What are variable fonts?
A variable font is a single font file that allows the user to configure any number of desired font styles. Usually, variable fonts contain three configurable axes: height, width, and weight. The user can adjust the font’s axis settings to achieve their desired style.
What do customers think about variable fonts?
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of press and advancements in the type industry about variable fonts. However, a general understanding and awareness of variable fonts hasn’t yet reached the broader design industry. Data from the 2019 Font Purchasing Habits Survey indicates that 39% of respondents saying they are unaware of variable fonts.
Additionally, data from 2017 through 2019 shows that there has been very little change in awareness and perception of variable fonts over time, with no statistically significant differences between all three years. This indicates a broad need for increased education for designers about variable fonts.
Additionally, data indicates that type designers are much more aware of and optimistic about variable fonts than their customers. See data from 2019 below. Keep this in mind as you invest in marketing and developing this new product category.
Selling variable fonts with us.
Variable fonts can be sold in the same family as OTF or TTF fonts. All families on MyFonts are required to have a complete family pack, so please note that your variable fonts will be included in the complete family pack. You can also choose to sell your variable fonts in a separate family by themselves. If you choose to sell your variable fonts in a separate family, don’t reuse the same images and description from your family containing traditional OTF or TTF fonts; please create unique images and a unique description.
How to upload variable fonts.
Upload variable fonts the same way you upload fonts today through Foundry Platform. We accept variable fonts in the formats TTFV and CFF2. Please use the style name "Variable" to identify these fonts to make it easier for customers to understand what these are.
How do variable fonts look on MyFonts?
Variable fonts are shown in a single, default instance on MyFonts. Because variable fonts are a new technology that hasn’t yet seen a pickup in customer demand, we’re not investing in advanced preview features yet. We’ll let our partners know if we do see the market change and decide to change how we display variable fonts.
Marketing tips for selling variable fonts
Because variable fonts are such a new technology not yet familiar to most customers, we highly recommend providing explanations of how variable fonts work in your images and description. You can add a links in your descriptions, so feel free to include a link to a PDF in your description with instructions for how to use them. Don’t assume someone looking at your font page knows what variable fonts are!
Variable Font Resources
Want to learn more about variable fonts? Check out the following articles and websites:
- What should brands know about variable fonts? - Monotype
- The evolution of typography with variable fonts - Monotype
- Variable Fonts: Making the promise a reality - Monotype
- Introduction to Variable Fonts on the Web - Google
- Variable Fonts, a new kind of font for flexible design - Adobe Typekit
- What You Can Do with Variable Fonts in Illustrator CC - Adobe Blog
- Variable Fonts are the Future of Web Type - Adobe Create
- Introducing OpenType Variable Fonts - John Hudson
- Axis-Praxis - Laurence Penney
- V-Fonts.com - Nick Sherman
- Variable Fonts Guide - Mozilla
- An Exploration of Variable Fonts - Mathieu Triay
- The evolution of typography with variable fonts: an introduction - Jason Pamental