There is a pic on her site. She doesn't appear very old to be honest, but then I'm 37, and don't look much over 21.

*cough*

Did anyone find a match for River or City? I couldn't find any for those...

Well, as I was nearly duped by the deals, I would like justice.... JUSTICE I TELL YOU!! AAARRRRRGGHHHH!

*falls to knees, throwing fists to the sky*

Just found the email from John regarding Slice/MK Stencil:

"Ben,

I've been able to look into the matter, and the sad truth is that Manfred Klein was passing off one of Kate's fonts as his own. Like you said, it's not up on his site anymore, only third part font sites, so she is looking into getting that fixed.

I was provided the original hand drawn sketches of the fonts by Kate, and it looks like Sketch Rockwell is another ripoff. We are working to help resolve that issue as well.

Thanks to you, we will hopefully get the fonts credited properly and take down any copycats.

Thanks,
John Shaver"

Trouble is now, is he in on it...? And can we trust the other deals they have?

Yeah. I know. I just wanted to hear her admit she'd been deceptive.

That's very sad. I hope that Kate wasn't aware of that and taking advantage of it... As said, I'll let you know know her explanation about 'Slice'...

Yeah, but in one email from John, he stated 'Slice' was copied to make 'MK Stencil' and that she was looking into having it removed. I wanted to find out if this was still the case and which exactly she regards as her own original designs.

If she is now back-tracking then MyDesignDeals should really be refunding anyone who bought the bundles as they were mislead into thinking these were original.

Wel, I've just emailed her to find out the story. I'll let you know what she says.

I notice the whole 'fonts' section is now removed from Kate's site. Not sure sure if they've been taken off the social sites yet though. As she hasn't returned to the thread yet, I may email her to ask about which she believes ate her original creations as I'd still like to hear her side.

If these do turn out to ALL be modified fonts, I wonder if MyDesignDeals will refund those who bought the bundle as they were not as advertised?

Kate, please believe me in that this isn't meant to be a 'witch hunt' but you must be able to see how this looks from our side - fonts which have been around for years which you DID claim as YOUR creations on your site and on the MyDesignDeals bundle blurb (which which you have slightly backtracked on above), with very little evidence that they were 'stolen'. An no, not "all" are identical ('Winter' is 'Freehand 521' with some added curls) but many do appear to be the SAME unaltered font as others (certainly Slice, Skinny and Bleacher). Some of the alterations are so slight they can hardy be seen. 'Line' (Conqueror Inline) just has the ends filled in - and this is a great font family already, hardly in need of 'improvement'.

If you can point to sites where we can find your original files, or provide any original names (as whoever you shared them with/gave them to must have uploaded them to font sites presumably with early names to find their way around the globe to be used by others) then we can see if this backs up your claim that you created these.

Unless you can do this then it's going to be very hard for us to believe that you're not just trying to pass other people's work off as your own. Can you at least state which fonts ARE your original creations which you believe other people to have copied from you? (Which is what was stated from my contact with John). 'Slice' was one which you said had been copied from you and were looking to get it removed from DaFont- is that still the case? Any fonts which are 'improvements' need to be clarified also.

Thanks

Welcome Kate, good to hear your side, but I started this thread as there are many type experts here who's opinions I was keen to hear. Obviously you would state your ownership, as other designers have that I've been in touch with, so I was trying to gain other views in case my doubts were way off. I'm still confused, because as I mentioned before you'd know it would be spotted, which makes me think why would you try this and are they yours?

No, very few fonts these days are unique, but I'm sure you can understand my worry when ALL of your fonts seem to be online elsewhere - many for some years.

Can I ask also why you used 'Disco' in the design of a website (visible in the source code), if you have the original files of your version, 'Skinny'?

Thanks!

Metaphaselbrothel, that is a very valid point, and yes I too have seen hundreds upon hundreds of poor 'copies' of famous fonts, and also the many versions of typefaces that are evolving and being re-presented long after the original designer has passed on. I would say normally though, the 'poor' copies are generally offered for free, and latter "usually" made available through respected foundries and hopefully licensed to the copyright holder. And yes, I'm aware designers help each other to "finish" fonts and sites offer to clean fonts up too, making it appear that different versions of the same font are being sold.

What I alleged with this thread was that the fonts Kate has on her site ARE being claimed as her work, when they *appear* to be simply renamed copies of other fonts (maybe not even 'copies' - just renamed) - and to be profiting from them. Her story (from John a MyDesignDeals) that these were done years ago in college and given out freely, but have been renamed by others "could" be true, but it doesn't seem likely. My original interest started from wanting to buy a commercial license for 'Bleacher', as I'd missed the MyDesignDeals offer when it was part of a package. But after a little searching I found that it was available here as New Athletic. Having seen that, and thinking back to when I challenged MyDesignDeals about 'Slice' (MK Stencil) on a previous deal, alarm bells rang and I wanted to ask questions as to who these fonts did actually belong to. The more queries I've put around, the less her story seems true.

The Disco/Skinny being a prime example - "her" design on her site, but used in a website design for a client and the embedded webfont is "Disco"? Why would she use that version if she'd designed it originally? (Incidentally, Heinrich who I contacted over 'Disco' says it was based on Helvetica Light, so derivative in itself!)

I've been in touch with Mo who uploaded New Athletic here - and he's none too pleased and says he has source files etc to prove it's his work (John at MyDesignDeals claimed to me he had SEEN Kate's sketches and files so can only take his word on that). As he has several other similar "college" fonts you'd be inclined to believe Mo's telling the truth on that one.

There is a site which features her work and shows the full character sets, which may help the experts of type here get a better idea of how close these fonts are, and if she is the designer, or the charlatan...

http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-66920.html

The one thing that niggles me though, that WHY would she do this as there are SO many designers that would spot this. So, is she the innocent party who's been wronged or arrogant to think she'd get away with it?

Maybe not related, but something also "odd" about her site is how many spelling errors/typos are in there... okay, not all designers are or "have to be" great at spelling, but that's not something you would expect to see on a 'professional's' site? You'd surely check your own copy?

This might be a bit of a slip up by her... I emailed the foundry for 'Disco' - or 'Skinny' on Kate's site.... this is the reply:

"hello ben,

this ist interesting. kate designed this site http://www.cindysanchezphotography.com/index.html
in the css file from this site is DISCO as webfont
http://www.cindysanchezphotography.com/styles.css

best regards
heinrich"



Hmmmmm.

I mailed her yesterday to ask (while I was still unsure of the ownership) and she's working on her own store. They were available on Creative Market, but they removed her due to complaints from members over the fonts. This was when I contacted MyDesignDeals again about the fonts, but the guy there again was insistent that he'd seen source files and sketches and was sure they were her work.

Interestingly, the 'past deals' page with the fonts has now been removed.... but this was what was on offer - http://www.andysowards.com/blog/2013/win-8-premium-fonts-courtesy-of-mydesigndeals-com/

It was 'Slice' that first got my attention after seeing as part of a bundle on MyDesignDeals - I contacted them, but replied saying they's seen sketches and sources files. Apparently she said she'd done many at college and gave away free, hence why they were 'out there' under different names having been hijacked by others.

One worrying thing he said was that they gave away the 'wrong' version of her 'SlabSketch' as part of the deal- she'd provided a file of 'SketchRockwell' or 'SketchBlock' (The same I think?) instead of her font 'by mistake'... so she had to quickly send them the correct one. A little suspicious...

She could be genuine and they have been stolen from her... but to me at least it doesn't look that way.

Thanks - I'm not sure what to think, but I have to say I'm not convinced Kate Ferarra is the owner. It seems too much of a coincidence that these fonts have been on other sources for a long while - MK Stencil for example ('Slice' on her site). I know she claims she did them a while ago, but surely there would be some note or evidence that she' designed them?

Be good to get to the bottom of this one....

Hi

Found a font I really liked called 'Bleacher' by Kate Ferrara (http://www.kateferrara.com/fonts.html) as part of a deal, but for some reason didn't end up buying the bundle. So I looked into buying it individually. Then it struck me that I'd seen it before... as New Athletic M54 on here (http://www.dafont.com/new-athletic-m54.font). A few other fonts of hers seem to be other fonts that I've seen but renamed too. I contacted the design deals site who looked into it, and came back saying she provided files and sketches and explained she did them while at college and gave them out for free but is now trying to sell them commercially, but they've been redistributed by others in the meantime claiming it's theirs. Something's not right though, as the owner of New Athletic M54 has other similar style works, which would suggest to me that his is the correct version.

Is there anyway to find out who is in fact the correct owner? I'd like to pay the fee for commercial use, but want to make sure I'm paying the actual owner!

Thanks

Ben