I use some Adobe products and have access to their fonts which they allow users to use. The other thing I've spent hours and hours doing is browsing through the various "free" font sites. Not all fonts are necessarily free though. Sometimes all you get for free is upper or lower case, or even a partial alphabet; you have to purchase the rest.
I've only purchased a few fonts, those that were noticably different from what I aready have and use. Otherwise, I just look at the fonts I like and go read the maker's TOU to see if I can use it for CU.
Another thing you might try -- Look for Public Domain fonts because they're free to use however you want.
I like https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ . All their free fonts are commercial use fonts. The lovely fonts from CF and other places that I pick too often have some sort of spacing issues so I resorted to Adobe fonts. It is heaven on 5th for any font nerd. They have font packs for themes and what not. My fave place for fonts.
Creative Fabrica - Their CU licence DOES NOT ALLOW you to create alphas with any Creative Fabrica font.
Font Brothers - Various font designers will direct you to this site to purchase a CU licence for their fonts, but please be aware that this licence DOES NOT ALLOW you to use any of the fonts on the site to create items that you distribute [paid or free]. I emailed them, and specifically asked about the following items: alphas, word art, printable quotes, flairs, brads, journal cards and background papers.
Here is a direct quote from the reply Font Brothers sent me:
"We fully understand your intended use of the font however I’m sorry to say that even giving away the unique version you created freely wouldn’t be allowed and we don’t offer a license that allows that use. In effect, by your visitors using the letterform product for free, they’re less likely to purchase the font to support [Font Designer’s] work so it actually causes harm to his income when his fonts are used in this manner."
And:
"There is no license we will extend (for free or payment) that allows you to sell or give away letterform graphics digitally."
If a site's TOU is a bit ambiguous, I would email the font designer directly to ask if their CU licence covers my intended use of that font. I provide them with links to sample images, and ask if I can distribute what I make for free or sell it. Some designers are fine with everything, some will let you sell your creations [but not give them away for free, as part of a blog train for example], some won't let you make alphas, but are fine with other uses. Some will let you distribute under a CU licence for the end user, while others will only let you distribute under a PU licence.
It's an absolute mine field, so asking the font designer directly is probably the best way to ensure that you are using the font in the way the designer intended. Of course, some don't reply to my email, but the ones that do reply are usually happy that I've done the right thing by asking them.
I use some Adobe products and have access to their fonts which they allow users to use. The other thing I've spent hours and hours doing is browsing through the various "free" font sites. Not all fonts are necessarily free though. Sometimes all you get for free is upper or lower case, or even a partial alphabet; you have to purchase the rest.
I've only purchased a few fonts, those that were noticably different from what I aready have and use. Otherwise, I just look at the fonts I like and go read the maker's TOU to see if I can use it for CU.
Another thing you might try -- Look for Public Domain fonts because they're free to use however you want.
I use a lot of fonts from Creative Fabrica.
Creative Fabrica is also my go-to for CU safe fonts.
I like https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ . All their free fonts are commercial use fonts. The lovely fonts from CF and other places that I pick too often have some sort of spacing issues so I resorted to Adobe fonts. It is heaven on 5th for any font nerd. They have font packs for themes and what not. My fave place for fonts.
I completely forgot about FontSquirrel.com, Bina. Thank you for the reminder!
Just a heads-up about Commercial Use fonts:
Creative Fabrica - Their CU licence DOES NOT ALLOW you to create alphas with any Creative Fabrica font.
Font Brothers - Various font designers will direct you to this site to purchase a CU licence for their fonts, but please be aware that this licence DOES NOT ALLOW you to use any of the fonts on the site to create items that you distribute [paid or free]. I emailed them, and specifically asked about the following items: alphas, word art, printable quotes, flairs, brads, journal cards and background papers.
Here is a direct quote from the reply Font Brothers sent me:
"We fully understand your intended use of the font however I’m sorry to say that even giving away the unique version you created freely wouldn’t be allowed and we don’t offer a license that allows that use. In effect, by your visitors using the letterform product for free, they’re less likely to purchase the font to support [Font Designer’s] work so it actually causes harm to his income when his fonts are used in this manner."
And:
"There is no license we will extend (for free or payment) that allows you to sell or give away letterform graphics digitally."
If a site's TOU is a bit ambiguous, I would email the font designer directly to ask if their CU licence covers my intended use of that font. I provide them with links to sample images, and ask if I can distribute what I make for free or sell it. Some designers are fine with everything, some will let you sell your creations [but not give them away for free, as part of a blog train for example], some won't let you make alphas, but are fine with other uses. Some will let you distribute under a CU licence for the end user, while others will only let you distribute under a PU licence.
It's an absolute mine field, so asking the font designer directly is probably the best way to ensure that you are using the font in the way the designer intended. Of course, some don't reply to my email, but the ones that do reply are usually happy that I've done the right thing by asking them.
That is excellent advice Robyn, thank you.
I extend that to illustration & clip art designers as well.
Some TOU's are confusing to say the least.
I agree with you about the graphics designers, Jenifer, and yes, some TOUs really are confusing!