AIGA and Adobe partner to develop font collection for design education

NEW YORK, March 13, 2008. AIGA announces a comprehensive and affordable font collection for teaching and learning about typography. Adobe® Font Folio® Education Essentials software was developed by Adobe in collaboration with college-level AIGA design educators to serve the needs of students in professional programs of study and higher-education faculty by providing nearly 500 fonts in OpenType® format. Adobe supports these fonts with online information about their development and history.

This product was developed by Adobe specifically to help design students afford and acquire a license to a range of fonts in a single package to minimize their costs, while providing a full family of fonts to assist educators in teaching typography.

AIGA and Adobe have long worked together in advancing the practice of design, supporting the use of technology across creative industries and highlighting the impact of design on the economy and society. Many of the fonts in Font Folio Education Essentials are classics and have been selected for their long-standing importance to design, while others extend the connotative range of formal attributes demanded by contemporary design problems. “Font Folio Education Essentials allows students to make appropriate type choices for the context and content of their work and helps faculty to teach the history of design,” said Richard Grefé, executive director of AIGA, “The collection is a true foundation for design students and educators alike.”

Adobe® Font Folio Education Essentials is available for pre-order (shipping by late April) to students and those affiliated with educational institutions at the Adobe® Education Store, North America, for $149. For more information, visit www.adobe.com/education/products/fontfolioeducationessentials.

About AIGA

AIGA, the professional association for design, is the oldest and largest membership association for design professionals engaged in the discipline, practice and culture of designing. AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force.

Founded in 1914, AIGA is the preeminent professional association for communication designers, broadly defined. In the past decade, designers have increasingly been involved in creating value for clients (whether public or business) through applying design thinking to complex problems, even when the outcomes may be more strategic, multidimensional and conceptual than what most would consider traditional communication design. AIGA now represents more than 22,000 designers of all disciplines through national activities and local programs developed by 59 chapters and 240 student groups.

AIGA supports the interests of professionals, educators and students who are engaged in the process of designing. The association is committed to stimulating thinking about design, demonstrating the value of design and empowering success for designers throughout the arc of their careers.

For further information, please contact:
Leah Rico
AIGA | the professional association for design
Tel 212 710 3146   Fax 212 807 1799
leah_rico [at] aiga [dot] org