Font-Journal: Exclusive Original Fonts and Site Update

As many of you know, I am the fontmaster at Font-Journal.  Over the past year I have been pretty busy trying to save my work from disappearing completely.  I create a lot of freeware (and some shareware) graphics, website templates and fonts.  But, a rash of hard disk drive errors over the past year has thrown me for a loop.

A year ago, I had to recover from my first hard disk drive crash.  Although devastating, I seemed to be able to recover almost everything from backups on an external hard drive.  I even purchased a network attached storage drive device to help automate the backup process.

But six months afterwards (just over six months ago), the 1 TB hybrid 2.5" Seagate SSHD I used to replace the old failed Seagate 750 GB hard drive that crashed, failed without warning in a very hard crash.  Seagate has already replaced the hybrid drive that failed (as it was still under warranty), but I am still digging through old SDCards, MicroSDCards, Memory Stricks, Compact Flash, Flash Jump Drives and external hard drives trying to recover my files and data.  You see, I could never get that WD My Cloud NAS (newtwork attached storage) drive device to work right.

There was no way to recover the Seagate files and data.  I used all sorts of tools carefully trying to recover my data.  I even considered using a forensics lab to recover my work.  But I knew that I had just about everything up to 6, or now 7 months ago.

I am missing all of my font projects, but I do have all of my last distributed freeware/shareware font projects.  I am missing some photos and video here and there, but have most of it.  Some of my older video is missing the audio, though.

As for the rest, I am missing the work I did on websites and graphics for that 6 month time frame.  I seem to have all my music, though.

Losing my font and art projects was kind of a blow, though.  I had some pretty important (to me) projects that were much further along.  Now I have to restart them.

I now have the WD My Cloud NAS drive device working, but it is completely unreliable.  A tech walked me through recovering it and resetting it to factory specs, but it still falls off the network.  I added two USB 3 hard drives to the router, but I cannot access them through the network (I will be calling the tech about the new AC router, as well).

Clearly, technology isn't improving.  It is breaking easier and more quickly.  Heck, none of this stuff is even making it to the warranty expiration period.  And if a product is replaced, you get someone else's repaired device that some tech may or may not have fixed (and usually not, these things usually have multiple issues and the tech only addressed one because of time quotas on the job).

I laid-out some extra bucks for a 500 GB Samsung SSD 850 Pro.  I have spent 6 of the past 7 months recovering files.  I have setup backup options that still aren't working because of hardware and/or software failures.  I am completely exhausted from reorganizing my files, backing up files and images, yet it is NOT even done until I have a NAS solution that works.

In the past 3 months I quit my regular 'part time' job in order to attend more to my website and graphic design venture.  Which, of course, was complicated by all these hard drive failures.  So, I am busy just trying to get a little work together so that I can put some meat on the table every once in a while.

However, I have been trying to keep the Font-Journal updated with new fonts.  Lately, I have been adding a lot of web fonts that are ok for commercial use from Vernon Adams (view the entire catalog of available Vernon Adam fonts available at Font-Journal).  I do have more to add, and I will be doing so as time permits.  There are a few freeware fonts that are OK for commercial use by other designers, too.

I am also interested in starting some new font projects.  I am actually looking into doing some more professional freeware web fonts (OK for commercial use) that I will distribute exclusively through the Font-Journal PC TrueType font repository and catalog.  However, in order to do so, I have to look into crowd funding of the project, because now my spare time is getting scarce.  Let me know if you are interested.  I will detail possible projects in a few posts at a later date.

Font-Journal already does have some freeware fonts that I created which are distributed exclusively through the Font-Journal.com website.  But I am looking to sort of grow my personal font creations catalog into a font foundry of my own like Ray Larabie or Vernon Adams.  In order to do that, I need more professional software than the free tools I have been using.

I have already purchased some Fontlab products and I am looking to get a more professional editor now, like Fontographer.  I have already produced some freeware fonts, and my catalog is available at http://www.font-journal.com/search.php?q=Doug+Peters

But I will have to use crowd funding in order to do more projects.  Still, as I have been using free tools online previously, the quality of my typography definitely suffers due to the limitations of these free tools.  Is my portfolio even good enough to ask for crowd source funding, now that I have lost my last few projects that I was hoping would put me over the top?

Let me know, guys and gals.  Thanks!

Too Much Fun

I indicated that I will be updating this blog with posts showing off my own font creations that I have made.  I do love to blog, but as I have so little spare time, I find that I prefer to spend it designing logos, menus, websites and fonts.

I now have a long list of fonts that I am working on.  Once in a while, if truly inspired with a simple design, I can create a simple, basic font with a pretty full character set in just a day.  But then, I have to document it. I write about how I made the font, what may have inspired it, any little challenges on the way.  I then add an appropriate license, trying to get the wording right right so that it is clear and easily understood.  I also make a couple of graphics.  One with the full character set, one just as a preview of what the font is capable of doing.  After a few rewrites, and sometimes a few font edits after checking it out in Photoshop, I'm done, but packaging-up a font really adds a whole 'nother day to the process.  Then I can upload it to my Font-Journal.

Once it is available at Font-Journal, I have to check it out and make sure it displays, that at least most of the characters in the preview page actually display.  Then, I have to edit it and add a couple of links to the font info page.  Sometimes I can approve it before I edit its information, but usually I wait until everything looks good and then go ahead and approve it in my administration control panel so that everyone else can see it.

Supposedly, I should then announce it in a few places the next day (in a couple of Twitter feeds, other social networks  like Facebook, BeHance, LinkedIn, WordPress, Blogger) and then I am done for the moment.

The thing is that I would rather be creating stuff than promoting it.  So I'm not marketing my stuff much, because I have more fun creating it.

I also have lots of other stuff going on, mind you.  Right now I am trying to recover my wife's laptop, and trying to get my son to get his homework done.  So there are always little things keeping me from what I ant to do, what I should be doing.

There is the problem that not many believe in Me the way I do.  Oh well.

But, rather than have you all wait for a post about each font that I have made in the past year, I'll just give you the link to the fonts I have already uploaded to Font-Journal: 

http://www.font-journal.com/search.php?d=1&q=Doug+Peters

Don't get me wrong, I will get around to posting little preview articles about most of my decent fonts, anyway.  But I am have way too much fun creating these fonts at the moment.  And I am actually excited to get these out and available to the public.

My fonts aren't usually met with the warmest receptions, as I like some obviously quirky styles.  But hey, they are freeware TTF PC fonts.  Although the license varies from font to font, I generally try to keep them free for personal, public or commercial use.

With some fonts I allow others to make their own derivatives, and yet with some fonts I want to be the exclusive developer.  With some fonts I allow redistribution.  With other fonts my Font-Journal will be the exclusive font archive distribution center.

So, please read the associated ReadMe.txt and License.txt included with each font archive.  I will protect my  intellectual property and all my rights to it (as that's all an artist ever has).  After all, I want to keep creating more art, and for my art to spread and influence the world as it has Me.  I sure as heck don't want to spend my time in the courts (but I will if I have to).

So, just pay attention to the license and we will both be happier, ok?  ;)

Thanks!  (Back to having too muck fun!...) -Doug

Create & Enhance Your Own Fonts, Free!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to take a real hard look at My business.  The long and short of it is that as a web designer I only had a couple of the most recent sites that I have done in My portfolio, after over 14 years as a web designer.  I would design sites that the client would effectively ruin.  And once it was delivered, though proud of what I had managed to do despite the fact that they refused to listen to Me, they then managed to destroy it over time, or the business and website would go down, never to return (probably because they didn't listen to good, sound advice in the first place.  Then the economy slowed way down and our conservative Dakotans stopped investing or doing new advertising a couple different times, and I had to take other work twice.

After hurting myself at one of my so-called "part-time" jobs (tripping over a "safety feature" that is more dangerous than safe), most of My business was halted because I was either I was just too tired from unloading truck or just in too much pain to think.

But I have always wanted to design fonts.  For a couple of years now, I have been trying to run a Freeware PC TrueType Fonts website, Font-Journal.com.  The thing about designing a font is that although you can use valuable critiques from fellow peers as well as constructive criticism from the general public, no one is going to halt the project unless you do it their way.  No one is going to pick out the worst off all design mock-ups presented, because it's just you in charge, and you are responsible for your own work.  And you can be proud of it because you don't have an ass with no art education second guessing your every comment and over-riding your decision despite the logic.

I once worked on a website that was going to be the shining example of true optimized, best design practices using the industry standards of HTML5 and CSS3, and this guy took out all My code and put the presentation on tables! -Talk about CRAP Design!

There just isn't helping some idiots.  But the worst part is that he was a web design friend that fell behind the times and refused to trust Me.  Some friend.  Some designer!

I have been growing more and more tired of working for know-it-alls that think they know better when they are just hurting themselves, repeatedly, never learning, never advancing.

Then just lately, as I rest up My hip, I have found some great resources for anyone to design their own fonts, free of charge...

• Fonstruct
  Fontstruct is a fantastic resource that allows its registered users to create scalable modular TrueType PC fonts, as well as pixel based TTF fonts.  The font editor is known as the FontStructor and although a little limited, is an extremely versatile and capable tool.  With pointers from other Fontstructors, one can easily create masterpiece fonts (aka "fontstructions").  I am working on my best one yet, now.  Once I am done with that one I will clone it and change all the little things I noticed could be changed when it was already too late.  It's hard to believe that this tool is free, but so ultra-cool that it is.  Thanks, Rob Meek!  ;)
• MyScriptFont.com
  This one is a little gem that has been around a long time.  You print out a page of grid, hand draw your characters in their respective blocks (or cells), scan it @ 300dpi, upload the resulting image and it will use vectors to create a TrueType, OpenType or SVG Font of your characters for you.  Although I would like to see just a couple more characters, it does create a very usable font.  But I use this one to rope you in, because there is a more powerful such tool (Paint Font, listed next) that you can use to add any characters you choose.  
• PaintFont.com
  Paint Font is a masterful script that not only allows you to create fonts, but allows you to append or overwrite fonts with new characters, any character you can display through your keyboard, perhaps more (support for languages, ligatures, math and more only takes a click of the mouse).  Obviously, this is a very powerful tool meant to be used to allow artists the ability to update or revamp their own projects, so please don't use it with fonts that you are restricted from doing so by the license.  I personally only use it to create new fonts and refine older versions.  The resulting font can be configured as an OTF (OpenType Font) or TTF (TrueType Font)  file and the tool even supports embedding your own Copyright message.  I say use My Script Font on your crazy ideas and use Paint Font to really develop the ideas that work.
• FontPunk.com
  Font Punk is a really cool utility that allows you to play with your fonts by adding all sorts of effects to them.  Only the main unicode Latin letter sets are supported (Basic Latin, Supplement 1, and the Latin Extended Sets A & B).  But that pretty much covers the fonts of the western world, so it really is a great tool that will allow you to easily bold or lighten your font, randomly rotate or shake the characters, skew a font, turn a font into outlines, and more.  As you can see, you can take a font and come up with a bolder or italic version, or apply multiple, even all the effects... but watch out because there are some advanced ones like morph and add 3D effect.  This is also a powerful free tool.  

I plan to add more cool font tools as I find them, as well as announce My own font creations and highlight cool fonts.  For now, I hope this is enough to get you interested in the art of the font, and possibly started on some of your own creations.  It's always cool to hand a client a font used to produce his logo, perhaps with a version of his logo in it.

Happy font inspiring/creating/designing/fun!

-Doug Peters
Doug-Peters.com
@Font-Journal   @Fontstruct   @UserAlbum  @Behance
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