How digital fonts are made

On this page you will find a description of how a typeface is designed and created. Of course, years ago fonts were cast in metal letters that were set into a movable type printing press. That involved the long and highly skilled process of making "punches" which would be hammered into a copper mold used to cast the actual type. These punchcutters had to carefully reproduce the letters of the type designer, but could often be designers themselves. Today things are different. With the advent of personal computers, and Bezier PostScript® outlines anyone with an interest in type can create a font and anyone else can use it.

But it is still a lengthy process that requires practice and skill. Below is a series of steps that I use to create my typefaces....

Early Pencil Sketches for "Hucklebuck"

Step one for me often begins by making some rough sketches on paper to figure out how each character in the font will be constructed. This helps me to get a feel for the flow and shape of the letterforms before I move on to the digital part.

When I feel ready to begin creating the digital font, I then move to Fontographer 4.1 on my G4 Macintosh. Fontographer is a wonderful piece of software created expressly for making fonts. In the main character window, we find drawing tools similar to Illustrator® or FreeHand® that allow the user to create the outline curve of each letter. Technically speaking, each letter in a font is defined by a mathematical curve known as a Bezier Curve which is created by laying down anchor points. These anchor points lie directly on the curve and define its shape. Extending from each point (see sample below) are handles and Bezier Control Points, also known as BCPs. These handles can be pushed and pulled to alter the shape of the curve between the points. Whenever possible, the anchor points should fall at the "extremes" of the curve, or wherever it changes direction. Notice in the sample below that the main curve defining points have handles which are always horizontal or vertical. This takes some practice, but creates the smoothest and most professional looking outlines.

Bézier Outline for capital S from "Valentina Joy"

After all of the character outlines are drawn, then comes the careful process of spacing each letter (see sample below). Spacing a typeface properly is very important to its final appearance. After each letter is spaced, then comes the addition of Kerning Pairs, which adjusts the spacing between individual pairs of letters. Spacing and Kerning are collectively known as a font's Metrics. Like the old saying goes...You can make all the letter spacing happy some of the time, and some of the letter spacing happy all of the time, but you can't make all of the letter spacing happy all of the time...this is where kerning comes in. Common kerning pairs are combinations like "To" "Va" and "Wr". To make use of kerning however the software you are using the font with must support it. Happily most graphics programs such as Illustrator® and Photoshop® support kerning.

Setting the Metrics for "Viceroy"

Finally, when all the outlines are correct and the metrics are set, the font can be generated in PostScript or TrueType format, and packaged for sale to excited designers!

And that's how fonts get from my brain to your desktop!...

Back to "Typographic Goodies"




			Early Pencil Sketches for "Hucklebuck"
	Step one for me often begins by making some rough sketches on paper to figure out how each character in the font will be constructed. This helps me to get a feel for the flow and shape of the letterforms before I move on to the digital part.


When I feel ready to begin creating the digital font, I then move to Fontographer 4.1 on my G4 Macintosh. Fontographer is a wonderful piece of software created expressly for making fonts. In the main character window, we find drawing tools similar to Illustrator® or FreeHand® that allow the user to create the outline curve of each letter. Technically speaking, each letter in a font is defined by a mathematical curve known as a Bezier Curve which is created by laying down anchor points. These anchor points lie directly on the curve and define its shape. Extending from each point (see sample below) are handles and Bezier Control Points, also known as BCPs. These handles can be pushed and pulled to alter the shape of the curve between the points. Whenever possible, the anchor points should fall at the "extremes" of the curve, or wherever it changes direction. Notice in the sample below that the main curve defining points have handles which are always horizontal or vertical. This takes some practice, but creates the smoothest and most professional looking outlines.

		Bézier Outline for capital S from "Valentina Joy"



After all of the character outlines are drawn, then comes the careful process of spacing each letter (see sample below). Spacing a typeface properly is very important to its final appearance. After each letter is spaced, then comes the addition of Kerning Pairs, which adjusts the spacing between individual pairs of letters. Spacing and Kerning are collectively known as a font's Metrics. Like the old saying goes...You can make all the letter spacing happy some of the time, and some of the letter spacing happy all of the time, but you can't make all of the letter spacing happy all of the time...this is where kerning comes in. Common kerning pairs are combinations like "To" "Va" and "Wr". To make use of kerning however the software you are using the font with must support it. Happily most graphics programs such as Illustrator® and Photoshop® support kerning.

		Setting the Metrics for "Viceroy"
	Finally, when all the outlines are correct and the metrics are set, the font can be generated in PostScript or TrueType format, and packaged for sale to excited designers! And that's how fonts get from my brain to your desktop!...
			Back to "Typographic Goodies"