Pitched at both hobbyists and those wanting to explore a little deeper, Glyphs Mini is the starter version of the hugely intuitive and widely popular Glyphs app which we now use at Fontsmith each and every day for both drawing and production (more on that below). Modifying existing fonts is dangerous legal territory. Always read a font’s License Agreement as very few foundries will permit the modification of their copyrighted font data. With that in mind, be very careful about opening, adapting or modifying any existing typefaces. My impression is that this is a tool for those looking to tinker or create one-off personal projects. I’ve never used TypeTool but I know of reputable design studios that do use it for pitching fonts to large font resellers. Much like Fontographer, it has a trimmed down functionality, but with the more accomplished pro UI of Fontlab Studio. Pitched at “students and hobby typographers,” TypeTool is a favourite with BA graphic design courses. This is the app that will help you make your first no-frills font file, and explore the key principles of typeface design. You can choose to set up a design source file in either Easy or Advanced mode, meaning there’s no need to be concerned with complex OpenType features, high-level hinting or handling a large family design space as none of these things are available in Fontographer directly. Today, it’s an appealingly simple app that allows you to learn the fundamentals of digital type design – letter craft, spacing and kerning – while familiarising yourself with common font drawing tools. You’ll never forget the first time you type your own letters on the keyboard…įor many designers Fontographer is considered the first digital font editor, and it is still very much alive. When you have your idea set out with some core letter shapes, you can move into a font editor – a world of magical grey boxes, obscure tool buttons and coding panels.īelow is a brief roundup of the most widely used tools to help bring your letter ideas to life digitally. Remember that the white space of a form is just as important as the black. Recognise your letters’ historical origins and explore their overall proportions. Begin by drawing key shapes “n”, “o”, “H” and “O” to establish proportions, then review other typefaces to recognise the key differences in stroke weight, as well as the optical effects of varying strokes vertically and horizontally. When starting out, it’s important to read and learn about the key principles of type design with regards to letter proportions and the spacing of your chosen script. An influx of new tools has given rise to a wider enthusiasm for type-creation from designers of all backgrounds, making font development as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. Embarking on the design and build of your first ever “typeable” typeface is an exciting prospect: the result of learning new working methods and exploring what makes your own type design personal to you.Ĭhoosing a good font editor is a key part of this process, and these digital tools play no small part in influencing your design decisions.
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