When hobbyist font designer Cindy Thomason was contacted by Warner Bros. telling her that the font she had designed would be used in The Great Gatsby, she was overjoyed at the prospect. However, she was quite surprised when all she earned for her font's appearance in the feature film was a measly $12, meanwhile, the software she used to design the font had cost her $100.
Thomason’s story isn’t an anomaly: Fonts are a ubiquitous commodity. Every font you see — on your computer screen, a street sign, a T-shirt, or your car’s dashboard — has been crafted by a designer. With 4.5k independent artists selling on MyFonts today, many struggle to attract customers and to make a living in an oversaturated market.
It’s only getting harder, as designers must compete with and abide by the terms of one company that’s approaching behemoth status: Monotype.
Learn more about the font industry and Monotype at The Hustle.
(Image credit: Brett Jordan/Unsplash)