I have been looking through Mark Porters blog (creative director, The Guardian) and came across this. Thought it was funny, but also useful to understand about typeface licensing.
It’s always difficult when your children grow up and go out to make their own way in the world. There are many years to go before my real-life children are ready for that, but another of my babies has struck out on its own - Guardian Egyptian is now available for licensing.
Our exclusivity deal with the font designers has come to an end and I found out this week that our wonderful typeface is now being used in a Norweigian news magazine; I haven’t seen a copy yet, but you can see a little on the website. It may seem odd that I should feel such an emotional attachment when the font was designed by Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz. But it evolved over a period of intense collaboration between the three of us, and there’s definitely a lot of me in there too; I swear that any DNA test would prove it!
I was there at the conception and the birth, and I’ve lived closely with the typeface for nearly three years, getting to know all its habits and eccentricities. It has such an intimate connection to the Guardian for me that I just can’t imagine it being used anywhere else. I’m a little afraid that any other publication that uses it will end up looking like a Guardian clone; on the other hand I’m really excited, and looking forward to seeing other designers do something completely different with it.
So I’ll be following its progress with a mixture of pride and trepidation. And to anyone who buys it… Please be careful with my baby!