Dalton Maag relaunches website and offers “try before you buy” fonts

Dalton Maag worked with consultancy Method to research the new offer and develop the new website. Dalton Maag chairman Bruno Maag says: “We wanted to revolutionise how fonts were displayed in the digital world.”

Dalton Maag’s new “try before you buy” licence allows people to download fonts for use in non-commercial pitches to clients, testing, or student projects. The type foundry says: “When you’re ready to use the fonts for real, you just need to buy the appropriate commercial licence”.

Maag says, “We wanted to present our fonts in a way that would help customers make the right choice. Why only show jpegs? Why not allow people to play with and use the fonts? We trust our customers to do the right thing.”

Maag says the new site also makes it easier for users to select and buy fonts. He says: “In the digital world often people don’t want to talk to [vendors] – they just want to click and buy the font straight away.”

He adds: “In our research it came up that we had about three minutes from when people access the site in order to make a sale.”

Method began work on the new website project a year ago following a paid pitch, according to Maag. He says: “Working with Method we recognised the importance of collaboration and that it’s impossible to do this kind of thing on your own.”

The new website is based on a “non-linear” system of tiles. Maag says: “In essence the user moves through those tiles. Because the site is modular it also makes it a lot easier for us to update.”