minimize clutter and give technicians the ability to work faster and smarter using virtualization and this ability to quickly change between system configurations. While virtualization isn’t NEW, it is quite the trend lately. Now that hardware is fast enough, RAM is cheap enough and storage is a fraction of what it used to be, all the parts seem to be in place. If it all works out, we’ll be able to take our older Mac Mini’s and turn those into our ‘One Back’ farm in the corner of the library cube, further minimizing our footprint of hardware and energy use. It also has the benefit of having to purchase less equipment, thus reducing our operating costs.

As the Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said, sometimes “less IS more.”

I’m sure that most of you have seen that good old optical illusion that depending upon how you look at it you see either a candlestick or two faces. Since logos are typically a selection of shapes, much like the candlestick illusion, depending upon your design decisions you can inadvertently create designs that imply things that you don’t intend.

Take for example the UK’s Office of Government Commerce who recently commissioned a redesign of their OGC logo. Unfortunately, when that type-only logo is turned on its side, some have commented that it looks like a man who is, say, “enjoying a private moment.”

So, the next time that you’re working on some graphic work, be sure to turn it sideways and upside down to make sure that you’re not inadvertently making a visual blunder.

[Thanks for the heads-up Richard. Via The Register]

In my last post I mentioned that we are in beta and humming along. Now that many people are using the product, seems like a good time to share some preliminary feedback.

The feedback below is from Fabregue one of the biggest printers in France with almost $100 million in revenue and over 100 years of experience. We asked their head of technical operations, Jérôme Guillement, for his first impressions.

“My first impression of Universal Type Server was during the preview at Intergraphic. I was very enthusiastic and at that point was eager to get involved in the beta…I could tell it would enable me to dramatically simplify the management of our workstations. Moreover, the design (UI, icons and web interface) completely broke with what I knew of Extensis up to now. That indicated a major shift, not just a minor update.

“The beta has outstanding stability- as good or better than some final software products…end-user feedback has been very positive: ease of use, user-friendliness, interface… they are aware of having taken a big step forward. Feedback from administrators is similar: web interface for administration is accessible from anywhere and is beautiful, simple and clear; the ability to manage users, groups and rights is much more flexible and complete.”

I promise to share more feedback soon.

*Many thanks to Jérôme for taking the time to share his feedback, and to Jean-Michel, our country manager in France, for passing it along.

It’s Friday and somewhat sunny here in Portland (a vast improvement from what it has been), so I’ve opted to post something a  bit playful. 

Jonathon Yule, a freelance designer from Toronto, devised some very clever Font Bot characters using fonts like Futura and Helvetica.  My personal favorite is the Akzidenz Grotesk guy to the left there; what can I say, I have a thing for snail-like creatures with buck teeth.    These are very reminiscent of the Suitcase Fusion ads we created awhile back which featured people/animals made entirely of fonts.  Kelly actually did a blog post on one of these ads awhile back so look here to see the ad. 

In any case, be sure to check out Jonathon’s page to see more Font Bots.  He even has Font Bot t-shirts!

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I’ve made the trek down south from Portland this week to attend the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. While the city itself has a bounty of interesting type use, nowhere else will you see innovative uses than at a cutting edge technology conference like the Web 2.0 Expo.

For example, here is a selection of t-shirts that many companies were giving out at the show. Perhaps my favorite is the “Supergeek” t-shirt from the AOL Dev guys. This picture doesn’t do the Etelos shirt justice, it’s an incredibly bright orange color - something to go hiking in perhaps? It would definitely keep you from getting accidentally shot.

Of course, it’s not always about typography on shirts. How about some socks?

Or perhaps on a monkey?

And, many companies were just as happy to tout their wares on a more cost effective, yet often still interesting sticker. (The long skinny one at the bottom is actually not a sticker, but a temporary tattoo.)

While I admit that not every one of these is incredibly thrilling, I actually like the extensive use of some decent sans-serif fonts. It’s no longer just Times Roman, Comic Sans and Helvetica these days.

I am a HUGE music geek so I have seen that logo over there in loads of versions-not just in previous incarnations as it has evolved over the years, but also in different colors, behind people, over people, it’s been played with quite a bit. But it always looks like Rolling Stone, and it has for more than a thousand issues over the last forty years. It turns out there’s a reason, and it is Jim Parkinson.

MyFonts.com has a monthly newsletter called Creative Characters where they interview interesting “type” folks. You can suggest people to them and subscribe to get the newsletter each month, if you so desire. Somehow I missed out on April until just this week. I cant imagine how, but it’s a really interesting read. Aside from Rolling Stone, Jim has done work for Hallmark, Esquire, and Newsweek, so even if you don’t read RS you have likely seen his work someplace.

What I liked in reading about this was finding out his process and understanding designing with type a little more-you never (ok, maybe you did, but *I* never) thought about the word “Newsweek” at the top of the cover each week as design, let alone as type design. Plus I love hearing about process when people create things, and seeing a bit of how he gets things started and having some insight into how things really get going is endlessly fascinating.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m finding that working at Extensis has made me a LOT more aware of type and how it’s used, and I’m finding all kinds of examples. It’s sort of a case of “blue car syndrome” (you start noticing blue cars and suddenly they are everywhere) but also an extension of spending all the livelong day surrounded by fonts, since my job includes supporting a font manager (and no I don’t mean my boss!).

Where have you noticed type for the first time lately? If you can’t remember, take a good look around today and come back and tell me tomorrow. Go ahead! I’ll check back and if you all have interesting things to report I will tell everyone about it next week!

For those of you living up North with an interest in font management, Extensis is coming!

Extensis product marketing manager extraordinaire, Cindy Valladares, is making the trek to Toronto next week to present two font management sessions. First, Cindy will preview the much-anticipated Universal Type Server on Tuesday April 29th at Carbon Computing. The following day she will present a font management best practices in OS X session at the InDesign Conference/Creative Suite Conference.

If you are interested in additional details, check out our press release here.

I’m in San Francisco for a conference and while strolling down market street, it struck me that in a great city like this one is always surrounded by typography - both good and well, not so good. Here are a number of samples that I discovered while walking down seven blocks of Market Street - with no judgments whatsoever.

Our lounge is ready for it’s close up. Yup, the Financial Times covered the Extensis Lounge in a story about the spaces that companies make available to their employees.

Check it out.

Typically our lounge is used when people want a few minutes away from their desk to relax. And while it’s a tempting destination to to spend the entire day, it’s typically used for birthday parties, employment anniversary parties, and as a place to wind down at the end of a long day. Heck, and with our current push to create the best server-based font management product, we don’t have much time to chill anyway!

Now if only I were a more skilled foosball player.

Seems like everyone around here is talking about our forthcoming product release that’s sure to take the font management world by storm, Universal Type Server. We’re all very excited, and since we’re not able to talk to each and every one of you out there, I thought that we should bring some of our crew to you. I recently was able to pry one of the talented software engineers away from his bug fixing duties to chat for a few minutes about software development, Universal Type Server, and how all things engineering are put together at Extensis.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with us Lucien!

So, you’re a professional in your field. You do what you do best, whatever that may be. Well, what happens when you decide to strike out in a new direction and try something new. Due to the initial upfront costs, it can often be difficult to get break into certain fields. At one time, self publishing books was definitely a field that was difficult to enter - and even more difficult if you wanted to publish a book with four color images.

In the past year, a number of print-on-demand internet companies have sprouted up to make it easy for you to put together a book with some pretty decent production quality. Heck, I got married this past year and every photographer with whom we met offered packages that contained a custom book of wedding imagery.

Blurb.com gives users the ability to quickly put together a book of photography, artwork and text - all for some pretty darn reasonable prices. Since typically with printing the cost-per-piece goes down the more items you print, the fact that they can get you a single 100 page hardcover book for less than $30 is downright amazing.

You can even start off your own career by offering your book to others for purchase. There’s already a fairly decent sized catalog that contains books on everything from Soviet architecture to motorcycle racing and a rather interesting one about an “Urban Gnome.”

In need of a little creative recharge? A little prod in the backside? A little more carrot than stick? A bit of new scenery? Perhaps a trip out of town would be just the spark that you need to get back up and running again!

For that need, might I recommend that you join us at the 2008 HOW Design Conference in Boston. With sessions on everything from pitching your creative ideas to typographic tips, there’s surely something that will get you going.

We’ll be at the conference showing off our products and talking about everything related to font management and digital asset management, so if you’re there, please be sure to stop by the Extensis booth and say hello!

The Full Scoop™:

• What:  HOW Design Conference
• Where: Boston, Mass
• When: May 18-21, 2008
• Why: Because you need it, you know you do.
• How: heh, HOW.