Inspiring

Answered

Font Bureau Fonts Being Retired—Awesome!

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
April 29, 2020
8 replies
235983 views

Look, there are much more important things going on in the world but this whole practice of Adobe Fonts euphemistically “retiring” entire libraries of fonts is absolutely ridiculous. This practice destroys whatever implied reliability this service may have had. The Font Bureau library specifically added a ton of value and removing it severely undermines this.

I totally get that relationships and contracts with third parties can change, but Adobe should not make the customers suffer for their inability to support the platforms they create. I don't know what the answer is here, but I know the current arrangement ain’t it.

Correct answer Dov Isaacs

There is no question that the so-called “retirement” of fonts from the Adobe Fonts service is a major inconvenience to our customers who designed content using those fonts.

Some points to consider:

(1) Any “kits” for web page use that are currently active for a particular account using those “retired” fonts will still be available for the accounts that created and still use them.

(2) The good news is that these fonts are available from the source font foundries directly and as mentioned in this thread, some discounts are being offered by those font foundries for a limited time, at least for desktop usage.

(3) It was not Adobe's decision to no longer offer those fonts. Within Adobe, there was and still is great angst about this situation. The type foundries in question made their own business decision to no longer offer their fonts via the Adobe Fonts service, presumably believing that they could increase their own revenue by only offering them via direct licensing and with a different business model and licensing terms than was available via the Adobe Fonts service. For better or worse, Adobe has no way of forcing a type foundry to indefinitely continue to participate in the Adobe Fonts service.

(4) Adobe didn't delay notification of the end of availability of the fonts in question. Notification to affected customers could/should have been better and preferably personalized, but Adobe wasn't trying to hide anything here.

From a personal point of view, I too would be very disappointed if I chose a one or more fonts or font families from Adobe Fonts for use as standard fonts for my traditional publishing and my web pages and that were later no longer available via that service. On the other hand, and again this is my personal perspective, if I or an organization I represented were to depend that much on said fonts for a longer term, I would pretty much consider the Adobe Fonts service not only as a great, no additional cost tryout medium, but also as a prelude to getting a perpetual license directly from the foundry to avoid unavailability in the future.

S

simon akimoto

Participant

Agreed. I think this is unacceptable tbh! I'm using the Poynter Display font for a book which is still in the works. No notification whatsoever on why this font suddenly isn't available anymore. How do I explain this to our client? Would love to hear how I could tackle this, or if someone has a suggestion for a comparable font!

ericgordonAuthor

Inspiring

Freight will get you in the neighborhood.

https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/freight

S

simon akimoto

Participant

Thanks Eric, that's the one I found to be the most fitting alternative as well.

AnnikaE360

Participating Frequently

Okay. So I didn't get a warning email. Perhaps because I'm not subscribed. Either way, I deem this a fail on Adobe's communication surrounding this issue.

The font we were using on DOZENS of package designs for a very large client just simply disappeard today... with no warning... at the 11th hour, as we're getting ready to go to press. I got on a 'support' chat with Adobe and was greeted by the most unhelpful, unapologetic and downright rude person I've ever dealt with.

I'd like to know what plans are in place to future proof this type of situation. This is not okay. I understand that if some partnerships dissolve, it's out of Adobe's hands, but there's gotta be some sort of management in place for this. It's like the rug was pulled out from underneath us with ZERO accountablity.

Dov IsaacsCorrect answer

Legend

There is no question that the so-called “retirement” of fonts from the Adobe Fonts service is a major inconvenience to our customers who designed content using those fonts.

Some points to consider:

(1) Any “kits” for web page use that are currently active for a particular account using those “retired” fonts will still be available for the accounts that created and still use them.

(2) The good news is that these fonts are available from the source font foundries directly and as mentioned in this thread, some discounts are being offered by those font foundries for a limited time, at least for desktop usage.

(3) It was not Adobe's decision to no longer offer those fonts. Within Adobe, there was and still is great angst about this situation. The type foundries in question made their own business decision to no longer offer their fonts via the Adobe Fonts service, presumably believing that they could increase their own revenue by only offering them via direct licensing and with a different business model and licensing terms than was available via the Adobe Fonts service. For better or worse, Adobe has no way of forcing a type foundry to indefinitely continue to participate in the Adobe Fonts service.

(4) Adobe didn't delay notification of the end of availability of the fonts in question. Notification to affected customers could/should have been better and preferably personalized, but Adobe wasn't trying to hide anything here.

From a personal point of view, I too would be very disappointed if I chose a one or more fonts or font families from Adobe Fonts for use as standard fonts for my traditional publishing and my web pages and that were later no longer available via that service. On the other hand, and again this is my personal perspective, if I or an organization I represented were to depend that much on said fonts for a longer term, I would pretty much consider the Adobe Fonts service not only as a great, no additional cost tryout medium, but also as a prelude to getting a perpetual license directly from the foundry to avoid unavailability in the future.

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

ericgordonAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for the candid response, Dov. Not long after my initial post, I learned that the foundries decided to pull their faces from Adobe Fonts for the reasons you outlined here. I get it. It sucks, but I get it.

Adobe dropped the ball on two fronts:

First, the initial messaging about the dropped libraries was vague and sugar-coated. Not that it should have engaged in finger-pointing/sh*t-flinging, but a more transparent explanation of the foundries’ rationale for pulling their libraries would have prevented a lot of the initial fuss. A joint statement from both Font Bureau and Adobe Fonts would have gone a long way.

Secondly, and more fundamentally, is the unsteady ground upon which Adobe Fonts is built. Services carry the expectation of reliability. If there’s no guarantee that typeface you use today will be there tomorrow, I sure as hell wouldn’t describe the service as “reliable.”

Adobe Fonts is marketed as “quality fonts at your fingertips” and not as a “tryout medium.” If AF can’t negotiate fair deals with foundries to ensure their perpetual availability, then the messaging absolutely needs to reflect that.

Thanks for listening.

E

edgara76134161

Participant

This is really annoying. I am using a font from FontBureau on a project during this year. I had made several publications and there are more on the way. So, to get the font I need to pay extra money to buy it from FontBureau. This is not acceptable at all. If I knew this in advance I won´t pick a font from FontBureau. They should extend the remaining period for using those fonts.
Giving a discount to pay the fonts is not the answer!
Also, I don´t get a way to make my complaint!
Adobe, please, review you way of working!

philipn50745170

Participant

Yes, the remaining Frere-Jones Type selections are not helpful. I keep researching replacements for editorial body text fonts that we’re losing. Type it into Adobe Fonts: zero results. Type it into Font Bureau, and it's one after another: Benton, Bureau, Farnham, Franklin, Poynter ....

danitosan

Inspiring

Today I'm saddly surprised by this news. Tomorrow I'll be furious.

Because I just don't know in how many projects I'm currenlty using a Font Bureau font, I love their fonts. And I know that tomorrow, or next month, a client will ask me for a new design based on the last one we did and I don't what I'm gonna do.

Doing this is a horrible move by Adobe, not their first one. And I won't forget it next year when my suscription will be renewed.

kpossibles

Known Participant

FYI I heard that Font Bureau is offering a 40% sale with code TYPEGOESON.
I'm not sure how long it will last though.

philipn50745170

Participant

TYPEGOESON code at FontBureau.TypeNetwork.com is working as of June 9.

kpossibles

Known Participant

I actually have several fonts from them activated, but Adobe never sent me an email update about those fonts getting removed... I had to hear it from another person that I knew. Only a tiny portion of their fonts will still be available: https://fonts.adobe.com/foundries/frere-jones-type

R

russellf14597285

Participant

Let's just bump this back up to the top of the forum, shall we.

Reminder, Adobe: this is an unamanageable situation for business users and people working in branding. If fonts are gonna be removed, we need proactive notification much further in advance than you're currently providing.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded