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Free Friz Quadrata lookalike?
Hello all,
I am something of both a designer and Mac software developer who is need of a font for a project that I'm working on. To be specific, I am creating a Cocoa framework that mimics the UI look and feel found in Blizzard games for use by both others and myself. Part of that feel, obviously, is the font that Blizzard uses, which is mostly Friz Quadrata.
While I would not mind buying a license for my own personal use, it is simply not feasible for myself as a college student to purchase a license that would allow me to distribute the font with the framework, as doing so would be prohibitively expensive, and expecting the users of the framework to purchase a font license in order to use it isn't exactly reasonable.
That why I now come seeking the knowledge of the typography experts here at Typophile in my search for a free alternative. Do you have any suggestions for free fonts with an extremely similar look and feel to Friz Quadrata?
Thanks for taking the time to read!
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20 Mar 2012 — 3:01pm
If you need just a single weight: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/softmaker/quadrat-serial/regular/
But check the EULA to be sure.
20 Mar 2012 — 4:27pm
That should do nicely. Thank you so much!
20 Mar 2012 — 4:37pm
Is that a knock-off?
If so, is it OK to recommend it?
hhp
20 Mar 2012 — 5:42pm
If you ask Uli, yes, it’s a “forgery”. From what I gathered, SoftMaker was one of those “we can license the outlines but not the name” kind of foundry. MyFonts lists it among other “alternate cuts” of Friz Quadrata.
Edit: As for “recommending it”, I didn’t. I just pointed to its availability from a reputable source.*
I left my moral filter on “shades of grey”, since, if we look closer, I was already helping someone copying the “look and feel” of someone else’s IP.
* YMMV.
20 Mar 2012 — 6:11pm
Kock off or not, free or not, the License says clearly
Consequently, that font does not seem to fit the bill unless the software uses only (vector or not) graphics made using the font or else every user of the software downloads himself the font.
20 Mar 2012 — 6:33pm
Well, after working with the "knockoff" a little I've found that the baseline and kerning is kinda messed up compared to real Friz Quadrata. I could make it work, but it's not ideal.
And if the terms really don't cover redistribution, that's a real problem.
Why exactly must font licenses be so painfully inflexible? I understand the effort that goes into creating a typestyle and agree that the creators should be compensated for their work, but at the same time things need to be made as simple and cost-effective as possible for the customer, regardless if said customer is a monolithic company or a lone college student developer. If a license to distribute the font with the framework that also covered the works of developers using it was available and reasonably priced, I wouldn't hesitate to fork over the cash, but no such thing seems to exist. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it feels kind of like the industry is still stuck in the early 90's.
EDIT: I'd also like to add that the framework is intended for use with applications made by and for the fan communities of Blizzard games; for instance, one might use this UI framework for a World of Warcraft name generator or a Starcraft save game organizer.
20 Mar 2012 — 6:38pm
We're just trying to make enough money to keep going.
Very few of us can afford a yacht.
--
What's your budget?
hhp
20 Mar 2012 — 8:05pm
It's not a lot, considering that the framework is intended to be a free product - anything more than $150-$250 is more than I can swing, and even the top end on that won't be possible until a few months down the road.
The budget would be higher if I charged for the framework, but its target user group is tiny at best and charging would reduce that further, so it's something I'd like to avoid.
At this rate, I'll probably have to tell users to buy their own copy of Friz Quadrata if they want an accurate reproduction and just have the UI elements render in some vaguely-similar open source or standard system font by default.
20 Mar 2012 — 8:17pm
(ignore--what I was going to say was already covered)
20 Mar 2012 — 8:33pm
1) If one visualizes Friz Quadrata without the flare serifs,
what freely-redistributable font would be closest?
2) What's the smallest set of characters you can get away with?
hhp
20 Mar 2012 — 10:14pm
That's the thing… while I do design work, I haven't been exposed to a lot of fonts and as a result Friz feels rather unique to me and I'm not aware of any similar freely-distributed fonts. I'll have to do a lot of hunting.
As for the second question, just standard alphanumerics and regular punctuation would be fine. There's little need for currency symbols, accented characters, etc.
21 Mar 2012 — 5:53am
BTW, #1 was directed at everybody.
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 6:14am
You could try to ask a quote for licensing this: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/scriptorium/septimus/
21 Mar 2012 — 6:17am
Maybe I am missing something but:
• $94 for all weights
• "You may embed the Font Software only into an electronic document that (i) is not a Commercial Product, (ii) is distributed in a secure format that does not permit the extraction of the embedded Font Software, and (iii) in the case where a recipient of an electronic document is able to Use the Font Software for editing, only if the recipient of such document is within your Licensed Unit."
• Is actually Friz Quadrata http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/itc/friz-quadrata/
21 Mar 2012 — 6:32am
One will need to choose which quirks are most important to retain.
For example, open R: http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Galdeano
A method would be to create a sample with the relevant letters and feed it to http://www.whatfontis.com/ selecting "Display only free fonts or free alternative fonts".
21 Mar 2012 — 6:38am
I was thinking something more rigid, with no flaring.
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 6:43am
I don't know if something like that exists. And, if so, most probably it will not have the "feel" of FQ at all. Like those lifeless attempts at a Trajan sans.
21 Mar 2012 — 9:48am
> [it is] for the fan communities of Blizzard games...
> I'll probably have to tell users to buy their own copy of Friz Quadrata
Actually that might not be a bad solution. Just mention that there are legal/financial reasons why you can't distribute copies of commercial fonts, and that fans are free to use fonts they already own, and maybe include some pointers to where they can get Friz Quadrata, if they wish.
Some fans may not care if the fonts in their homemade application match the games exactly, but if they do they can buy them.
21 Mar 2012 — 10:06am
Why exactly must font licenses be so painfully inflexible? … Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it feels kind of like the industry is still stuck in the early 90's.
At that time, pre-www, there were not so many different kinds of font licence.
Now, evolving with the variety of digital devices and business structures, font licensing has become much more sophisticated.
Licensing is precise, to cover a variety of different situations, rather than inflexible.
Of course, this can be perplexing to the licensee, and some licences are more user-friendly than others, but IMO font licensing is at the cutting edge of digital culture, addressing the implications of technological change to intellectual property.