Where to Get Fonts: Google Fonts vs. Adobe Fonts
So, you need a font. Maybe you are a designer or a creative or small business.
But where should you get your font?
There are several options available, including online marketplaces, foundries, Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts, type designers, and free websites like 1001 Fonts.
However, here's the catch: just because you can access them doesn't mean you should. Why? Well, there are a couple of key things to consider when choosing a font, and licensing is a big one. For those who don't deal with design on a daily basis, licensing may not even be a consideration. But the reality is that as tempting as a free fonts from websites like 1001 Fonts may be, it could come with a whole list of issues. It's important to be cautious when using free fonts, as licensing terms and quality can vary. The one exception being Google Fonts.
When I build brands, I usually choose between two options that tend to be the simplest for most brands and designers: Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts.
When deciding between Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts, here are five things I consider when choosing where to get a font:
Accessibility and Availability:
Google Fonts are freely available to anyone with internet access, making them a versatile choice for broader audiences.
Adobe Fonts may be more suitable for projects within the Adobe ecosystem, but if you're uncertain about your audience, Google Fonts provide broader accessibility.
Licensing:
Google Fonts: Google Fonts are open-source and free to use for both personal and commercial projects. They have a very permissive open-source license that allows you to use them on your website without any licensing fees.
Adobe Fonts: Adobe Fonts requires a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud or Adobe Fonts (formerly Adobe Typekit). While many fonts are available at no additional cost with a Creative Cloud subscription, some premium fonts may incur additional licensing fees.
Font Selection:
Google Fonts: Google Fonts offers a diverse selection of web fonts, but the library may not be as extensive or specialized as Adobe Fonts.
Adobe Fonts: Adobe Fonts provides access to a broader and more professional selection of fonts, including many popular typefaces from reputable foundries and designers.
Technical Integration:
Google Fonts: Integrating Google Fonts into a website is relatively straightforward. You can use the fonts by including a link to Google's hosted font files in your HTML or by downloading and hosting them on your server.
Adobe Fonts: Integrating Adobe Fonts into a website typically involves including a JavaScript snippet provided by Adobe. It's generally straightforward but may require additional steps compared to Google Fonts. I still consider this simple, as Adobe gives copy-and-paste code, you just need to know where to place it in your website.
Collaboration and Teamwork:
If you're working in a team or agency, consider the ease of collaboration. Adobe Fonts is integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud, making it convenient for design and development teams.
Now do I have an opinion or preference? I generally am team Adobe Fonts for these reasons:
Depth of options
Quality of options
A website that makes searching, exploring, and inspiration a breeze
One button access to fonts, no downloading and installing
If working with another designer or creative I know they will also have access
Access to Foundry fonts
And here is why I still sometimes opt for Google Fonts for clients:
Licensing, I may not always know how they plan to use the fonts and don’t want them to have issue.
Their team may not have access to Adobe or the same programs that I do.
Bottom line? Your choice between Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts should depend on your project's needs, budget, licensing considerations, and the aesthetic and functional requirements of your design. It's also possible to use both in different situations, as long as you comply with licensing terms and consider performance implications.
Font Ideas from Adobe
Cartograph CF
Designed by Connary Fagen. From Connary Fagen.
Dair
Designed by Nick Shinn. From Shinntype.
A meticulous restoration of the first Canadian-designed roman typeface, which was completed by Carl Dair in 1967 and named after 16th century explorer Jacques Cartier. The typeface is characterized by ascenders which tower dramatically above the capitals, by condensed italic minuscules inclined at a mere 6 degrees—and by its profound empathy for the core principles of the roman type form, originating over 500 years ago.
Inge Variable
From Fer Cozzi.
Inge is a tight display font with a strong sense of rhythm and a very solid texture. The narrow shapes on it make Inge very suitable to be used on large scales, creating robust solid text blocks. The side-to-side movement are a hint that something is accelerating, without losing strength and control. It is a single weight typeface. But it’s a perfect balance between acceleration and strength gives Inge a unique and pure endurance. Inge is named after Inge Lehmann, a Danish seismologist and geophysicist who discovered that the Earth has a solid inner core inside a molten outer core. She lived over 104 years.
Meursault Variable
Designed by Gunnar Vilhjálmsson , Kalapi Gajjar, Paul Sturm, and Tabea Ott. From Universal Thirst.
Meursault is a graceful headline typeface based on a popular 20th-century style, but with a few quirky twists. It’s a typeface that echoes a design used widely in the early 20th century, born from the burgeoning Arts and Crafts movement.
Meursault was originally designed for The Gourmand, and is intended as a display typeface for use in headlines and subheadings in magazines and newspapers.
Font Ideas from Google Fonts
Crimson Text
Designed by Sebastian Kosch
Crimson Text is a font family for book production in the tradition of beautiful oldstyle typefaces.
There are a lot of great free fonts around, but one kind is missing: those Garamond-inspired types with all the little niceties like oldstyle figures, small caps, fleurons, math characters and the like. In fact, a lot of time is spent developing free knock-offs of ugly "standards" like Times and Helvetica.
Crimson Text is inspired by the fantastic work of people like Jan Tschichold, Robert Slimbach and Jonathan Hoefler.
Lora
Designed by Cyreal
Lora is a well-balanced contemporary serif with roots in calligraphy. It is a text typeface with moderate contrast well suited for body text.
A paragraph set in Lora will make a memorable appearance because of its brushed curves in contrast with driving serifs. The overall typographic voice of Lora perfectly conveys the mood of a modern-day story, or an art essay.
Technically Lora is optimised for screen appearance, and works equally well in print.
Quattrocento
Designed by Impallari Type
The Quattrocento Roman typeface is a Classic, Elegant, Sober and Strong typeface.
Their wide and open letterforms, and the great x-height, make it very legible for body text at small sizes. And their tiny details that only shows up at bigger sizes make it also great for display use.
Work Sans
Designed by Wei Huang
Work Sans is a typeface family based loosely on early Grotesques, such as those by Stephenson Blake, Miller & Richard and Bauerschen Giesserei. The Regular weight and others in the middle of the family are optimised for on-screen text usage at medium-sizes (14px-48px) and can also be used in print design. The fonts closer to the extreme weights are designed more for display use both on the web and in print. Overall, features are simplified and optimised for screen resolutions; for example, diacritic marks are larger than how they would be in print. A version optimised for desktop applications is available from the Work Sans github project page.
The Work Sans project is led by Wei Huang, a type designer from Australia. To contribute, see github.com/weiweihuanghuang/Work-Sans