ISO50

I would love to see a list of what typefaces you chose.

I was suffering of the same problem until I started sorting my fonts. Using a font manager really made it much easier.

I still have around hundred fonts but only a few are active. Afterall, doesn’t every designer has his go-to list? ;)

Super insightful post Alex! You really inspired me to cut my font collection I am such a pack rat when it comes to fonts and music. I read those articles on what the difference is between font and typeface is and they made it pretty clear…I never really knew the difference. I always went with whatever I felt like saying at the moment.

Once again awesome post!

What do you use to organize and activate all of those fonts? Has it changed since you whittled it down to 50? Are you into any Emigre fonts?

Keeping all these fonts on your computer is like having a lot of clothes in your closet but always wearing the same few favourite ones. Because they are the only ones that really fit.

I just cleansed my computer of all my music I never or have never listened to. Best idea ever. I also did that to my wardrobe considering all I ever wear is boardshorts.

As much as I agree with the theory behind your font purge, as a practicality I don’t think this is wise. The business side of design often includes projects and/or clients that may have less-than-ideal brand style guides, and having access to a clients’ fonts at any given time is crucial.

It’s amazing to me how many clients I come across that can’t even track down a vector-based version of their own logo, let alone a copy of the font their style guide mandates.

Using a font management application like FontExplorer X, and making playlist-style folders for your favorite and not-so-favorite fonts would be a much better way to go.

Good article and I agree some of us have collected as many useless fonts over the years just to have a huge list but we never use half of those. I think I need to do a font cleaning as well.

@Leon “I’ve always wondered why dafont.com is so popular.”

Are you kidding? It’s a huge free font resource. What more is there to say? :)

I never came close to your number, Alex, but I’ve always horded fonts and used to go on “font sprees” if you will, searching for new and interesting fonts. While in some cases it paid off, now that I’m working for clients more than myself, it is kinda useless to have tons of fun but inappropriate fonts lying around (excuse me, typefaces!). I’m not brave enough to physically delete all those delicious fonts from my computer, but I have a mental list I immediately go to when a new project comes up.

Thanks for the fun post. I’m gonna check out that book for sure.

Great post. Gave me something to think about.

As much as I’d like to see your list… I kind of hope you don’t post it. Simply because as designers I think we should discover on our own, or at least on our own time line, what typefaces are working for us and which ones we should discard.

This depends entirely on the kind of work you do. It’s laughable for example to think that you could ever do any serious professional commercial work and never have to use Trajan! Regardless of how you feel about it, you’re going to need it sooner or later. But sure, if you’re doing personal work, or are in the lucky position to somehow have complete creative control over everything you do, I don’t see why you would ever need more than 3 fonts.

Nice to see all the DIN love.

I too have a redonculous amount of typefaces on this system, and aside from a few special purpose examples, I usually dip into the same 50-60. Perhaps a tidy-up is in order.

Also, working with clients, project managers, producers and programmers has basically removed ‘typeface’ from my vocabulary, despite the hard work of my design education.

All of these are definitely classics, and I like the idea of whittling down a font collection to some bare essentials, but I think it’s silly to write a book about the typefaces that have already been celebrated and overused. The design landscape, which is more and more homogenous despite expanding choices, is better served by introducing folks to quality typefaces that are underappreciated. It’s something I’ve been trying to do lately:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/sets/72157594511485997/
http://www.fontshop.com/fontlist/alternatives/favorite_underused_typefaces/

funny, i just got that book a couple months ago, and did the exact same thing with my font library.

*stands*

“My name is Scott and I am a typoholic”
“I haven’t downloaded a dodgy font in 3 weeks”

*Sits and weeps into hands*

Avant Garde and Lubalin Graph will always be on my list, God bless Herb.
I notice there isn’t one serif typeface there. Can’t be without Garamond, or Bodoni either.

hey! I work with Joshua Berger. He is sitting 10ft. away right now.
Maybe he can get me a deal on this book. Looks like a good one.

Just did a purge as well. So much better.