Comment by ctidd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ctidd | Hacker News Reader

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It doesn't seem to provide much in the way of competing directly with Typekit. Still, this is big news for a lot of people.

H&FJ is practically THE type foundry for original typefaces. They compete on quality rather than price or other tangible benefits. Unfortunately, it's been impossible to license H&FJ type for real web use until now.

The most likely group of people who will use this are type enthusiasts who prefer H&FJ type to the competition's. I can predict there are a lot of designers who will use this service for their personal or business sites.

As a competitive offering, though, this doesn't cut it. Buying individual fonts feels outdated to web font users, and the prices don't match up to Typekit (free with Adobe CC) or Monotype/Linotype ($10/month without a ridiculous 5 font cap).

H&FJ has chosen their business model, and they'd like to avoid the brand dilution of having poorly designed sites overusing their type. It's an interesting choice, and I hope it works out for them.

H+FJ doesn't serve the kind of user who feels that "buying individual fonts feels outdated", or who does price competition in the two digit range between different foundries. Instead, they sell to people for whom any price they could reasonably come up with for this service would be a rounding error.

Prior to launching Cloud Typography, H+FJ didn't sell web fonts at all. Things seemed to have been going pretty well for them.

Of course -- H&FJ is an excellent foundry, and they're not competing in the same space as, say, Google Web fonts. That's what I mean by not competitive. It's a completely different league, as it sounds like you're well aware.

The people who like H&FJ for the quality will subscribe and use this service, while those looking for a commodity option will avoid it -- perhaps even to the benefit of H&FJ.

I know I'll subscribe shortly, which is why I hope this works for their business. It really is an interesting decision when compared to the providers whose offerings keep dropping in price to compete in a commodity market.

H+FJ doesn't serve the kind of user who feels that "buying individual fonts feels outdated", or who does price competition in the two digit range between different foundries.

The pricing advertised on their site appears to contradict you.

They seem to be aiming for the mainstream market rather than exclusivity, yet their prices are uncompetitive by mainstream standards, which seems an odd strategy.

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