Cool URLs, and lukewarm leads

In a past message, I referenced this piece on Design Observer from 2007.

There, Michael Bierut links to a typeface called Novia by the talented Cyrus Highsmith—well, he attempts to.

Like, I’m sure, at least some other people over the last 15 (!) years, I clicked to see what it looked like. I was slightly confused to end up at the main Font Bureau page, rather than anything specific to do with the font.

Unfortunately, it seems like, after the reorganization/restructure of the site, fontbureau.com and all links under it redirect to typenetwork.com/type-foundries/font-bureau.

What would ideally be happening, at least for someone looking to license Novia, would be that the link points to: https://store.typenetwork.com/foundry/occupant/fonts/novia.

I have no behind-the-scenes insight into the migration that was done here, so maybe there is a strategic reason for everything to go to the main page that I’m not aware of.

Still, it was a good reminder that what should be long-life links pointing to a distributor may not make it back to you, or your font. (Maybe it is not quite accurate to call Type Network a “distributor” of Font Bureau, but I think the point still stands.)

Even one that might technically by a “cool UR[L],”—broadly speaking, a URL that doesn’t outright disappear—it might not end up point directly to your work.

Until next time,
Kenneth