…as one of the previous century’s greatest type designers, Eric Gill, was.
Still, this plucky Norwegian, who runs a small-batch-artisanal type-design atelier that would be non-viable without 333,000 kroner in government funding in 2016 and 2018 ($48,000), operates within the same colourspace of opprobrium as Gill.
Stefan seeks to limit the words one may typeset in his boutique fonts. Licenses for commercial and demo (“test”) fonts both contain this wording (at ¶3[d]):
The Fonts may not be used in a manner or in combination with material that is offensive or punishable. This includes (but is not limited to) expressions of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, gender discrimination or other expressions of intolerance violating human dignity and well[‑]being.
Hence that American homosexualist writer married to a Norwegian, Bruce Bawer, is now illegal. Yes, the value proposition here is you pay money to license a typeface and a foreigner will try to stop you from writing certain words in that font.
I did the obvious thing: I downloaded Stefan’s test fonts, fired up my licensed copy of InDesign (lovingly coded by non-Whites), and typeset a PDF.
What might it take to equate a living designer with a deceased pedophile? Some of us are big on principle and know WRONG when we see it. Here Ellmer Stefan is about to go full Breivik. Never go full Breivik.
Don’t write cheques for 333,000 kroner that you cannot cash
“Any dispute arising from this License Agreement is governed by Norwegian law, and shall be settled by the City Court of Oslo,” Stefan’s licence “agreement” threatens. (“So if you want to set your hate speech in e.g. Vulture, I am gonna send my birds after you!”)
See you in court, then. I’ll be needing halal food on the plane ride over.