Design
Life without Google (Fonts)
(Subtraction.com)
Khoi Vinh riffing the inexorable creep of free and open Google services into a vast array of web service and applications.
Google Fonts is hardly an insubstantial product, but relative to its other pursuits, it barely seems like it takes much effort from the company. And yet in less than a decade it has turned into one of the most important providers of type in the world. The fact that the company has operated the service with a relatively neutral hand is commendable, but who’s to say how long that will last? The implications for the design world are far reaching if Google ever decides to turn its Fonts service into a revenue bearing business.