First let me start of with saying that I think Typekit and services are much needed in the web world. I truly appreciate what they are doing to improve the landscape of type for the web. I believe that it is because of Typekit that we are seeing a push for WOFF and .webfont formatting that will revolutionize typography on the web. I am sure that there are plenty of great uses for this service and the other services that are coming out like it.

Since I got my invite relatively early, I’ve had a fair amount of time to play around with the free account that they provide. I even used one of the fonts in one of my posts. Overall the experience was great. Typekit was easy to use and implement.

There were only a few annoyances with the process. First you need to enter your stacks into their web site to be deployed on their style sheet. Which means that there is one more step in the way of changing the design. I’m pretty sure there is a way to override this but it wasn’t very obvious. Second, the delivery relies on Javascript. Poo on you if you don’t have Javascript turned on. I wasn’t too worried about either.

I was very close from getting off my cheep ass and finally laying down the $50 for the year so that all future blog posts could be decorated with a unique font. In all my glee and anticipated typographic glory, I paused and thought about it. A couple of question piled up in my mind. When the year was up would I be forced into a monthly payment plan that they have set up? If I decided to stop the service or if the service halts what will happen to my designs? Will I need to go back to every one of my blog posts and replace the font or write a new stack? The doubt set in.

In the end I don’t think it really works well for me and this blog at this time. For now I am holding off and saving my $50 for a rainy day or maybe even a new typeface. I wish that the pricing structure was more permanent. Much like buying a typeface, you would pay one fee upfront to use that typeface on whatever your heat desires. I understand that the current pricing scheme is probably brought on by a combination of profitability and the agreement they have with the foundries. Maybe in the not so distant future I can put this cost on a client project or somehow make money on off blog to get close to the monthly bill. Until then I will gladly look on as some great designers create beautiful sites with the new library Typekit is offering them.

I drive by this hand lettering twice a day and marvel at it. There is something beautiful and unique about it.

Jeffrey Zeldman
Eric Meyer
Dan Cederholm
Andy Rutledge
Andy Budd
Jim Coudal
Elliot Jay Stocks
Jeremy Keith
Andy Clark
Molly Holzschlag
Mark Boulton
Jason Santa-Maria
John Hicks
Robert Hoekman
Jared Spool
Paul Boag
Cameron Moll
Dave Shea
Mike Kus
Richard Rutter
Jeff Croft
Khoi Vin
Armin Vit
Veerle
Johno from iLT
Eric Karjaluoto
Ethan Marcotte
John Maeda
Tim Van Damme
Wilson Miner
Chris Coyer

That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are more that I am forgetting and I sure the list will grow.

It has yet to really be seen on the web because of how difficult it is to do without a layout program like InDeisgn and Quark. For a better understanding on baseline grids on the web I would look at Wilson Miners ‘Setting Type on the Web to a Baseline Grid’ on A List Apart.