never enough fonts
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- shinpo
The scenario - Man I have so many fonts which one should I pick. Oh, oh this one looks good. Finalized project. A week later. Man I have so many fonts which one should I pick. Oh, oh damn should have used that one last week.
How do you guys keep track of them? I mean to say do you guys use tags like grunge, bubbly, happy, distorted??? etc or is there a way you organize them to keep them from going to the depths of mind to forgetfulness?
- shinpo0
Or do you just remember them like the names and stats of baseball teams?
- brains0
Always too many fonts.
- Continuity0
I just organise them in folders by file type (OTF, TTF, T1), then alphabetically.
- VectorMasked0
I organize them by Foundry.
Have thousands and have no problems remembering what is where. Only thing is that I don't care for like 25% of what I have and don't even care about viewing them in font explorer much less activate them to use them.
- horton0
i keep font files in foundry folders, and load them into manager this way.
i can't be bothered to invest too much time organizing inside the manager. to much commitment to software. have done it before and lost countless hours when i switched between xplorer and suitcase.
i now just have a few "fav" sets (fav serifs, workhorse, identities) where i dump things as i use them. and a "permanent" set to quickly turn on/off my go-to fonts.
- a_aachen0
i organize them both by foundry and appearance. works for me.
- shinpo0
Ever used software like this? http://www.fontexplorerx.com/ Maybe not that one, but any third party software so it's almost like an itunes library?
- @horton - you answered my question on thatshinpo
- oh geez you're not using a manager? well then...horton
- i'd highly recommend Suitcase Fusion 3... but everyone on here will probably say LinoXplorer.horton
- http://www.extensis.…horton
- bjladams0
i make text file for each job where i copy down every font used, outlines of the font (incase it gets lost/destroyed and need to change something simple like a date), pms colors, passwords and so on. then, if i cant remember the name of the font i used on a particular job- i just go back thru and find it. sounds like a lot of work, but on a few occasions it's been a lifesaver.
- yeah, I've done this too and on many occasions helped me a lotMiguex
- shinpo0
@horton - Thanks that helps tons.
Also, when you guys organize by foundry how do you remember each name of font that foundry makes? Or is that where the manager comes in?
- Miguex0
I use FontExplorer X (From when it was free)
It was recommended by I think Morilla (no longer on QBN I guess)
and I love it, way better than any other font manager I was using whatever it was.
I organize them by styles, with folders like:
Classic
Modern
Shitty
Pixel
Strongand also grouped by clients or projects, so if I'm doing work for (xx company) I have all the fonts on that group.
The less fonts the better, according to this guy:
and I agree
- v1.2.3 is still available for free legitimately. Just google it.Continuity
- That version also plays nice with OSX 10.6 and CS5.Continuity
- shinpo0
Miguex - Thanks. Maybe I should also take Massimo's advice, I think he might know what he's talking about.
- gramme0
"grunge, bubbly, happy, distorted" —Who are your clients, rave clubs from 1997? ;)
I agree with Massimo's philosophy to an extent. But he pretty much only uses Helvetica, Bodoni, and Century, which I find extremely limiting. I'd say stick with 10–15 typefaces. 3 or 5 isn't really reasonable and kinda paints one into a corner.
- gramme0
I use FontExplorer too, and it's great. I organize my fonts by style and/or historical niche: Antique Titling, Contemporary Sans, Fleischman, Garalde, Venetian, Grotesque, Geometric, Slab, etc.