A font license is a legal agreement that lets you use a typeface under specific conditions. Purchasing a license ensures that type designers are compensated for their work and that you’re using the fonts appropriately.

Licensing for HAL Typefaces follows the model introduced by Dinamo in 2020. In essence, this value-based model attempts to measure the value a typeface is generating for its user. A larger company, agency or institution with more reach and bigger revenue will logically generate more value with a project, ad, campaign, etc. than a smaller one. Simultaneously, it’s a more fairly distributed pricing model from bottom to top, enabling smaller companies, individuals and studios to afford good fonts.

We use one single, simple metric for measuring the relevant company size: the number of employees working for the company. You can find more information about our licensing system in our EULA (see below).

Basically, the value of a typeface is dependent on the size of the company that licenses it, measured by the number of its employees. This disregards previous metrics of font pricing such as the number of computers, website visitors or app downloads. Acquiring this data could be tedious and these numbers are often inaccurate and inconsistent. By removing all of these various metrics and focusing only on company size of the license owner, font licensing and pricing has become easier and more straightforward.

The license is always issued to the end user. So if you are the hired designer or design agency, the license owner is the client. This is the person or organisation commissioning the design work and acquiring the usage rights of the font for their company. The license owner is not the commissioned designer or design agency. Hence, it’s not about who’s using the font, but about who is generating value with the font. Therefore, the price of the licenses varies depending on the size of the client/company.

Our licenses are issued to the end user of the font. Hence, a new, valid license is acquired for every new client that the font is used for.

Yes, you can purchase the license on your client’s behalf. The license is then registered under your client’s name as the end user. You can include their details during the checkout process.

You can also add the relevant fonts to your cart and share it with your client, who can easily recreate the same cart via the generated link you sent. Generating PDF quotes is also possible in the cart’s checkout process. We encourage designers to let their clients purchase licenses, because they are the ones using the font for their goods and benefiting from the font for their purpose.

The client always owns the license and the designer is then automatically covered by this license. Please be aware, that as the designer you’re only permitted to use the font for that specific client.

Sometimes it’s difficult to accurately define the number of employees. Maybe your team or your client’s company is constantly changing in size or it’s segmented into different teams or divisions with separate budgets. If you’re unsure, just get in touch. We’ll help you choose the right tier and make necessary adjustments if needed.

It depends. Some things can be considered, others are not possible. Please send us an email and we are happy to see what can be done to reach a sensible agreement.

We offer several license types depending on how you intend to use the fonts:
• Desktop/Print
• Web
• App/Game
• Video/Broadcast/Streaming
• Social Media
• Logo/Wordmark

Please review our EULA for more detailed information on each license type. If your intended use doesn’t fit into one of these, we’re happy to tailor a custom license for you. Please contact us.

No, the Web license is a one-time purchase with no monthly fees or expiration.

All of our licenses are covered by a one-time fee. No subscriptions, hidden or ongoing costs or anything like that …

No, licenses are not transferrable from one platform to another.

No, sorry. Licenses are non-transferable.

Absolutely. We can tailor licenses for large teams or extraordinary uses and we also offer custom type design. Contact us for details.

If the offered formats and/or license types are not sufficient, license extensions may be required. For instance, Unlimited Licenses can be arranged, which bundle all available licenses for a one-time fee, without restrictions or company size limit. Please contact us for more information.

If your usage expands beyond the original license terms — for example, the company size has sufficiently grown, you’re launching a new website, or building an additional app — then yes, an upgrade is required. You can upgrade at any time by contacting us or acquiring additional, appropriate licenses on our website.

If the license owner wishes to share font files with subcontractors or other third parties involved in the project, the license can be extended for third party sharing in the checkout process. A third party is anyone not employed by the license owner, for example: freelancers, external designers, design agencies, PR agencies, producers, developers, printers, etc. This excludes the client, hence a client does not qualify as a third party.

Our licenses are generally perpetual and remains valid for as long as the owner wishes to use it. However, please note that licenses are non-transferable and cannot be passed on or assigned to a new owner.

If you or your client are not profitable yet, please contact us via email. We will try to find an individual pricing solution to make our fonts affordable.

A discounted license for verified students is available, please inquire via email. This license covers any sort of school projects, including assignments, self-initiated projects, or design commissioned by the school (i.e. promotional materials for open days, graduation shows, lectures, events, etc.). Students can also use the licensed typefaces on their personal websites and social media.

Yes, we offer a discount for non-profit institutions. This discount applies when the license owner is a registered non-profit organisation or publicly-funded, non-commercial cultural institution (i.e. charity, library, municipal gallery, etc.). Please follow the checkout process accordingly.

Additionally, we offer further discounts for everyone in terms of bundle deals. For example, an automatic discount is applied in the cart when you select the entire typeface family or certain style combinations can be purchased at a discounted price.

Yes, we offer upgrade discounts. Please email us for more information and we will happily take care of this.

We provide trial versions of our fonts for testing in layouts, mockups, or pitch work. Trial fonts are limited to internal or preview use and cannot be used in commercial projects. You can download our trials fonts here.

Yes, via trial fonts, we permit the commissioned designer/design agency to test available typefaces free of charge, including the presentation, proposal, or pitch of a project to the client. But they cannot be used in any final, published or commercial work. You can download our trials fonts here.

We currently only accept credit card payments. We do not accept paypal or cryptocurrencies. If you are not able to pay via credit card, then please drop us an email. We can arrange to issue an invoice and also accept advance payment via direct bank transfer.

We use the payment processor Stripe, a software infrastructure that enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments via the Internet. Since Stripe handles the payments, we don’t know the precise reason why a particular card is declined. We suggest you contact your bank and solve the problem with them if this issue persists.

If your payment doesn’t go through, try again using a different browser, refreshing the page or emptying your browser’s cache. If the problem persists, please contact us. We can help process the order manually or issue a custom invoice.

Font files are delivered immediately after payment. You’ll receive a download link and invoice by email. If you don’t automatically receive this, please contact us. If you misplace the download link or invoice, get in touch and we can resend your order to you.

Files are automatically sent shortly after payment is confirmed, usually within a few minutes. If you haven’t received a confirmation email, please check your spam folder. If the files aren’t there, verify any download restrictions associated with your internet access that may be blocking the delivery. Please contact us for further assistance.

All font sales are final and non-returnable or non-refundable. Because font files are digital goods that can’t be returned, we don’t offer refunds once the files have been downloaded. However, if you experience a technical issue or purchased the wrong license by mistake, please contact us. We’ll do our best to find a fair solution. If a font is defective, notify us within 30 days of purchase and we will provide a suitable replacement.

Yes, you can re-download purchased fonts by contacting us with your order details. Same applies if you misplaced your invoice. We’ll gladly issue you a replacement PDF.

Our prices are calculated in Euros. Be aware that currency conversion tools might use different rates than credit card companies and thus actual prices may vary on the final invoice.

Yes, VAT also applies to digital and software products. Customers in Germany are subject to German VAT tax (19%). Customers within the European Union are exempt from this tax but must enter a valid VAT number during check-out. Overseas customers will not have to pay VAT but might be subject to local taxation laws.

Nearly all of our character sets are based on Christoph Koeberlin’s Latin-S, supporting over 380 languages, including Vietnamese. For a comprehensive list, please refer to Supported Languages on each typeface page. These lists are generated with the help of Hyperglot.

Currently, Matex includes Basic Cyrillic and Timezone includes Extended Cyrillic.

No, our typeface designs are not permitted to be altered, adapted or updated in any way, including the unapproved addition of a new script. And you are not permitted ask other type designers to do this. Please contact us directly via email and we will work with a team of associated experts to meet your needs.

We provide our fonts in the OpenType (otf) and Truetype (ttf). For the web license, we provideWeb Open Font Format 1.0 (woff) and Web Open Font Format 2.0 (woff2). If you require other formats, please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.

Yes, all our fonts are fully OpenType with features like ligatures, alternates, stylistic sets, tabular figures and many more.

You can access OpenType features through the OpenType panel in Adobe apps, or via CSS in web projects (e.g., font-feature-settings). Many other design tools, like Figma, also support these features.

Yes, several releases are available as variable fonts.

Please email us with details about the issue and the software/environment where it appears. We’ll investigate promptly and send you an updated version if a fix is needed.

All our fonts operate on Mac as well as PC and are safe for web. In the unlikely event of issues when installing a font, please contact us.

No, if you are seeking a font file format, which we do not offer as standard, then please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do :)

No, woff and woff2 files are provided for web use with our Web license.

No, generating web formats from other formats is prohibited. Please acquire a Web license to use the fonts on the web.

No, you are not permitted to make modifications to our fonts and typeface designs. Any modification of the original font files and re-export of a modified version of our typeface, including through type design software, is strictly prohibited.

Please contact us if you require specific modifications (incl. updates on language support; adding desired symbols, icons, glyphs, etc. to the character set; expanding weights and styles; modifying open-type features). We are happy to take care of altering, customising and adapting our retail typefaces for your needs.

With a Logo/Wordmark license, adjustments to pixelated or vectorised outlines are permitted for logo design purposes, modifying letter shapes when designing a custom logotype for a client.

In most cases, yes. We can adjust letterforms, spacing, or add specific language support while maintaining the original design integrity. Modifications are licensed separately and quoted on request. Let us know what you need.

Yes, we offer the creation, design and development of custom typefaces, including Latin, Cyrillic and other scripts. We have experience with working in close collaboration with a wide range clients to establish typographic systems, custom typefaces and variable fonts. We also design logos, logotypes and bespoke lettering. Feel free to get in touch.

You are not permitted use our fonts for creating violent, discriminating, abusive or hateful content. You are not permitted to edit our font files and create a custom versions or copies of them or converting our font files to other formats. You are not permitted to change the name of our fonts, create copies of them and publish, share or upload our fonts on public websites, blogs, servers or repositories. Please don’t illegally share and distribute our fonts.

Glad you ask, yes we have a direct newsletter. Please sign-up here to receive sporadic updates about new releases and other news.

No, we don’t make revivals of historic type designs. But we value looking at the past to understand the present and interpret the future. Archival and aesthetic research is an integral part of the foundry’s approach and a treasured tool and form-finding method. We treat historical source material as a point of departure and the continuation of a good idea. On the Notes Page, you can find some Release Notes, which dive into references that inspired our typeface releases.

The HAL TypePad is a free Indesign plugin, which enables you to create experimental static type settings with variable fonts. It’s a fun, simple and quick way to get more out of your variable fonts and create playful book covers, posters, record covers, etc. You can read about the plugin’s development and access the plugin and tutorial on the Notes Page.

We regularly release new fonts. Please subscribe to our Newsletter for keeping up-to-date on latest releases.

In the Release Notes on the Notes Page we share background information on the origins and development of our typefaces.

Yes, we have some examples on the typeface pages and also share more examples on fontsinuse.com.

Yes, please. We love seeing what happens with our fonts and occasionally share via our channels. Get in touch via email.

Yes, in the past we have run a number of workshops at various schools and universities focusing in graphic design, type design and variable fonts. Just drop us an email.

No, all of our typefaces are available exclusively on our website.

No problem, drop us an email. We’re happy to help.