What are some of the benefits and challenges of using variable fonts in print design?

From my experience, variable fonts represent an innovative approach in typography. Their adaptability allows instant modification of the visual perception of text, which is particularly valuable in dynamic editorial changes. These fonts enable me to precisely tailor typography to specific projects or contexts without diminishing the original design quality.

From what I've seen, variable fonts offer a new way to work with text. You can quickly change how the text looks, which is useful for fast updates. With these fonts, I can fine-tune the typography to suit any project while keeping the design’s quality intact.

Understanding how variable fonts use a single file to create multiple styles changes the way we manage design resources. It simplifies asset management and reduces the preparation time for materials needed for printing, ensuring a cleaner and more manageable workflow.

In the print world, we are used to classic rules for better creativity but also for workflow. The thing that encourages me about variable fonts in print is the early ideation of a piece and how we can more easily switch on screen when thinking through a design. It's less of a dropdown click way of thinking through type and more of an organic way to find what works. If you wanted something between a regular and a bold, but the face didn't have a medium this helps you see that.

Variable fonts allow me as a designer to offer clients more finely tuned and creative solutions. The ability to accurately adapt the font to the specifics of the text and the page design, without needing to use multiple different fonts, saves time and simplifies the layout process.

As mentioned above. In the print world, we are used to classic rules for better creativity but also workflow. I think that something that is lacking a bit in design is the separation between initial ideation and the full creation of a piece. We see sloppy proofing issues and mistakes often in a lot of digital work on the web, apps, and video and that can be fixed with the click of a button. My worry is how variable fonts work when we are in full creation mode. Will things move around when it's least expected and will things that are thought of as final stay that way?

The main difficulty in implementing variable fonts in print projects lies in their novelty and complexity for the team to master. The capabilities of these fonts are significant, but they require designers not only to have technical proficiency but also a deep understanding of the visual language. It's crucial to be able to foresee how changes in the width, weight, or slant of a font affect the perception of text on the printed page. Moreover, sometimes the lack of widespread standards can complicate the accurate reproduction of the intended design in the final printed product, necessitating additional adaptation and testing.

I recently returned to a position where one of the annual projects is a long-form printed piece, and the interim person used variable fonts for the body text. It's *really* hard to read. Not sure if the problem occurred when parsing to the digital press or if the person who created the piece just wasn't very experienced with long-format typesetting, but the justified text, which has its own treatment in InDesign, seems to change widths as well as weights on the page. Reading it hurt my eyes, and our constituency, who skew older, most likely had similar issues that they probably chalked up to low lighting. For now, at least for print, I prefer the control of a font family with a good variety of (non-variable) weights.

I start by choosing projects where variable fonts can best demonstrate their capabilities. This is particularly relevant for large publishing projects where font customization is crucial. Working with presets and adjustment tools allows me to quickly find the necessary styles and accelerates the layout process.

I'd like to share how variable fonts have helped improve the visual unity of our projects. For instance, in one of our recent magazines, the use of a variable font allowed for a consistent design throughout the publication, maintaining a clear visual hierarchy without the need to switch between different fonts.