Disney uses free fonts based on Disney Fonts?

Fontmaker MisterGargoyle has made a series of Disney inspired fonts (this makes sense since he loves Disney & makes fonts for fun), and recently he's been finding his fonts (or other's just like them) being used by Disney in the Parks, Online, and even in books, CDs & DVDs.

On related notes, Here's MisterGargoyle's list of all the fonts used by Disney, and Here's MisterGargoyle's photo's of the Polynesian Resort's Tiki inspired signage.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-03-30 08:02 ]

Uhhhhhh.... the font used in the Haunted Mansion - "Bookman Italic Swashes" - was used by Disney back in the 60s.

Am I reading that correctly - that "Mista Gargoyle" is claiming that Disney uses his fonts (as opposed to him creating fonts based on signage that has been around for 20 to 50 years at least)?????

This page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
has Polynesian Resort Signage that makes the claim that the signs use "his" fonts, but as some of you know Bob & Leroy at Oceanic Arts created that signage back in the early 70s, which was no doubt art directed by W.E.D. at the time. They used the font "Blippo", yet this guy claims it as his!

You can get "Blippo" here:
http://www.myfonts.com/search?params[boolean]=and&params[searchtype]=fonts&search[text]=blippo

Check out this page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/49427/comments/
for some interesting comments about "his" fonts....

On 2006-04-03 20:39, Tangaroa wrote:
Uhhhhhh.... the font used in the Haunted Mansion - "Bookman Italic Swashes" - was used by Disney back in the 60s.

Am I reading that correctly - that "Mista Gargoyle" is claiming that Disney uses his fonts (as opposed to him creating fonts based on signage that has been around for 20 to 50 years at least)?????

This page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
has Polynesian Resort Signage that makes the claim that the signs use "his" fonts, but as some of you know Bob & Leroy at Oceanic Arts created that signage back in the early 70s, which was no doubt art directed by W.E.D. at the time. They used the font "Blippo", yet this guy claims it as his!

You can get "Blippo" here:
http://www.myfonts.com/search?params[boolean]=and¶ms[searchtype]=fonts&search[text]=blippo

Check out this page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/49427/comments/
for some interesting comments about "his" fonts....

I don't think he's claiming he created the font used by the Polynesian Resort, he just likes those an other signs from DisneyWorld. I'm pretty sure he only means the fonts on the new signs & DVDs look more like his than the old fonts his are copied from. His own comment on this:

Well I'm happy and flattered that Disney is using my fan-made fonts, and if the Disney company has any problems with them, they've yet to inform me in the six years I've been publishing them (and they've been using them). And yes, my fonts contain enough unique elements that I can reliably identify them as my own.

Re: font copyright -- as others have mentioned, letter designs cannot be copyrighted, but the digitized data can. That's how fonts are copyrighted and sold. More info in my FAQ, at Wikipedia, and at Luc Devroye's website.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-04-04 11:25 ]

But this page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
Says:
"Polynesian Resort signage
Created by Mista Gargoyle."

Or does that mean he "created" the page of photos? I'm so confused.....

On 2006-04-04 14:58, Tangaroa wrote:
But this page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
Says:
"Polynesian Resort signage
Created by Mista Gargoyle."

Or does that mean he "created" the page of photos? I'm so confused.....

Yes, it means he created the page. That's the standard Flikr layout, you get used to it albeit that it's slightly confusing.

On 2006-04-03 20:39, Tangaroa wrote:
Uhhhhhh.... the font used in the Haunted Mansion - "Bookman Italic Swashes" - was used by Disney back in the 60s.

Bookman Italic Swash is only used for the word "The" in the logo; the main Haunted Mansion font is based on an even older woodtype font called Rubens. However, the font used in the Haunted Mansion DVD menus and in the "From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies" book is Ravenscroft, my more recent freeware version.

Am I reading that correctly - that "Mista Gargoyle" is claiming that Disney uses his fonts (as opposed to him creating fonts based on signage that has been around for 20 to 50 years at least)?????

I'm claiming both :)

My fonts are based on Disney logos and signage, but recently Disney has been using them. I wouldn't think of claiming such if I weren't able to positively identify the fonts as my own. Working from incomplete character sets means that many letters and symbols must be improvised, and I also deviate from the original designs in some areas.

This page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
has Polynesian Resort Signage that makes the claim that the signs use "his" fonts, but as some of you know Bob & Leroy at Oceanic Arts created that signage back in the early 70s, which was no doubt art directed by W.E.D. at the time. They used the font "Blippo", yet this guy claims it as his!

No where do I claim that Blippo is mine or that those signs use my fonts. That page is simply a photo set of signage from the Polynesian Resort. But I think your misunderstanding of the attribution is understandable, so I changed the title and description to make things more clear.

That said, I have considered doing a version of Blippo based on the Polynesian signage, featuring all of Blippo's original alternate characters (which aren't available in any existing digital versions).

MrG

[ Edited by: MrGargoyle 2006-04-06 21:11 ]