FontShop Seeks Keyword Mercenaries

Update, March 28 -- March 31 deadline looms, get the skinny!

As part of a much-needed website redesign, FontShop is calling on font nerds to help them keyword their massive collection. Participants will be rewarded with fonts and a chance to win trips to TYPO Berlin and TypeCon. With 25,000 fonts in the FontShop library, enticing some extra keywording manpower is a very smart idea. I happen to be one of the enticed and I’m on my way to my first font reward (mmm, FF Balance). The official program details are below.

The Process: Easy and Addictive
After entering your login information you will receive random single fonts from our database. There are 12 fields: 2/3 are supplied by the database, 7 fields require you to click one or more pre-selected radio buttons in each field to describe the font, the last 2 fields are filled in manually only if you are able. Participants will be required to register, agree to a non-disclosure, and keyword a minimum of 50 single fonts. Once you have completed 50 fonts, decide if you’ve had enough or want to go onto the next 50, and so on until the database is complete.

The Rewards: Free FontFonts!
For keywording the following number of fonts you can choose from our FontFont library accordingly:

• 50 single fonts (the minimum): you will receive 1 free font of your choice from the FontFont library (value $40)
• 100 single fonts: choose 3 single FontFonts or package costing up to $129 from the FontFont library
• 150 single fonts: choose 5 single FontFonts or package up to $179
• 200 single fonts: choose 8 single FontFonts or package up to $249

You can do more, if you like, for the same rewards. For example, keywording 400 fonts will get you twice the rewards as 200. FontFont designers will, of course, receive their usual royalties on the fonts you choose.

The Grand Prize: TYPO Berlin 2004 and More
Everyone who completes keywords for the minimum of 50 fonts will be entered into The Grand Draw! The prize includes:

• A trip to Berlin, Germany in May 2004, flight (economy) for one person
• One ticket to FontShop Germany’s 3-day TYPO Berlin conference plus 5 days / 4 nights accommodation.
• A roundtrip flight from Berlin to Antwerp, Belgium, 2 nights.
• A visit to the famous Plantijn-Moretus museum with Fred Smeijers and Rudy Geerarts.
• Dinner with Rudy and Fred. Fred Smeijers, proprietor of the new foundry OurType, is well known for many type designs including FF Quadraat and Fresco and his books “Counterpunch” and “Type Now”. Rudy Geearts is the founder of FontShop Benelux and the energy behind Druk, Undercover and now 96 — all great publications by FontShop Benelux.

The random draw will be by supervised by Jared Benson of Typophile.

Additional Prize: TypeCon2004
Those who can do more than 150 fonts will be entered into a separate draw to win free entrance for one to this year’s TypeCon conference in San Francisco in July.

The Deadline: March 30, 2004
Fonts must be keyworded by March 30, so we can make all the necessary travel arrangements to Berlin and Holland for the prizewinner in good time.

If you want to join in, register here and receive your briefing. Serious applicants only, please. We’d like to say a big thank you to all of you helping FontShop with this project.

— FontShop