A common scenario when working with a small business, is to begin with their immediate design needs: a logo, establish brand guidelines, and then design their foremost marketing need at the time, whether that be a company brochure, a web site, or perhaps product packaging. After the initial push is complete, it is at this time to evaluate the budget and priorities for future projects.
In evaluating future marketing needs, a client may want to move some projects internally to save on costs. This is perfectly logical. I respect the fact that people have limited budgets and can’t always hire me to do all of their marketing materials. Frequently this is solved by me setting up a design template for an internal non-design person to follow. I’m a stickler on brand consistency, so by first having the initial sovereignty over the design template, and then hand it off to the client for internal use, assures brand guides are implemented properly. Examples of templates for internally produced collateral would be: a newsletter, an e-newsletter, or a product handout for a the sales team. In addition to actual templates, I frequently I create a mini brand guide for the internal non-designers to have some sort of guidelines to follow to help keep the branding consistent and not go off course.
With the choice to save money and bring jobs internally, clients often are unaware that there are certain aspects of overhead costs that come with creating a “design station” in-house. It’s obvious to most clients that they need a computer and the proper design software to create the documents internally, but the most commonly overlooked item is the need to purchase fonts. To keep the brand consistent, using the typeface(s) chosen for company identity is a critical prerequisite. If not discussed and planned for in the design phase, it is at this moment that a client often becomes surprised at the cost of purchasing fonts for internal use and their need to licenses fonts on their operating system. For small companies already on a tight budget, this can come as a surprise.
When building a project budget, the purchasing of fonts should be part of the design budget. Ideally this includes all immediate and future licenses that will be needed; for the design studio as well as for a future in-house design station. Mid-to-larger size companies might want to create multiple in-house design stations, therefore needing to plan for licenses for each desired station.
Setting aside a budget for purchasing fonts is often either left out or not understood by the client. For non-designers, typefaces are so transcendental that they really don’t understand what they are paying for. And to make things even more confusing, fonts vary in price so greatly, it’s difficult to quickly educate a client on the difference between a good typeface and a bad typeface, why one font costs more than another, and why it should possibly be worth their budget to invest in a good typeface.
Not all, but some people have a misconception that all fonts are free. I’m sure this stems from the fact that there are system fonts pre-installed on computers, and many don’t realize that these fonts are pre-licensed for the computer operation system. A lot of clients don’t realize that when designing a logo and identity the designer has to either already own the font, or needs to purchase the font specifically for the design project.
The first thing to understand is that typefaces are intellectual property. Like any artists creative work, typefaces are works of art, they just happen to be extremely utilitarian. In our digital world, typefaces are ever-present and fonts are easily shared among computer users. Because of the use of sharing of fonts is so easy, the moral issues of font use are often overlooked or unknown. The time and creativity of the typographer has value. Basically, making sure you pay for a font is honoring the typographer, both legally and ethically, not to mention creatively.
Establishing a font budget in the beginning, as part of the logo and branding creation, will help the designer set parameters on what fonts are on the list for possible branding solutions. The font budget all depends on long term needs, and this will need to be addressed with each business individually. If a business has basic necessities of a logo, simple stationery, and a web presence, then the font budget can be humble. If the need of marketing materials encompasses product handouts, packaging, trade show and exhibit applications, all of these future needs need to be taken into account when developing type choices within the brand.
There are well designed fonts and poorly designed fonts out there, and putting an investment for a well designed full-functioning font for your branding will pay off in the long run. The absolute low-budget solution would be to use a font that came pre-licensed for your use on your computer, as you already have the authorization to use it. But do you really want to chose a font that everyone else could be using? The importance of creating your companies unique personality in the marketplace is so important and by using a font implemented to be uniquely your own can help achieve this.
If a business has no intent on bringing some of the creative services in-house, then the font budget can be simplified and limited to the licensing needs of a design agency performing the creative services. But this crucial aspect of brand development needs to be part of the budget in the beginning. It will greatly expanded design solution options in the brand development, therefore a more solid brand presence, and a eventually a better product for future marketing.
