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Personal Promotion:
Can the Power of Personality Help Your Marketing?
Marketing success stories are full of examples of the company leader becoming a personal pitch person for a given product or service.
JUMP TO THE PERSONAL PROMOTION ARTICLE.
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The Price Is Right:
Multiple Collections of Fonts for Download
Check out this website that is featuring multiple collections of trendy (and free) fonts.
JUMP TO THE FREE TRENDY FONTS ARTICLE.
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Off the Beaten Trail:
Marketing Around Non-Traditional Holidays
There are many minor, non-controversial holidays that you could consider building a marketing campaign around. Here are a few ideas.
JUMP TO THE HOLIDAY MARKETING ARTICLE.
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Type Change:
Focus on Fonts, Formats and Fixes
There are a dizzying array of font options out there; here is a guide to the landscape.
JUMP TO THE TYPE CHANGES ARTICLE.
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Personal Promotion:
Can the Power of Personality Help Your Marketing?
Marketing success stories are full of examples of the company leader becoming a personal pitch person for a given product or service. It's not for everyone — a certain amount of privacy is lost and a certain style must be carved out to stand out. According to Off-the-Wall Marketing Ideas, here are some issues to consider before you put a face to your business.
There are clear benefits to personalizing your marketing, including:
- Personalizes your product or service
- Inspires trust and confidence
- Creates a larger-than-life persona
- Gives people a favorable impression of you and your business
- Instills confidence
To be successful, it takes:
- A willingness to go public
- Give up some of your privacy
- A robust ego
- A desire to show the unique aspects of your personality
- A desire to cultivate a following
- An enjoyment of visibility
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The Price Is Right:
20 Font Collections, All Free to Download
Take a moment and visit http://www.smashingdownloads.com/. The article features 20 font collections from a variety of type designers, ranging from around 40 fonts to over 500 fonts each. If you like to keep your type options fresh, you should check out this Web page!
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Off the Beaten Trail:
Marketing Around Non-Traditional Holidays
Everyone sends holiday cards. How about sending fortune cookies on Chinese New Year? Or perhaps a tasteful Cinco de Mayo mailer. You might consider a simple postcard with a marketing campaign centered around Daylight Savings Time (March 14 in most US locations). Such a campaign could be both informative and include a marketing offer tie-in!
A personal favorite for personalized marketing might be to design a campaign around Arbor Day. While the US national Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, individual states have their own dates (see below). It's a great opportunity to design a personalized postcard or other campaign around an event that has both local variation in date and state tree.
Alabama: Last full week in February (Longleaf Pine)
Alaska: Third Monday in May (Sitka Spruce)
Arizona: Last Friday in April (Paloverde)
Arkansas: Third Monday in March (Pine)
California: March 7-14 (California Redwood)
Colorado: Third Friday in April (Blue Spruce)
Connecticut: April 30 (White Oak)
Delaware: Last Friday in April (American Holly)
District of Columbia: Last Friday in April (Scarlet Oak)
Florida: Third Friday in January (Cabbage Palmetto)
Georgia: Third Friday in February (Live Oak)
Hawaii: First Friday in November (Kukui)
Idaho: Last Friday in April (Western White Pine)
Illinois: Last Friday in April (White Oak)
Indiana: Last Friday in April (Tuliptree)
Iowa: Last Friday in April (Oak)
Kansas: Last Friday in March (Cottonwood)
Kentucky: First Friday in April (Tulip Poplar)
Louisiana: Third Friday in January (Baldcypress)
Maine: Third full week in May (Eastern White Pine)
Maryland: First Wednesday in April (White Oak)
Massachusetts: April 28-May 5 (American Elm)
Michigan: Last Friday in April (Eastern White Pine)
Minnesota: Last Friday in April (Red Pine)
Mississippi: Second Friday in February (Southern Magnolia)
Missouri: First Friday in April (Flowering Dogwood)
Montana: Last Friday in April (Ponderosa Pine)
Nebraska: Last Friday in April (Cottonwood)
Nevada: Southern: February 28; Northern: April 23 (Singleleaf Pinyon)
New Hampshire: Last Friday in April (Paper Birch)
New Jersey: Last Friday in April (Northern Red Oak)
New Mexico: Second Friday in March (Pinyon)
New York: Last Friday in April (Sugar Maple)
North Carolina: First Friday following March 15 (Pine)
North Dakota: First Friday in May (American Elm)
Ohio: Last Friday in April (Ohio Buckeye)
Oklahoma: Last full week in March (Eastern Redbud)
Oregon: First full week in April (Douglas Fir)
Pennsylvania: Last Friday in April (Eastern Hemlock)
Rhode Island: Last Friday in April (Red Maple)
South Carolina: First Friday in December (Cabbage Palmetto)
South Dakota: Last Friday in April (White Spruce)
Tennessee: First Friday in March (Yellow Poplar)
Texas: Last Friday in April (Pecan)
Utah: Last Friday in April (Blue Spruce)
Vermont: First Friday in May (Sugar Maple)
Virginia: Second Friday in April (Flowering Dogwood)
Washington: Second Wednesday in April (Western Hemlock)
West Virginia: Second Friday in April (Sugar Maple)
Wisconsin: Last Friday in April (Sugar Maple)
Wyoming: Last Monday in April (Cottonwood)
In Canada, Maple Leaf Day falls on the last Wednesday in September during National Forest Week. Some provinces celebrate their own Arbor Day:
- Ontario has Arbor Week from the last Friday in April to the first Sunday in May
- Nova Scotia celebrates Arbor Day on the Thursday during National Forest Week, which is the first full week in May
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 Postscript Type 1: High-End
PostScript fonts remain the preferred font format for high-resolution commercial print output. Why? The vast majority of print high-resolution output devices relies on PostScript raster image processors (RIPs), and has for the last 20 years. Add to it the fact that you can embed any PostScript font in a PDF, and you get an established workflow with consistent quality and predictable results.
 TrueType: It's Everywhere
While TrueType is a popular font format for both Windows and Macintosh, it can be unpredictable when used for output to older PostScript Level 1 or 2 imaging systems at higher resolutions. With modern output devices, however, it is hardly ever a problem to rely on TrueType fonts.
 Datafork: New for OS X, But Is It Improved?
Macintosh OS X comes with a new file format called a Datafork font; it has the .dfont extension. This is a version of Mac TrueType that has the data and resource forks combined into a new file format. Mac OS X, like Windows, uses extensions to define the file type, eliminating the Mac OS 9 Resource Fork file component, and making Mac OS X files compatible with other OS file systems. If you want to use TrueType, just find Windows .ttf fonts; they work on OS X! Use Apple's DataFork fonts just for OS X display, not print documents.
 OpenType: Big Bang, But Worth The Buck?
OpenType, jointly developed by Microsoft and Adobe, is a cross-platform font file format with some great functionality. There are two main benefits of OpenType. First, this font file format offers cross-platform compatibility (the same font files can be installed on Mac OS 9, OS X and Microsoft Windows). That's great when your print service provider could be working on a different platform than your graphic designer.
Second, each OpenType font supports a significant expansion in built-in character sets and attributes — as long as you are using one of the few applications (mostly from Adobe) that support these extended sets. One OpenType font can support fractions, ligatures, ordinals, old-style and dingbat-style characters. These character alternatives are accessed via a fly-out menu from the character palette of your Adobe applications.
The OpenType format supports both TrueType and PostScript font data structures, and can be installed along with PostScript Type 1 and TrueType fonts.
Adobe promotes this format exclusively at its online web store. As of this writing, Adobe offered a twenty-computer license of 2,200 OpenType fonts for $8,999 or a ten-computer license for "small creative organizations" priced at $4,999. If swash makes you swoon, they take plastic at Adobe.com.
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| FORMAT |
EXT. |
WIN |
OS X |
OS 9 |
| POSTSCRIPT TYPE 1 [MACINTOSH] |
NONE |
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X |
X |
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Mac Type 1 fonts have two components: the screen font, which is also known as the bitmap font, and the printer font, also known as the outline font. A font suitcase is a special type of folder that can hold multiple screen fonts, but the corresponding printer fonts are always individual files. Font suitcase icons in OS 9 look like a suitcase; in OS X, they have an icon with "FFIL" on them. Outline fonts, also known as printer fonts, carry the font foundry's icon. Both OS X and OS 9/Classic require you to keep a font's screen and printer font pairs in the same folder. |
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| POSTSCRIPT TYPE 1 [WINDOWS] |
.PFB |
X |
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Windows PostScript fonts have a .pfb extension. Unlike the Mac, Windows PostScript fonts have both the display and printer font information in this one file. This is the only major PC font format that cannot be used with Mac OS X. |
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| OPENTYPE WITH POSTSCRIPT FONT DATA |
.OTF |
X |
X |
X |
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Microsoft and Adobe jointly developed OpenType to provide a single, cross-platform font format that is flexible enough to meet a variety of needs. OpenType supports font data in both the PostScript and the TrueType format. An OpenType font containing PostScript font data has an .otf extension and works on both the Windows and Mac platforms. Great in theory, but we've experienced problems with .otf fonts when used with Quark 6.x for Mac. The type disappears when the Quark file is converted to PDF. Beware. |
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| OPENTYPE WITH TRUETYPE FONT DATA |
.TTF |
X |
X |
X |
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An OpenType font with embedded TrueType font data has a .ttf extension, the same as a Windows TrueType font. |
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| TRUETYPE [MACINTOSH] |
NONE |
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X |
X |
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Mac TrueType fonts are packaged in suitcases, like the screen font component of a Mac PostScript Type 1 font. Unlike Type 1 fonts, the outline fonts are part of that single font file. Both PostScript suitcase and Mac TrueType suitcase files display the same FFIL icon in Mac OS X, making it difficult to distinguish one from another. |
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| TRUETYPE [WINDOWS] |
.TTF |
X |
X |
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Though Apple invented TrueType, it was Microsoft that made it the most popular font format. With OS X, you can now install Windows TrueType fonts on a Mac, giving Mac users access to thousands of free or low cost .ttf fonts. Beware of quality issues with free fonts, especially kerning and ability to print. If you use .ttf fonts in your document, make sure you can print the file to a desktop printer and/or convert it to a PDF. If it won't print on your laser or ink jet printer, chances are it won't print to our platesetter. Finally, while TrueType fonts from major font foundries should be "embeddable" in a PDF, obscure TrueType fonts may carry a "Do Not Embed" restriction. This is a restriction that is set by the designer of the typeface and will result in font substitution if you try to embed such a font into a PDF document. If you use Adobe Distiller, it will warn you if embedding is not allowed. |
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| TRUETYPE [MAC OS X DATA FORK] |
.DFONT |
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X |
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Apple introduced a new variant of TrueType with OS X. It has an extension of .dfont and is the format used for most pre-installed system fonts. You should avoid using this format in your print layouts; be especially carefully with the dfont version of Helvetica Neue, which comes installed with OS X. Use the PostScript or TrueType version of Helvetica Neue if you can. |
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| FONT METRICS FILE |
.AFM .PFM |
X |
X |
X |
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Metrics files provide tables of character widths, kerning pairs, and lots of other measurements. This information is embedded into the font files as well, so you only need the metrics files if you are a type designer or plan to convert fonts from one operating system to another. If you do keep them, keep them separate from your fonts. |
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Fix Fonts & More with Font Doctor
Organize, Remove Duplicates and Troubleshoot
[www.morrisonsoftdesign.com] Font files have a way of multiplying: Old font CDs throughout the client files, purchased downloads stored on random office machines, fonts collected for output lurking like the ghost of projects past. You kept them. Can you find them? Re-use them? Are duplicates causing font ID conflicts? How many are on your drive? How long have they been there? If these problems plague you, consider font doctor, a font utility from Morrison Soft Design.
Font Doctor scours your hard drive, finding all but System fonts. It checks them over, resolves any duplicates or font ID conflicts, and leaves you with a set of fonts that work. If you have hundreds or thousands of fonts lurking, set Font Doctor to auto-trash corrupt and duplicate fonts when it finds them, rather than having to confirm every single decision. If you prefer, it can move them to folders on your desktop, where you can review these misfits and duplicates before sending them to the bin.
You can also use Font Doctor to find your remaining fonts wherever they are, and organize them into a new, hierarchical font library. When creating your library, it is better to choose create alphabetical folders, not font family folders, since it's easier to avoid creating duplicates if you have a flatter file structure, and these programs never seem to put all of the fonts from a family together anyway. You might consider running the program twice to create two separate libraries: One just for TrueType, and the other just for PostScript. To summarize Font Doctor in a word: Fantastic.
Fixated on Free Fonts?
4,000 Fonts for $25! Will They Print?
You can find thousands of free fonts online, but be cautious with what you find. There are significant artistic and technical skills required to make fonts. Closely study the character spacing and kerning from your free font downloads, and make sure the text or headlines created with these fonts looks professional. Often it's the small quality considerations such as kerning pairs that are lacking in free fonts. Your readers may notice the difference.
Watch out for corrupt fonts. They can cripple your system until you isolate the culprit and remove it, which can take hours of your time. Many of the free fonts we've tested just fail to print, and many more create mediocre output results. If a corrupt font keeps the press waiting, it's anything but free.
Personalized Type Specifiers
Create Your Own Font Reference Guide
Windows. [www.moonsoftware.com] Windows users should start off with Moon Software's Font Xplorer Lite. It generates a sample from your installed fonts, with added functionality if you upgrade to the paid version.
Mac. [www.lemkesoft.com] Check out Lemkesoft's Fontbook. It creates a type specimen book from the fonts installed on your computer. For a real-world test of whether a font will print, choose to have it save each font's page as a separate print job and print with the PDF option on to provide a
real-world test of each typeface.
Windows Users: Tweak UI
Windows Fonts Repair
[www.microsoft.com] Tweak UI, a free utility from Microsoft, does many things, including fixing corrupt font resources. Upon launch, the last item in the menu is repair, and within the submenu you'll find repair font folder. This tool restores functionality to the fonts folder while fixing registry corruptions that deny access to fonts even when they appear to be installed correctly. Get Microsoft's Tweak UI by searching microsoft.com for Windows XP PowerToys.
Mac Users: Clean Your Caches!
Onyx: A Fantastic, Free Utility for Mac
[www.titanium.free.fr] We've seen big performance improvements clearing out the font cache from time to time, as for some reason, this cache tends to become corrupt. We recommend Onyx. It's free and it's easy to use and it works.
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Partner Press expression is a monthly email newsletter sent to our current clients, prospective clients and others with whom we have enjoyed a prior relationship. If you know someone that could benefit from future mailings send us their name and contact information, we will include them on the all future Expressions Newsletters.
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Partner Press is a certified "minority owned business" for companies with supplier diversity programs.
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