Sta.sh
Celebrating Deviousness December 2012
The Resource & Stock Images > Fonts gallery has been relaunched!
Now, without going into much detail, it used to be subpar. The category names were unprofessional and confusing, leading to frustrating search results and many many miscats.
Over the last month there has been a lot of work put into changing this status.
So first of all I’d like to thank ^Elandria and `Dan-Heffer who were very much in favor of the change and supported me in my endeavours to come up with a good gallery tree, despite being no experts on the topic of fonts, but giving me an outsiders input
Naturally I have to thank $Moonbeam13 as well, as she supported the idea as well and made the change possible eventually.
A very special thanks also goes to *MartinSilvertant who had a major input in the gallery tree as an experienced font designer and typography lover. He takes big credit in the final category set up and please go and thank him for his immense support! [Edit] Also thanks to ~brianskywalker who supported and helped *MartinSilvertant in the cause
Apart from *MartinSilvertants awesome help, I also did my research on many other sites, such as, naturally, but not exclusively, Wikipedia and font shops, such as FontShop, Linotype or MyFonts. Obviously not purely free font sites like dafont or fontsquirrel as they have a pretty unprofessional approach.
If you are a type designer and you are reading this journal:
And if I am already here, I thought it is a good point for a…
Over the last month there has been a lot of work put into changing this status.
So first of all I’d like to thank ^Elandria and `Dan-Heffer who were very much in favor of the change and supported me in my endeavours to come up with a good gallery tree, despite being no experts on the topic of fonts, but giving me an outsiders input
Naturally I have to thank $Moonbeam13 as well, as she supported the idea as well and made the change possible eventually.
A very special thanks also goes to *MartinSilvertant who had a major input in the gallery tree as an experienced font designer and typography lover. He takes big credit in the final category set up and please go and thank him for his immense support! [Edit] Also thanks to ~brianskywalker who supported and helped *MartinSilvertant in the cause
Apart from *MartinSilvertants awesome help, I also did my research on many other sites, such as, naturally, but not exclusively, Wikipedia and font shops, such as FontShop, Linotype or MyFonts. Obviously not purely free font sites like dafont or fontsquirrel as they have a pretty unprofessional approach.
The new Gallery Tree
You will find a much more professional terminology in this new order. Some terms may appear strange at first sight, but provide dA with a focus on quality on font submissions. Not ever category has sub-categories, they might be added as the need occurs. We also tried to take into consideration not the many typefaces that already exist, but the ones that are created at the moment.
- Blackletter
Script based typefaces, also known as Gothic script, Fraktur, Old English, Gothic minuscule, or Textura. - Chirographic
Typefaces derived from calligraphy, penmanship and handwriting.- Calligraphic
Typefaces created by using calligraphic pens or brushes. - Chancery
Hand written Serif fonts. - Handwritten
Typefaces that give the impression of being written by hand. They mimic day-to-day writings, that can be achieved with a variety of pens and tools. Very often they display the actual hand-writing of the designer. - Other
Typefaces created with paint or ink by using unusual tools. Anything that cannot be categorized to other Chirographic categories. - Script
Elegant writing forms, giving the appearance of being written with a nib pen. They often contain swashes and various ligatures.
- Calligraphic
- Miscellaneous
Typefaces that do not fit into the traditional classifications. They can be based on existing typefaces as well as being created from scratch. Their character can be described as decorative or illustrative.
Examples of such kind of fonts are: Dingbat (Typefaces which do not display letters, but symbols.), Decorative (Typefaces which have graphic effects applied to them. Very often they appear eroded or distorted. They can be decorated with non-typographic visual elements as well.) or Display (Typefaces that work best in big font sizes and are meant to be attention catching. They are hard to read in small sizes and therefore not used for copy texts. Usually they can only be used in a certain setting, such as a grunge layout.) - Non-Western
Typefaces created for non-western writing systems. We tried to list the most common ones and add the option of "Other" to have a place for less common writing systems.- Arabic
- Chinese
- Cyrillic
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Japanese
- Other
- Pixel
Typefaces based on Pixel Art. They are set to be used in a certain, predefined size, in which they have best readability and are displayed without distortion. - Sans Serif
Sans-Serif fonts are fonts without the base line protruding from key points on a letter. 'Arial' is an example of a Sans-Serif font.- Geometric
Constructed from geometric shapes, such as circles, triangles or straight lines. These Typefaces display little to none contrast between stroke directions, thus having no clearly visible axis and appearing rather mechanical almost mathematical. - Grotesque
Grotesque Typefaces have less of a calligraphic influence, displaying a low stroke contrast. Their appearance can be described as robust and constructed. - Humanist
These Sans Serif Typefaces have been developed under calligraphic influence, thus showing a moderate to high contrast betweem strokes and may even contain the suggestion of Serifs.
- Geometric
- Serif
Serif fonts are fonts with lines protruding at the key points of a letter. 'Times New Roman' is an example of a Serif font.- Garalde
The garaldes have finer proportions than the humanists, and a stronger contrast between downstroke and upstroke. The weight of the garaldes are distributed according to an oblique axis. - Glyphic
High contrast between strokes using mostly unbracketed, technical serifs on a vertical axis. - Humanist
These are the most calligraphic of the sans-serif typefaces, with some variation in line width and more legibility than other sans-serif fonts. - Modern
Serif fonts are fonts with lines protruding at the key points of a letter. 'Times New Roman' is an example of a Serif font. - Transitional
The transitional, realist or réales are the typical typefaces of the traditional period.
- Garalde
- Slab Serif
Typefaces with rectangular and very often strong serifs.
If you are a type designer and you are reading this journal:
Please move your fonts to the proper gallery yourself!
I will move these freshly occurred miscast myself, up to a certain point. I cannot do it allBut I will try my best to fight for a clean gallery.
And if I am already here, I thought it is a good point for a…
Reminder about Copyright
This is deviantART. Some people may not see Stock & Resources as art, however they do have their rightful place on this site. And most people I know are thankful for having them at hand so easily!
BUT, big but, only if the person who uploads the material actually created it.
When it comes to fonts free /= free. You may be free to use a font, but that does not mean you are free to distribute the font. This is the case for a font you do find on a site full of free fonts or actually on your own PC.
Do not upload a font to the Stock & Rescources gallery, if…
BUT, big but, only if the person who uploads the material actually created it.
When it comes to fonts free /= free. You may be free to use a font, but that does not mean you are free to distribute the font. This is the case for a font you do find on a site full of free fonts or actually on your own PC.
Do not upload a font to the Stock & Rescources gallery, if…
- the font came with your operating system! The creator of that system paid the people who created the font so they could use them in their system. (Fine example: Microsoft had Arial created because they were not willing to pay the license for Helvetica.) In anyway you do NOT own the font, you are simply granted the right to use it.
- you purchased the font! I guess this is a unlikely scenario, but I thought it should be mentioned. If someone offers a font for sale, they don’t want their buyers to give it away for free later.
- the license the font comes with does not allow for distribution! If you download a font file it usually comes with a read-me-file or a link to the license. If it says that the file should not be shared, don’t upload it.
I personally see dA as a site for sharing YOUR OWN creations with the rest of the world. So, this is more a call to your honor! This is NOT a site for sharing what you like! For cases like that there is pinterest and tumblr and whatnotelse. Everybody who uses deviantART to simply show work made by others is wrong here, in my honest opinion.
TL;DR
- New Font Gallery Structure
- Blackletter, Chirographic, Miscellaneous , Non-Western, Sans Serif, Serif & Slab Serif
- Only upload font files that you created yourself!! Pay attention to Copyright!!!!
- Move your own submissions to help make this gallery clean and useful
As you can read in my Daily Deviation Guidelines I accept Daily Deviation Suggestions for Fonts.
So keep an eye out for awesome and original fonts and I may just feature them 
Groups for fonts
I hope these changes will be easy to understand. If you have any question or concern, please let me or $Moonbeam13 know. You can comment or send me a note, which way you prefer
This has been a big project and huge change, so there is always room for more change and edits. This is also not some sort of "ultimate font category truth" as I personally think there is none I believe this new system will make it easier for type designers and type lovers to appreciate the craft and art of typedesign 
I believe this new system will make it easier for type designers and type lovers to appreciate the craft and art of typedesign Please help spread the word about these changes!
Fave and comment on this article, if you can spare the time and help to promote this article to as many deviants as possible. We need your help to make this gallery as awesome as possible!
I hope this will also inspire more people to create their own fonts! I am already inspired myself 
Thank you! 
Thank you 
Most typographers don't have their work on deviantART. Heck, some are DEAD so they can't claim.
I report stolen fonts regularly, it's generally these "celebrity-blend" type of people, who are still infringing copyright, in different categories, but that is another story. I'm afraid deviantART might dismiss my reports on grounds that I'm not the copyright holder. But the typographers' work MUST be protected!
Just take a look at this:
[link]
Many of these are reposts of the same. The deviant has an account but she's no longer active :/ I've had deviants go as far as say that they do not care about what this designer thinks. They will STILL resubmit the fonts, claiming a link to dafont.com is more than enough and it makes it automatically valid.
That being said, I'm delighted that a community volunteer values the effort of typographers, expressing that submitting fonts that are not yours is wrong.
This should stop.
Stolen artwork has to be reported (via the report button next to every deviation), as of now, it is preferred if the original artist files that report. Given with fonts I don't think we would get any of those font creators to report them on dA
I wish people would appreciate the work that goes into creating a font more. Unfortunately that's not the case with many (especially young) people or those who have no idea about graphic design
You can find more qualified explanation here [link] or generally in the journals of #communityops
oh well. I'm pleased to see this area improve! Thanks!
I think it has become a custom over time to see them as own "category". Since even the first font ever was a Blackletter
While those fonts were based on the medieval calligraphy, most chirographic fonts appear to be based on Roman type fonts, or at least the Roman alphabet. Well, even those are based on script. I read that the one's we know as carved into stone were always drawn with a brush first, and then chiseled. The brush is also supposed to be responsible for the typical serifs.
There are so many connections, I love it and it's always exciting
I was actually considering to leave Blackletter out… considering not many people create them nowadays and thats what the gallery is also supposed to show.
Thank you for your input
The only font I have here is actually decorative historical and so gets to stay in Misc.
Blackletter, gothic or Textura writing grew out of the Roman alphabet too, and of course they're pretty popular on DeviantArt because of the religious and heavy metal and historical associations.
The way to get visual-minded people to put fonts in the right categories is probably with pictures in the gallery descriptions. The distinction between a Geralde and a Venetian is pretty small to most people, smaller than the distinction between a sans pedare textura and a fraktur blackletter font. but we'll see.
Ah yes, I think I was misleaded by some old German Frakturas I had in mind, which contain some non-Roman glyphs. Or just old glyphs, that are not used anymore. But yeah, they are derived from those too. I guess, I was influenced by type foundries, who seperate between Blackletter and Chirographic fonts. And you are the first one to bring that up
Images would be good
At first I only wanted to work with main categories, seeing that a lot of type foundries do not really go into more detail, too. But then it seemed more appraopiate, also after getting feedback from type designers, that more precision would be good.
It's like having a Photograph top-level category and also a Macro one even though macro photography is also photogrpahy.
Anyhow, enough arguing from me, it's done now, and I'm pleased to see improvements.
Please do consider adding dingbat or symbol or clip-art fonts separately though, and maybe also font collections (with a stern note that must have permission to redistribute the fonts).
With kind regards,
Liam
Now that you say it… there was a Dingbat category in the first drafts of the new categorization. Somehow they got moved to "Miscellaneous" to slim down the amount of "top level" categories. It may be a step to add them again
Yeah, at the moment most font packs I came across on dA consist of all the fonts a user found on their system. Which obviously means they have no right to redistribute those.
[link]
added to Blackletter today.
Having a symbol or dingbat top-level category would help stop things like [link]
Probably renaming Miscellaneous to Anything Else so it lists first would help, as a lot of people, especially non-English speakers, just click the first in the list.
I doubt that more than 5% of DA users would be comfortable with a jargon word like Chirographic - "Based on any historically-evolved writing system rather than inscriptional or invented" would be clearer (but would make it obvious it's not the right term...).
But if we can get pictures in there, it'll really help.
Even better would be to improve the search function, especially since e.g. "Gothic" is used for blackletter but also for sans-serif fonts - because Benton thought they were as ugly as European cathedrals! I don't know what the pay-off for da would be for improving the fonts section though. A possibility might be to allow fonts for sale, or for paid members to use DA-hosted Web fonts in their journals and/or literature. Distinguishing between an actual font, a picture of a typeface, and an example of using a font, would be awesome and maybe could be done as bottom-level subcategories based on whether there's a file to download.
Sorry, long answer. *MartinSilvertant is doing some interesting things, but asking type designers or type historians how to classify fonts is like asking car mechanics to classify vehicles... most people don't go looking for a "V8 with easily changed oil filter and type 3 manifolds on a chassis-based frame with open rear", they say, "I need a large pickup truck"..
The search function is very dependent on what users write in the description or the keywords. So, that is lacking in both sides :/
Haha, that's an interesting point