Frequently Asked Questions

• The fonts

  • What does “open source” mean?
    • All the fonts hosted on Velvetyne are libre and open-source. This means that you can :
      1. use them
      2. modify them
      3. redistribute them
      4. redistribute the modified versions.
      
      These rules are true for all personal and commercial works. 
  • What can I do with your fonts?
    • Velvetyne fonts can be used on any medium you can imagine: poster, logo, magazine, website, app, t-shirt, music video, truck… Remember that you must credit the name of the type designer and of our foundry whenever you use one of our fonts. If there’s any feature of our fonts that doesn’t suit you, you’re free to change it in order to fit your tastes or your needs. In this case, you have to redistribute your creation under the same licence that the original typeface was released. Please don’t hesitate to send us the modified versions of our fonts!
  • I wanted to use one of your typefaces but it lack some character I needed, what can I do?
    • Our fonts are libre, that mean that you can modify them, enhance them by addind the missing glyphs. In this case, please write us an email with your new version as we could be interested into releasing this upgraded version. If you don’t have the skills to modify a font and know nobody with such skills, just write us (or directly to the author of the font) an email and we’ll see what we can do for you for free or for a fee depending on the amount of work required.
  • I want to use one of your fonts, but I can’t credit. What should I do?
    • We understand that it’s sometimes difficult to include credit for our fonts, specially for logos, on small print surfaces or for promotional materials. In such case, you can use our fonts without credit on the product, but you should mention the name of the font, the author and the foundry wherever you publish photos of the product online (on the product’s page, instagram posts, or on your portfolio page), like this : “Terminal Grotesque by Raphaël Bastide (Velvetyne Type Foundry)” (or any similar formula). If you post photos of your creations on Instagram or Twitter where Velvetyne fonts are used, you can identify us or use #velvetyne_type_foundry hashtag, so we’ll find them. If you use our fonts regularly for commercial projects, you can consider making a donation, but it’s not an obligation.
  • Does making a donation discard me from crediting a typeface?
    • Donations are highly welcomed and they help us sustain our activity, maintain our website and create new exciting projects. However, they don’t replace crediting. So no, no donation can discard you from crediting. Get more informations about donations.

• The catalogue

  • Are you releasing typefaces from people you don’t know yet?
    • Yes. If you want to distribute your work at Velvetyne, send us an email (vtf1554@gmail.com) and we will be happy to review your proposal. Velvetyne aims to diversify the shapes of type design lanscape but also its faces. We are welcoming submissions from everyone, whatever your gender, nationality or education.
  • What kind of typefaces do you release?
    • We are looking for typefaces really different from what we already have in our catalogue to add some contrast. They should nevertheless share some punk spirit we have at VTF. Keep in mind that Velvetyne is a place for atypical fonts, we are open to submission of pattern-fonts, illegible ones, or any weird project that you can have in your drawers. As our efforts for more diversity, we are looking for submissions covering any under-represented script.
  • How do you decide if a submission will be released or not?
    • The core team takes collegial decisions about the next fonts, through an anonymous vote process. A typeface needs to receive at least 2/3 of the votes to be released. Our criterias comprise: the originality of the typeface, the concept or story underlying its making, its co-existence with our existing catalogue, the quality of its drawing and the arguments to release as an open-source font.
  • What are the technical required?
    • We use a specific character set as a reference for latin fonts (see this gitlab repository to download it), but we don’t mind if some glyphs are missing. A lot of our typefaces are incomplete and you can propose to improve them if you are able to. And above all, each VTF typefaces must include a VTF monogram!

• The team

  • Who does run Velvetyne?
    • VTF was created in 2010 by Frank Adebiaye as a logic continuation to his blog about typography and type design. He started it on his own, but he quickly invited Jérémy Landes-Nones and Sébastien Hayez to join him in the adventure. Years after years, the collective grew, welcoming new active members and published designers.
    • The Velveteam can be separated into 2 intercrossing groups, the directing team, discussing every day on their Telegram chat about the direction in the which make the foundry go, the new releases, the next workshops and which knife maker is the best. In the other hand, the published designers have their font(s) in the catalogue but don’t take part on the foundry decisions. In years, Velvetyne made many friends, some of them that we could even call satellites of the foundry, or the foundry being satellites of them. You can fin an incomplete list of this family here.
  • What software do you use to create the actual font files?
    • It depends! We encourage the use of free/open source softwaers but the typedesign chooses his own design process. We often try to publish blog posts to explain that process on our website. If you want to be distributed on VTF, sharing an inspiring process can really be a plus! Check the News section if you want to learn more about our fonts.
  • Where are you from?
    • Most of us come from France (Paris, Lyon, Nancy…) and still live there. Some of us have now moved elsewhere (Berlin). If you would like to meet us to discuss a possible collaboration, it is possible that a Velvetyne member is not far from your city!
  • How do you manage to sustain a living?
    • Velvetyne is a side project. A big one for some of our members, but it is still a side project not intented to make big profits. Thus, every Velvetyne member as a job, in a company or as a freelancer, to sustain their needs. If you want to help us maintain this project in the future, consider making a donation.
  • Do you take interns?
    • Sadly, as Velvetyne does not have any office, we are not able to take interns.

• The workshops

  • When and where will the next workshop take place?
    • You can keep informed by following us on social networks (Twitter,  Instagram) or by subscribing to our newsletter.
    • We also post an ad on our Workshops page when one is planned soon.
  • Would like to come to my town / school to make a workshop?
    • Of course! If the context allows it, and a part of the Velvetyne team is available to lead a workshop in your school, we will be happy to organize it with you.