

Typecast acquired by Monotype - jonnycowboy
http://typecast.com/monotype-acquires-design-by-front

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pxlpshr
As a designer who studied typography and spent a few years working in print a
long time ago, I love typecast. But practically speaking, Google Fonts has
serviced most of my needs. It's free for one, and that's a pretty big deal.
And two, I just prefer its lean implementation.

Type design is an interesting industry. It takes years to master which is not
appreciated by the market. And I'm not a qualified type designer, but as a
creative director (and purchasing gatekeeper) -- I feel the pricing model is
really dated and beautiful type is being held hostage because of it.

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gilrain
Are you thinking of Typekit, maybe? Typecast is an app for typesetting web
fonts, basically. It uses fonts from Google Fonts, Typekit, and I think a
couple other webfont providers. It's not in competition with webfont providers
at all. Although, now that it's been acquired by one, that may change.

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paulmckeever
Even though we've been acquired by Monotype (the company behind fonts.com),
Typecast will continue to offer web fonts from a range of providers.

We think that designers should be able to experiment with the best type
available on the web and that belief doesn't change now that we're part of a
bigger company.

~~~
gilrain
That's good to hear, and I appreciate the response.

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digitalengineer
Holy crap. I sure hope Monotype doesn't break Typecast (with their record of
'you-can't-embed and all: [http://print21.com.au/adobe-takes-agfa-monotype-to-
court-ove...](http://print21.com.au/adobe-takes-agfa-monotype-to-court-over-
pdfs/42158) )

~~~
paulmckeever
Hey. We hope so too! The plan is for us to operate independently and continue
making it easier for designers to work with type on the web.

~~~
digitalengineer
Thanks Paul, nice to see the CEO reads HackerNews +1 ;-)

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sgdesign
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Typecast doesn't actually serve the font, right?

It always seemed like an extra hassle to have one more service in the mix, I'd
rather just pick my font right in Typekit or Google Fonts even if the
selection is more limited.

~~~
paulmckeever
Yes, the fonts are still served by the providers. We make it easier to
experiment with type independently of the provider but once you've finalised
your type styles you don't have to serve the CSS from Typecast (although you
can).

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sgdesign
So I _can_ serve the font from Typecast? Or are you only talking about the
CSS, but not the fonts?

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paulmckeever
I was only talking about the typography styles, not the actual font files.
Although that _is_ an interesting idea :)

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shaydoc
Congratulations on this news, that's great to hear, you have the opportunity
to evolve typecast! Good to see a tech company from northern Ireland doing
well!

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devbryce
I am sure my concern is the same as many others, how will this acquisition
affect how well Typecast works?

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paulmckeever
Even though we've been acquired, we're still committed to making the web a
better place and I don't expect any changes to how Typecast works.

We'll be continuing to operate autonomously so there won't be any negative
product changes for customers. There is no intent for this to become a
Monotype-only service or to do anything other than build the best tool for
working with type on the web.

