A Guide to Making Your Own Font
Fonts are the mainstay elements in every graphic design and typewritten communication. Choosing the right font has a different impact on each person. They can be altered as well as used to render emotions or simply to emphasize certain information.
However, it may be overwhelming at times to find the right font for your needs especially if you seem to be in search of a particular style. When you have the vision yet you are not certain how to make it a reality, it gets frustrating.
You don't have to feel that way though. After all, you can actually create your own font from scratch. Learning how to make one can be challenging but with ample knowledge on how to do so, you can produce a font. Here's a six-step guide to doing so.
1. Know what you want
List your desired qualities for your font. This will help you make well-planned choices to achieve your goal. The list will serve as your guide and ensure that you are leaning in the right direction.
In the list, foremost discern where your font falls under in terms of category-"Serif", letters that end with small feet, and "Sans Serif'', letters with no feet.
Remember to also consider where you intend to use your font so you can create it appropriately. The medium or channel in which your font will be shown is relevant too since it would help you further realize your vision.
For example, a very thin-looking font is not advisable to be used on small-sized print collaterals as they ran the risk of not being readable. Instead, it would be better to use a thick font.
2. Research and find inspiration
Consider researching inspirations that can become the basis of your font design. Doing such would also broaden your initial font idea and can help develop it in the process.
You can browse the internet or take a look at the existing font selections on your PC and laptop. However, don’t just limit yourself to fonts but also explore designs with typography or seek creative inspiration in the things around you.
Meanwhile, if you are new to the notion of font or typography, it is imperative to understand the related terminologies that are often being used. Below are the parts to take note of based on the illustration above:
Ascender line is where the ascender starts.
Ascender, the upward vertical stroke.
Baseline is the invisible line where all fonts are placed.
Descender renders the downward vertical stroke situated in the lowercase letters.
Stem is known as the primary vertical stroke.
Terminal serves as the end of a stroke.
Uppercase or the “capital letters” is used to start sentences and proper nouns.
X-height is the height of the lowercase letter’s main body.
Serif or “Feet” is the non-structural details of some strokes.
Shoulder is the curved stroke originating from a stem.
Lowercase letters are smaller form of an uppercase.
Loop pertains to the enclosed counter under the baseline of a double-story g.
Counter is a letter’s fully or partially enclosed space.
Bowl can be seen as a curved stroke enclosing a letter’s counter
3. Do a handwritten draft of your font
Now that you've finished taking notes, researching, and gathering inspiration, it is now time to do an actual draft design. You need to create handwritten versions of the font as many times as you like or until you are satisfied. In this way, you can freely let your ideas flow.
Individually write down each letter for your font, so you’ll see if they are consistent with what you have in mind or not. Apart from the alphabet, you can also write numbers or special symbols.
Since you are using a pen or pencil, you can incorporate changes swiftly as needed. You also get a firsthand feel of how to manually write the font that you have created.
4. Choose a font-making or customizing software
There are softwares that you can use to create your font. Each has varied characteristics, but all of them do a similar function. Here are some of the best softwares that you can choose from:
Birdfont enables either the creation or uploading of fonts as needed. This is deemed useful to beginners since it has available tutorials to get you started.
Fontstruct renders the creation of geometrical shape-made fonts.
Fontforge is known as an "open-source font editor" because it guides all throughout the process. There is online documentation that you could follow as you go along in creating your design.
Metaflop allows users to manipulate basic fonts to their liking.
PaintFont lets the users turn handwriting into digital font through scanning and template submission.
5.Digitize font
When you have chosen the software, it's time to proceed with digitizing your font. As you create them, be critical in ensuring that all of the characters have a consistent style. It is advisable to print them out so you can review them with ease.
During this phase, you can experiment more with your font. Try applying different font effects to see what can make your font look better. As seen above, you can create three variations to your font by just simply making it in bold, italic, or in normal style.
6.Finish your font
The last step is producing the final version of your font. Make sure that you save it in the best available format depending on the software that you used. When you successfully packaged it, used it as you see fit or share it with anyone. Congratulations! You now have your own font.
To conclude…
Customizing your font takes effort and also patience. It is something done with a definite vision in mind. You also have to know your purpose why you are creating one and on what platform it will be used.
In overview, you need to do the following if you want to create a font:
- Know what you want
- Research and find inspiration
- Do a handwritten draft of your font
- Choose a font-making or customizing software
- Digitize font
- Finish your font
By following this guide, you’ll have a customized font in no time. If you want, GraphicsZoo can even incorporate your font in any design that you want. The GraphicsZoo team is ready to assist you on your needs. You can contact us at support@graphicszoo.com