Whether a cabinetmaker, chef, or photographer, artisans choose their tools carefully. Good tools make the job go easier and can improve the quality of the finished product. So it is with graphic designers and their fonts.

It's pretty difficult to design a lengthy document without a high legibility typeface or a wedding invitation without a script. The problem is that we tend to license fonts as they are needed. Over time, our hard drives end up a cornucopia of fonts: a profusion of designs, many times lacking a solid foundation of communication tools.

Enter the Foundation Collection – a broad cross-section of fonts that will underpin your work. The typographic experts at Monotype have identified 75 fonts that are the basic building blocks of typographic design – plus a few faces to add variety and versatility – all at a price that requires little effort to justify.

The collection provides fonts from 8 styles of serif typefaces, 7 styles of sans serif and a diversity of script and display designs.

Renaissance old style designs are represented by the Centaur®, Stempel Garamond® and the award winning Malabar® typefaces. The Monotype Baskerville™ and Bodoni families provide transitional and neoclassical choices, and ITC Charter® and FF Unit® Slab are variations on the no-nonsense square-serif theme.

Sans serif designs are represented by the geometric sans of Avenir® Next and the industrial strength DIN Next™ designs. Traditional grotesques in the collection are the newly released Neue Haas Unica™ and time-proven Trade Gothic® families, while the delightfully informal Ayita™ design completes the suite of sans.

All the serif and sans serif designs were also chosen for their approachability and remarkable levels of legibility.

Rounding out the Foundation Collection are decorative typefaces, like the Shelley Script® and WilliamLucas™ designs, the calligraphic and handwriting fonts of Chicory™ and Smile™, and powerful display typefaces, like Titanium Motors™ and Pokerface™.

Maintaining a grounded typeface library can be a challenge when you are reacting to the immediate needs of projects and clients, but the Foundation Collection, available for a limited time for just $49 (yes, you read that correctly) is a simple and inexpensive way to maintain font stability.

Priced at nearly $3,000 if bought individually, this carefully curated type collection draws from the acclaimed Monotype, Linotype, ITC, Bitstream and other libraries to provide a strong foundation for any designers' type library – whether you are just getting started in your career or a seasoned typographic professional.

Until December 11th, this formidable collection of 75 Foundation Collection fonts can be yours for just $49.