At the moment, there is a huge number of a wide variety of fonts, however, some users may want to create some of their own, completely unique designs. Fortunately, in our time, it is not at all necessary to have the skill of calligraphy for this, because there are a fairly large number of specialized programs designed to facilitate this process.

X-Fonter is not designed to create your own fonts. She, in fact, is an advanced manager that allows you to better navigate among the many sets installed on your computer.

Also in X-Fonter there is a tool for creating simple compact banners.

type

Type is a great tool for creating your own fonts. Allows you to draw characters of almost any complexity through the use of tools available in the built-in set. Among those are straight lines, splines and basic geometric objects.

In addition to the standard method of creating symbols described above, Type has the ability to manually program them using the command window.

scanahand

Scanahand stands out from the rest due to the way it works with fonts. To create your own font here, you need to print the prepared table, fill it in manually with a marker or pen, and then scan it and load it into the program.

This font maker is best for people with calligraphy skills.

font creator

FontCreator is a program developed by High-Logic. It, like Scanahand, provides the ability to create your own unique fonts. However, unlike the previous solution, FontCreator does not require any additional hardware such as a scanner and printer.

In general, this program is similar in its functionality to Type, because it uses approximately the same set of tools.

Font Forge

Another tool for creating your own and editing ready-made fonts. It has almost the same set of functions as FontCreator and Type, but it is completely free.

The main disadvantage of FontForge is a rather inconvenient interface, divided into many separate windows. However, despite this, this program occupies one of the leading positions among similar solutions for creating fonts.

The above programs will help you better interact with different fonts. All of them, except perhaps X-Fonter, have many useful features for creating your own fonts.

When working with graphics, especially in printing, you almost always need to deal with fonts. Hundreds of fonts on the computer, thousands - on the Internet. Paid, free, serif, sans-serif, Cyrillic, decorative, grotesque, stylized - it's easy to drown in the variety of fonts, and it's almost impossible to remember everything. Moreover, most of them are rarely used. This is where font managers come to the rescue. There are also quite a few of them - from simple viewers to powerful managers that provide many opportunities. In this article, we will look at several effective free font managers.

Fast Font Preview

This is a very simple utility that allows you to quickly view the fonts installed on your system. For greater convenience, the standard test phrase can be replaced with your own. It is noteworthy that the program can work portable. Actually, the possibilities of FastFontPreview end there. But often, that's all it takes. You can download FastFontPreview.

font viewer

The Font Viewer program works similarly. For more convenience, you can customize the font color, size and background. You can also save your favorite fonts to lists for quick access in the future and export your list of fonts to a txt or pdf file.

FontMassive

Incredibly powerful program included in the FontMassive Pack series. The program is offered in paid and free versions. The list of its features is impressive:

• Display fonts as a list.
• Symbol table.
• Distribution of font files into folders.
• Installing fonts in the system.
• Removing fonts from the system
• Working with formats: TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf), PostScript Type1 (.pfm + .pfb).
• View fonts without installation from any source (folders, CD/DVD-ROM, network environment).
• Character-by-character comparison of similar fonts.
• Very fast list filling (you can already work with the list while it continues to fill up).
• Opening subfolders. For example, when dragging from Explorer, hold down Ctrl.
• A large number of sorting options (for example, by text width - helps to visually find similar fonts).
• Copying styles in curves in .
• Viewing a symbol in curves.
• Folder history.
• Own folder tree.
• Work without installation.

FontDetect

The eternal problem - the client asks to write “in such a font”, of course, he does not remember the name. Searching for a similar style with a simple search can take a lot of time and end up with nothing. The FontDetect utility included with the FontMassive Pack helps solve this problem. Program features:

• "Probing" fonts in a given list for similarity with the image.
• Sort by the most similar to the image.
• Very fast search.
• Built-in mini-editor (or rather, corrector) of the image.
• Ability to work independently (without FontMassive).
• The search occurs among all font files specified by the user.

FonTemp

Having a large number of fonts on a computer is a production necessity. But with each new font, the load on the graphic editor and the search time among the many unused options also increase. The FonTemp program from the FontMassive Pack allows you to make a tricky move. You can temporarily "install" the font while the program is running, or you can create an array of the desired fonts. At the end of the work, the system will no longer "see" them. In general, FonTemp can do the following:

• Installing fonts "for temporary use" regardless of their location (at least on a local network).
• The system is not "overloaded" with a large number of permanently installed fonts (besides, it is limited).
• The System's limitation on the number of installed fonts is due to the limited maximum size of keys in the Registry.
• When the program is closed (or restarted), the fonts are no longer installed (visible by all programs).
• List of Sets and a list of fonts from each set.
• Labels for "temporarily off this temporary list" :).
• The number of created sets is not limited.
• Convenient call from FontMassive (first select the fonts in FM and open the context menu of the list).
• Ability to work independently (without the entire FontMassive Pack).
• Minimize to tray (“by the clock”).

NexusFont

NexusFont is in many ways similar to the above programs. This handy application, in addition to viewing, installing and deleting fonts, also allows you to work with fonts only while the program is running. You can combine fonts into all sorts of groups for greater convenience, as well as remove duplicates, even if they have different names.

The portability of NexusFont is also an undoubted advantage. You can run the program from a flash drive on any computer and still use all the variety of fonts you have.

FontFrenzy

Let's say you decide to use a program to temporarily connect fonts and clean the system to its original state. But how to remove all unnecessary and not touch the system fonts? A simple FontFrenzy program comes to the rescue. It will quickly put things in order in your system, and all the "extra" fonts can be put into a separate folder, from where you can always restore them.

FontNet Explorer

Each designer has their own list of bookmarks with font sites. But searching for the right one on a variety of sites can take a lot of time. FontNet Explorer is a font browser that will do the search for the desired font for you on an impressive database of specialized sites. It is noteworthy that the program does not require installation.

MyFontbook

And, finally, if you are far from your computer and there is no flash drive with your font manager at hand, but you urgently need to find the right option, then use MyFontbook. This online application will show all your fonts, sort them by tags (if you have created them) and allow you to quickly view the desired phrase.

By choosing the software you need and putting things in order in the font folder, you can significantly simplify and speed up the creation of your design projects.

The readability of any test is very often determined to a fairly high degree by the font used to write it. Many users do not want to be content with what modern fonts offer and try to create their own fonts. However, there are many problems in the process if some important points are not taken into account. Creating your own beautiful font is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. Therefore, we will try to consider some of the nuances associated with this painstaking work.

How to create a beautiful font: problem statement

First of all, at the initial stage, you should clearly define the main goals for yourself. Whether a font will be created for academic publications, for comics or entertainment projects - this largely determines the main stages of work.

Next, you should decide how exactly the font to be created should look and whether it will fit into the future project (sans serif font, serif font, characters with the correct geometry, finally, whether the font will be based on the designer’s own handwriting), how well it will look in long documents , not just in headers.

Naturally, one should take into account how the characters will be visually perceived when magnified. It is also worth paying attention to in the whole document. Of course, some simple program can be used to change the font of an existing one, but most experts do not recommend using other fonts as a basis, because if you want to achieve originality, such tools are not suitable for work (except perhaps only for understanding the basics of editing).

First stage

Creating sans-serif letters is considered more difficult, so it’s better to start with a cursive font. A program to create a font from your handwriting can be used in the later stages, and at the very beginning it is recommended to draw a few characters by hand, and then make some combination of them and see how it looks in the general plan.

This approach allows you to immediately assess many shortcomings, because handwriting can be very specific and highly individual, and not all readers of future texts will be able to read it. Uncomfortable reading can simply push away a potential reader.

In the simplest case, you can even just take photos for the letters, and then make words or combinations from them (on a computer or manually from natural pictures).

First letters

Computer processing and programs for creating fonts do not need to be implemented immediately. You should start by creating two, as it is believed, main letters. These are uppercase Latin letters "n" and "o", and capital ones - "O" and "H".

Some experts in this field recommend using the combination "adhension" (or "adhencion"). It is believed that the creation of sequences of these particular characters by hand in the early stages of developing a future font allows you to fully understand the geometry and proportions of each letter, number or symbol.

In the future, this will simplify the task of drawing symbols already in a computer program. But initially it is better to draw them manually, because without certain knowledge on a computer it will be quite problematic to create smooth lines or transitions.

Font Makers: Transferring a Font to Your Computer

But, let's say the font has been created, and so far no specific program has been used to create it. The next step is to transfer the font to a computer environment. Needless to say, this will require a scanner and appropriate software.

And for these purposes, you can use many applications, however, all those who have encountered such software packages, as a rule, recommend using Adobe Illustrator - a program that is universal in all respects. It is advisable to first paint over the drawn characters with a bright marker, and then also make a border with a pen to smooth out the shapes.

But after all, not all novice designers have practical skills in working with this application, since the program itself for beginners is considered quite difficult to master. Therefore, a high-quality, although not new, application called FontLab Studio is perfect.

Despite being somewhat outdated, the application has quite a few professional-level modules in its arsenal, including Bizet's drawing tools, glyph viewers in two-dimensional space, and not just in horizontal planes, all sorts of automatic converters and font mergers. In addition, this software product supports most well-known font formats (TrueType, ASCII Unix, Open TrueType, Mac TrueType), as well as designs created using the same Adobe Illustrator in BMP, AI, TIFF, EPS, etc. formats.

If you don't want to draw...

In such a situation, the BirdFont utility is perfect for the user - a small program for creating your own font, as they say, from scratch.

Despite its simplicity, the application has an excellent toolkit, where you can separately draw letters or symbols with reference to a geometric grid, create glyphs on top of existing images, automatically convert characters to vector form, advanced font import options and add metadata.

If you want to make a project based on your own handwriting, you can resort to using the FontCreator application. The program is quite easy to learn and has good capabilities not only for creating, but also for testing fonts, even when tied to a standard PCI keyboard with different layouts.

Font testing

Finally, the font is created and processed for further use. At the next stage, you should first pay attention to how the characters will look in one word, line, paragraph or in full text in terms of its readability.

Also, it's worth trying to resize the text and evaluate how well it looks at different scaling options. Almost all programs for creating fonts have such capabilities, but it's better to just print the text and see for yourself. A sheet with printed text in different sizes can be hung on the wall and viewed from a distance or close up to analyze the shortcomings. It is also desirable to send some text to acquaintances or friends so that they can evaluate the work, because the author, as a rule, has only his own, purely personal opinion and perception of what has been done.

What programs are better to use?

Now it remains to look at the most popular programs for creating fonts, which are mostly used by both professional designers and ordinary users. Among all the variety that is currently offered on the computer technology market, the following software products are worth noting separately:

• FontLab Studio;
• FontCreator;
• birdfont;
• fontographer;
• FontForge;
• Type 3.2 font editor;
• FontStruct;
• BitFontMaker2;
• fontifier;
• YourFonts;
• Glyphr;
• iFontMaker;
• FontArk;
• MyScriptFont etc.

In this list, you can find programs for creating fonts in Russian, free and paid utilities. And yes, they do differ quite a lot in terms of capabilities. So you will have to choose based on your own considerations, needs or testing applications in work.

Instead of total

As can be understood from all of the above, the process of creating your own font, on the one hand, looks quite simple (when using programs), and on the other, it requires imagination and perseverance. Here, the emphasis was specifically on developing your own font, rather than processing an existing one, since a creative approach on the part of a designer always looks more interesting than copying something that already existed. I would like to hope that these simple tips will help all beginners to comprehend all the stages in the development of their projects. Well, programs for creating fonts are a second matter. The main thing is the original idea of ​​the creator himself, so to speak, a creative approach to solving the problem. And this, as you know, is welcomed in the first place.

I'm a true typography geek and spend a lot of time researching and experimenting with all sorts of different types of fonts and styles.

In that sense, I also tried to create my own fonts, and I must say that anyone with a little experience can do it.
Here are some of the most well-known (and free) tools for creating fonts yourself.

Fontstruct

Fontstruct is a web application that's a great tool for creating fonts, especially if you're new to it. Users need to register to create fonts, but the GUI is so simple and easy to use that you'll be up and running in no time.

Fontstruct greets users with an MS Paint-like environment where they can use "bricks" which are essentially templates to help create the design of your choice. There are dozens of bricks to choose from, each of which can provide creators with their own unique feature to add to a font.

A few additional basic tools, including an eraser, a line/rectangle tool, and a hand tool, allow you to create fonts accurately and professionally.
Each letter/character, whichever language you choose, has a corresponding "slot" to help you keep track of which characters you've already drawn and those you may have forgotten.

Fontsrtuct contains character models for over 20 different languages.

While creating your masterpiece, Fontsrtuct provides the ability to print and test the result in real time, which is undoubtedly a convenient feature for both novice designers and professionals.

Once your font is ready, you can download it (in TrueType format) and/or share it via the gallery. Here, users can post, vote, and download fonts, creating communities of typography enthusiasts everywhere.

If you prefer desktop apps to create fonts, let's take a look at FontForge: a great free program that allows you to create your own fonts. It is more sophisticated than Fontstruct, and contains a large number of settings and tools.

Users are greeted with a bitmap image of signs and symbols that can be molded and remade to suit the desired design. FontForge is compatible with many different font formats, including TrueType and Opentype.

I would also recommend reading the excellent article by the creators of FontForge, which will help you when creating fonts. There are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux, however Windows users also need to install Cygwin, which is a free Linux environment for Windows required to run FontForge.

FontForge is definitely worth a try, but before that, play around with Fontstruct to get used to the typographic environment and bring some of your ideas to life.

What is good about Android? First of all, the appearance of this system can be changed to your taste and color: themes, icons, color schemes, and, of course, fonts. But, by default, Android lacks the ability to make any major visual changes to the system. In this article, we will tell you about ways to change the system font on an Android smartphone or tablet.

Particularly advanced Threshbox readers may claim that they can easily change the font on their smartphones or tablets without resorting to any manipulation from the outside. And they will be right. Branded shells of some manufacturers of Android devices allow you to make changes to fonts through the settings of the system itself. For example, HTC, Samsung and LG offer this feature and have the corresponding option in their shell settings. Moreover, you can not only choose a font from the existing set, but also download any other from the Internet.

If you are not as lucky as the owners of smartphones from Samsung and LG, you have stock Android or your shell does not support changing fonts, you can use one of the methods described in this article.

Attention! Further actions you perform at your own peril and risk. The editors of the Treshbox website are not responsible for the "bricking" of your devices.

How to change font using launcher

This method is the simplest and safest. As a rule, third-party launchers can do much more than just change the font. They allow you to change the appearance of Android beyond recognition. However, not all shells have the option to change the font. For the most part, launchers can install the font that comes with the theme package. For example, there is such an opportunity in and .

Additional options for replacing the font are also present in, which suggests changing its style to one of the variants of the Roboto family. True, changing the system font in this way to a radically different type will not work.

GO Launcher is perhaps the most functional among the other launchers in this matter. It can change the font to any other found on the device.

As for, unfortunately, there is no possibility to change the font in this shell.

It is worth noting that launchers are able to change fonts within their shell, while some interface elements remain unchanged, for example, the font of the system settings window, notification bar, or any other service information. If you need deeper system changes, then you can not do without special applications.

How to change font using apps

Among the many programs on Google Play with which you can change Android system fonts, iFont is one of the most popular. The application allows you to download and install your favorite font in a couple of clicks. All you need to do is select it from the catalog or use the search.

One of the key benefits of iFont is the ability to select a font by language with preview and comparison. There are relatively few fonts in the application itself, but you can upload your own fonts here. The selection with Cyrillic is not bad. There are several beautiful cursive fonts and even one of the Old Church Slavonic type.

IFont easily copes not only with system files, but also with individual applications, allowing you to install custom fonts for them, change styles and colors for each one individually.

The procedure for changing the font in iFont for most devices requires, however, on some proprietary firmware, for example, from Samsung, Huawei and other manufacturers, you can do without ROOT. In any case, before making changes, the program always creates a backup copy of the system fonts on the memory card. So you can revert all changes to their original state.

FontFix is ​​another Android system font replacement app with a nice interface. The program downloads them from three sources: Google Fonts, Font Squirrel and DaFont. And this is more than 4 thousand different fonts available for free for your smartphone.

The application allows you to sort fonts by tags and popularity. However, there is no search filtering by language. Therefore, finding a font with Cyrillic support you like is a rather difficult task. In addition to the online database, you can also upload your own fonts to the program.

Like the previous application, FontFix supports two methods of installing fonts - using ROOT access (for most devices) and on smartphones whose skins have FlipFont, which allows you to change the font without ROOT rights (Samsung, HTC).

In general, the main and, perhaps, the only advantage of FontFix is ​​the number of fonts available for download. Otherwise, this application is slightly inferior in terms of functionality to iFont.

How to change system fonts on Android manually

This method is suitable for enthusiasts who are not afraid to experiment with their device. A prerequisite for performing this operation is the presence of ROOT rights in order to be able to modify system files on Android. In fact, changing the font manually is not so difficult as it might seem at first glance. The main thing is to understand what changes you are making and follow the instructions clearly.

The Android system uses the Roboto family fonts, which are located along the path /system/fonts:

• Roboto-Regular.ttf
• Roboto-Italic.ttf
• Roboto-Bold.ttf
• Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf

There may be other names for system fonts, but the main thing is that they start with Roboto.

So, for the font change procedure, you will need any file manager that can work with system files and a pre-prepared TrueType Font format font (with the .ttf extension) that you want to install. For example, the file manager on a smartphone running Android 4.4.2 and the lobster.ttf font were used.

1. Go to folder /system/fonts, find the system font Roboto-Regular.ttf and first make a copy or rename it, for example, to Roboto-Regular.ttf.old.