Thomas “my other car is a sans serif” Phinney on fonts, typography & text. Geeky troubleshooting and info for font developers and users. Consulting & expert witness for fonts & typography.« Font Production Person Needed, first half 2021
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- NOTE: The position has been filled!
Qualifications:
- Font production experience (which might be mostly type design)
- Variable font development experience, preferably with multiple axes
- Bonus if you have worked with design space that did not have axes in the corners.
- Already qualified as a supplier with Google (and hence under non-disclosure agreement)
- FontLab 6/7 experience highly desirable, but not required
- Technical skills including Python scripting are a plus
- Happy doing unusual font production that is possibly even more fiddly and repetitive than the usual
Features
- Remote work, any location possible!
- Flexible work hours. (I am on US Pacific time, however.)
- early January through May 2021
- Expected hours/month dependent on experience and productivity
- Working with me (Thomas Phinney) and Vassil Kateliev on project, with Google as our client
Details
WHAT? I have been commissioned to continue a variable font project I started this year with Google. In 2020, I did a first version with a weight axis, but now I need to do a big expansion in 2021—with two more axes. The work is primarily adding further masters to an existing typeface, not original design work. Given the desired timeline, there is too much work and not enough time for me to do it solo.
WHEN? This would start at or near the beginning of January and run through May.
WHO? So I am looking for one more person to help work on it in FontLab 7; currently it is me plus some help from Vassil Kateliev. This will be work for hire, and the resulting typeface will be owned by Google (not open source). Vassil is our scripting guru, and can do some amazing things with automation—his contributions in that regard were invaluable in the version 1 project. This time he will likely also have some hands-on production role. I will do considerable production work myself.
PUBLIC? Unlike some of my/our recent projects, this isn’t open source, and I can’t yet talk about it publicly. For candidates who seem plausible, I will get you to sign an NDA with Google, and then I can tell you the details, and we can talk more!
MONEY. This involves a fixed amount of money, with the hours dependent on your experience/productivity. Although I am doing the primary screening and will be supervising the work, you will negotiate pay with Google, and be paid by Google (monthly after the end of each month).
COMMENTARY. This is not artistically interesting work, but it is somewhat technically interesting, and you are working with some arguably nice people. Pay is OK, and it may lead directly or indirectly to future work. It will be a high-profile project, but I am sorry to say it is not yet known if we will be able to talk about our contributions afterward.
DIVERSITY. Diverse applicants are especially welcome.
Process:
Contact me with the form below. If you seem like a plausible candidate, I will have Google share a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with you; you signing the NDA will allow me to explain the job in more detail.
Note that getting the NDA requires your postal address, and company name if any.
