Have a closer look at the typefaces, image by Thomas Edward Joy
I have provided test fonts for years and have had a good experience with this practice. The original test fonts had a minimal character set that was enough for designers to see the letterforms and create simple applications. These test fonts could be downloaded without any registration.
Over the years, I received varied feedback about this practice. For some designers, the limited set was sufficient, while others wanted a wider range of characters.
A colleague in academia asked me for classroom licences for their students. I was hesitant to upload my entire font library to the school server, so I knew I had to address this.
I am introducing my new test fonts with a much wider character set. The main difference is that they now fully support diacritics, making them more useful for my non-English writing clients.
The test font package contains all my published typefaces in desktop (.otf) and web fonts (.woff2) formats.
Each test font family name ends with ‘TEST FONT’. The test fonts include complete spacing, kerning, alternate glyphs, and ligatures.
Due to the broader character set, a slightly more closed system is needed to give me some control over how the test fonts are used. Because of this, registration is now necessary.
Some of my designer friends have asked me, “Why not provide the complete glyph set for trial?” I believe there should be a clear distinction between the full and test versions. Test fonts are meant for trying out designs to see if they suit a project or for client approval. Users should have considerable freedom, but they should also be reminded to obtain a full licence when using the fonts publicly.
The new test licences are great news for both designers and students, who will be able to use the typefaces in their educational projects.