J. Michael BrowningGet your shotguns ready Dads, Font Awesome’s all grown up and ready for the prom with Font Awesome Black Tie.
I just talked about Font Awesome the other day in the post Font Awesome Ain’t Your Daddy’s Font, and how to install it as a system font for daily use in your designs. And now, the man behind Font Awesome, Dave Gandy, has launched a Kickstarter Campaign to bring us, “Black Tie, the new multi-weight icon font from Font Awesome.”
Here’s Dave’s thoughts on typography:
I believe iconography should have the same level of beauty, variety, and refinement seen in traditional typography. Just as the right typographic font influences the personality of a website, the right set of icons also reinforces that look and feel.
It’s on like Donkey Kong.
To say that I’m super-stoked about Black Tie is an understatement. That, and the fact that he’s launching it from Kickstarter combines new-age technology with social crowd funding. How cool is that?
As a serial funder on Kickstarter, it was happenstance that I came across Font Awesome Black Tie yesterday. Once I watched Dave’s video and read through the information provided about Black Tie, I was quite giddy and quite ready to back this project.
Here’s the breakdown (from Kickstarter) of what Font Awesome Black Tie will consist of:
Design
- 4 Black Tie styles – Solid, Bold, Medium, and Thin
- Better pixel perfection – I’ve learned how to design icons even better at small sizes
- Completely new design with a clean, minimalist style
- Better visual icon size consistency
- Removing sharp angles (< 90°) allows icons to be visually larger and more legible at small sizes
Technology
- Packed with at least 150 of the icons people are using most on their sites (thanks NerdyData!). This allows us to include the most needed icons while optimizing file size.
- Every icon designed from scratch to use fewer points. This means each icon will use less space and Black Tie will load MUCH faster.
- Custom subsetting tool (if the group reward is reached!). The average website uses between 12-20 different icons. This tool will allow your site to send just the icons and CSS you need across the wire to speed up your site’s performance. This means your site’s icons can be as little as 1/10th the size!
Usability
- Better screen reader accessibility.
- IE7 support (my condolences if you need it)
- Plus a few new features!
So, why am I getting all worked about about Font Awesome Black Tie? Because I’m one of those freaks that loves clean design and a product that just works. For me, that is Font Awesome. And to be clear, this is my unbiased opinion and am in no way associated with Dave Gandy or Font Awesome. I’m just a fan and user of his creative content.
So, should you support the Font Awesome Black Tie Kickstarter Campaign? That’s your decision you’ll have to make. For me, it was quite easy and I would have done it regardless of the rewards you receive for backing. However, I am stoked about getting one of the shirts.
Font Awesome Black Tie will to drop in November, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
