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If you’re a graphic designer who can’t bear to see Helvetica used for one more postcard or Times New Roman on another newsletter, then it’s time to expand your font library. But what to do when you’re a freelancer on a budget? Find free fonts!

League Script #1, from The League of Moveable Type

I racked the brains of designers as well as scoured the web in search of free fonts. I then compiled a list that includes popular go-to sites such as DaFont as well as lesser-known pages and even nondesign websites that just happen to provide free fonts. The fonts you’ll find on these sites include calligraphy, stencils, military, children’s themes, handwriting, graffiti and comic fonts. You’ll find inspiration for wedding invitations, business cards, scrapbooks, marketing postcards, kids’ parties and more.

A caveat: Not every font on each site listed here is free. On some sites, every font is free of charge, and on others, perhaps just one is.

I have a request for typography fans: Which free font sites am I missing?

1001 Fonts

1001 Free Fonts

About.com

Abstract Fonts

Acid Fonts

BillyBear4Kids

Blambot

Bob’s Your Uncle

BV Fonts

Celtic Fonts

Cumberland Fontworks

DaFont

DailyFreeFonts

Fontalicious

Font Cubes

Font Environment

The Font Factory

Fonts for Peas

Font Garden

Font River

Fonts101

Fonts2u

FontSpace

Font Squirrel

FontStock

Font Temple

Font-Zone

Free Fonts

Free Premium Fonts

Free Script Fonts

Iconian Fonts

InstantShift

Johan Cedmar-Brandstedt

The League of Moveable Type

Lost Type Co-Op

MediaFire

MyFonts

Princess Fonts

Quantum Enterprises

SearchFreeFonts

SimplytheBest Fonts

Typoasis

UrbanFonts

Zono Art

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The 1999 American movie Fight Club, often described as a coming of age film, is a mind-boggling flick that goes beyond Brad Pitt. So what does Fight Club and typography have in common? The challenge to try to piece things together!

And as action packed as the film’s explosive ending, typography requires the same sweat and blood to express ideas with text. In fact, the movie’s unusual storytelling gimmicks and cool camera tricks are a first-rate inspiration to experiment with typography.

Kinetic Typography Experiments

The synthesis of words and animation define kinetic typography. In simple terms, it is aptly described as “moving text” and is usually developed using standard animation programs. The following Fight Club-inspired kinetic typography artworks intensely echo the feel and dynamics of the film.

Fight Club – Chemical Burn by Sebastian Jaramillo

This kinetic typography from the San Francisco based web developer evokes the chaos and order from the chemical burn scene in Fight Club. Behind the animation are the voices of Tyler Dunden (Brad Pitt) and The Narrator (Edward Norton) synced dramatically with the rhythmic appearance and movement of words.

Fight Club Intonation Typography by Craig Chupinsky

Motion media animator Craig Chupinsky created this typographic visualization of The Narrator’s (Edward Norton) introduction of himself and his job as a projectionist. Like the character, Craig starts the animation with a monotonic style and in-between surprises the audience with splices of wit and humour. Keep your eyes open.¬†

Typography Posters

The stationary characteristic of typography posters makes it a challenge for artists to make sure that the type is both legible and artistic at the same time, whilst conveying an idea or emotion in 2D.  With the absence of animation and auditory features, the following posters are equally laudable for successfully delivering slices of emotion and unique impressions of the movie.

Fight Club Typography by Mauroof Ibrahim

Animator Mauroof Ibrahim used typography and vectors to render the movie’s feel in this poster. Although unlike its kinetic counterparts, this Fight Club inspired creation injects movement through a cause and effect impression of graphics and text.

Fight Club by Jerod Gibson

The role of a bar soap in Fight Club is well highlighted on this art print by creative director Jerod Gibson. The artist used the element itself to contain the most striking dialogues in David Fincher’s film. Though lacking in movement as compared to Ibrahim’s work, this poster goes against the grain of action-themed styles that explicitly pronounces Fight Club as an inspiration.

The Eight Rules of Fight Club by Drew Mander

In typography, the rule of emphasis is exhibited with the exaggeration of words with a font in a different style from the rest of the content. And graphic designer Drew Mander applied this commandment to present the Eight Rules of Fight Club.

Like Gibson, Mander did not engage extra visuals to interplay with the words. Instead, this typographic poster employed the texture of a crumpled paper in the background and an almost subliminal scratched effect on some of the letters, as if they got into an alphabetical fight themselves.

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Font, Color, Size – these are not decisions that should be taken lightly if you are interested in the full spectrum of meaning, innuendo, and even subliminal messages of your words on your website or blog. First and foremost, however, if readers can’t see your words properly the message you are sending is not being received at all, so the over-riding principle of font, color, and size selection must always be readability. Beyond that primary goal, it’s a worthwhile exercise to analyze the psychological meanings we send based on the font, color, and size of our copy and think about styling our words with our intended message in mind.

Font

My copywriter friend writes résumés for people on the side. Whenever we’re out she loves to watch people at the bar and determine what font their résumé should use. For Wall-Street-type women she goes for Didot and Wall Street guys Palatino with the headings in small caps. For the creatives it’s the suave Gil Sans, and computer geeks get Optima. For the purpose of her game she bases her choices on what she can tell by the look of the person, but she rarely meets her clients and sometimes never even speaks to them on the phone. In those cases she chooses the font based on the job the client wants to get.

For example, for a female client applying for both engineering and management jobs she went with Tahoma for the engineering res and the sophisticated Garamond for the other. For risk-takers she likes Verdana, but warns it takes up a lot of room so words must be chosen carefully and used sparingly. According to my friend only once has someone asked for a different font, so she feels strongly that there is an art to matching font with the message you’re sending potential employers or any other important reader. So do think twice before you send a project proposal in Chalkboard or Curlz.

Color

Pity the black screen with the rainbow-colored words. It just about breaks my heart. Not only is it virtually unreadable, but you half-expect a pixelated unicorn to come prancing across the screen. The concept of colors on your website is not that different from furnishing your favorite room in your house. If you’d like it to feel warm, inviting, and cheerful try yellows, reds, and orangesóas if your reader will want to cozy up to your fireplace and read your lively website or blog for hours. Dark purple and blues can lend a depth and seriousness to the mood. Greens are fresh, invigorating. Straw and tans convey earthiness. A deep hot pink grabs attention. For the words themselves, black text on a white background makes for the easiest reading. The brighter colors can always frame the writing or can be striking in smaller pops of color in logos or other graphics. For colored backgrounds and fonts, make sure the font color contrasts with the background color or the message you send is dazed and confused.

Size

Lots and lots of tiny print sends the message that you’re a crazy caffeinated blogger who has no filter on his thoughts and is trying to cram as much information and paranoid rants as possible in the available space. Or the message that this is a technical manual of some sort rather than information with a friendly and entertaining sensibility. Keep your words large and un-crowded enough to read clearly. If you have lots and lots of information to make room for, then take the opportunity to revise your copy until you can get your information down to more concise and reader-friendly nuggets. Leave enough white space on your page so readers can scan for main points. An engaged reader is best, but even a light scan is better than a quick click away from the page because of uninviting tiny crowded text.

Your aim is to present your message in a way that attracts the right reader for your site or blog. People spend a lot of time online, and they have a lot of choices. Font, color, and size can go a long way in creating the sort of online presence that is an attractive haven for your “type” of reader, whether she be Wall Street, fashionista, or computer geek. So think about what your message is, and style your words accordingly.

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What do the 2016 Olympic Games and the Telluride Foundation have in common? Nothing, really, except their similar logos. According to Internet sources, the logo bore striking similarities to the logo of Telluride Foundation, a charitable organization based in Colorado, USA. The Brazilian media, in particular, was quick to note the similarity.

The Brazilian organizers of the 2016 Olympic Games revealed the new logo to an audience of about 1 million people in an elaborate New Year’s Eve party in Copacabana Beach. Within a few hours after the logo was launched publicly, the Web was already abuzz with comparisons and speculations of the real and original source of the logo.

Similar Colors, Similar Elements

The new 2016 Olympic Games logo shows 3 human-like figures, with their hands joined as in a circle dance. The Telluride Foundation logo also shows something similar but has 4 human-like figures complete with two legs each.

The colors of the Olympic logo also are similar to Telluride’s, except that the latter’s had a red figure not found in the Olympic’s. It takes a trained eye to recognize that the Olympic logo spells the word “Rio,” but it is definitely there. The Telluride logo, on the other hand, doesn’t spell anything but is shaped like a heart.

Some observers have noted that the Rio logo merely removed some elements of the Telluride logo (i.e., the legs of the neutered sprites) and modified the design a bit. Reception of the Rio logo varied from appreciation to mockery to disappointment and to humorous associations with baby pacifiers, thong backs, or even phalluses. The shape of the logo can even be associated with the shape of Brazil’s famous Sugarloaf Mountain.

Never Plagiarism

Even Fred Gelli, the director of Tatil, admitted the similarity but denied the allegations of plagiarism. Tatil is the Brazilian agency that designed the controversial logo.

Gelli explained that the Olympic emblem designed by his agency underwent rigorous scrutiny and was researched extensively just to guarantee its uniqueness. However, he also admitted that he has never seen Telluride’s logo before and that the agency apparently “missed that one” (the foundation’s logo).

A select group of 15 internationally acclaimed professionals formed the multidisciplinary commission that took charge of the emblem evaluation and selection process for the upcoming Olympic Games.

The Telluride and Carnaval Equivalence

Incidentally, the buck doesn’t stop just there. The Telluride Foundation’s logo itself was found to resemble French artist Henri Matisse’s 1909 painting, “La Danse” (The Dance).

Worse, the Telluride logo is exactly the same as the logo used in Salvador Carnaval 2004, the carnival held in Salvador, Brazil in 2004. No one has ascertained yet which one came before the other, or who stole from whom. See no difference:

Perhaps, Inspiration

There is little claim to the allegation of plagiarism in the Rio logo. Similarity does not constitute plagiarism. Inspiration is not plagiarism. But, both similarity and inspiration can lead to a design lacking in originality.

The case between Carnaval 2004 and Telluride, however, is plagiarism because the two logos are exactly alike.

For sure, the Brazilian organizers for the 2016 Olympic Games didn’t steal from Telluride or from Matisse. At the most, they probably found inspiration from the neutered sprites of Telluride, or from the universal idea of people holding hands in a circle as reflected in Matisse’s artwork.

Besides, if the evaluation commission found any potential rip-off from the designs it reviewed, it would have discarded them right away.

Neutered sprites (those human-like figures that often have arms stretched out) are common in logos, and, as a matter of fact, are overused. Some designers, though, get away with unique and novel ways of designing logos with neutered sprites in a manner that is fresh and never trite.

The colors green, yellow or gold, and blue are common colors, too—all of these are Brazilian national colors, which do not include red. Yet, if the artist that crafted the Rio logo is guilty of being a copycat, then the designer would not have chosen to position the colors in a similar way, and if such is the case, the similarity of color positioning is pure coincidence. It is also possible, though, that Tatil artists did base the Rio logo on the Telluride logo. But, then, it’s just speculation.

How the Rio Logo Ran on Damp Fuel

What lessons, then, can we learn from the latest ruckus about the 2016 Olympic Games logo?

One, originality is priceless in logo design. Often, a logo artist will seek inspiration from an existing logo, but this doesn’t mean the artist has to create a spin-off. Inspiration is not about copying. Rather, it is about having some idea to start with and to mold into something fresh and original.

Two, neutered sprites have become passe and somewhat overly used. It may be wise to avoid them. There was a time in the past when they were vogue, but designers all over the world used them to the point of exhaustion. Or, if you have the talent, you can get away with a well-designed logo with neutered sprites, but the design will have to be original, fresh, and never rehashed.

Three, there’s no such thing as perfect originality. Every logo design will always have some similarity with some other logo out there. In many cases, the other “doppelganger” remains undiscovered (especially if the logo is for some remote company with not much contact with the online world), creating the illusion of perfect originality. Otherwise, if the logo is for a well-known company, then many observers can easily report similarities. Take, for example, the oval shape of both Carrier and Ford logos:

What then is the 2016 Olympic Games logo guilty of? Plagiarism? Hardly so. Lack of creativity? Not even. Lack of originality? Definitely.

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Diacritical markings are more commonly known as the accents found above and below some letters. Many designers mistakenly believe their presence is trivial; however, typographers consider them as full characters rather than just add-ons to unaccented letters.

The following languages use these accents:

• Japanese
• Arabic
• Russian
• Polish
• German

Since English-speaking countries developed most modern computer technology, the majority of computer text sets have a bias toward the unaccented Roman alphabet. This led to accents being used rarely in digital typography, even by graphic artists whose native languages include them.

Today, graphic designers are trying to add diacritical markings back into their work. The following are some of the most common international typography problems and some potential solutions to them.

Improper Usage

Most people accept the lack of diacritical markings on computers, but it’s hard to look past using them wrong. To get an idea for how unprofessional that would look, imagine a design of yours going to print in a magazine with a very obvious typo. In bold. Ouch. Take the time to learn what the accents are there for, not just that they should be there.

Skewed Meanings

Warping lettering is a common practice in typography. It looks artistic. But, warping accent marks can potentially change what the words mean! To avoid this, be sure to research what each accent mark you’re using looks like in a variety of weights and sizes. That way, if you skew it, you can maintain its readability.

Limited Availability

There are numerous popular fonts that weren’t designed with any accented characters. This limits the choices that designers have for look and feel if they want to include the proper accents. When faced with the choice, the majority still favor the look.

If you can’t live without a particular unaccented font, try one of these solutions:

• Download an accent pack that will add diacritical marks when you type special keystrokes.
• Manually draw the accent markings onto the letters after typing the text.

Lazy Substitutions

Using punctuation marks, such as apostrophes, in place of similar-looking accent marks is a very common inaccuracy in digital typography.

Designers do it for several reasons:

1. They don’t know that it looks correct in some fonts and completely wrong in others.
2. They’re unaware that it can change the meaning of the word entirely.
3. They’re trying to make up for the fact that their favorite fonts have no diacritical markings and are hoping nobody will notice the small difference.

Lack of Demand

Since many graphic designers are still taking the lazy route and substituting punctuation marks for proper accent marks or just skipping diacritics altogether, font makers don’t know there is that much of a demand for them. The first step toward an over-all solution to the international typography accent problem is to make it known that there is a problem. Don’t skip or substitute accent marks – ask for more fonts with the actual accents you need!

In short, if diacritical marks are to make a comeback in digital typography, font designers need to include them in their new typesets, designers need to use them more frequently, and everyone needs to use them properly.

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An effective movie poster is art and text working together. Typography has become more essential to a poster’s success since the start of cinema, though. Take a look at how movie poster typography has evolved from 1920 to the 2000s.

1920s – ’30s: Boring Text

Think about the cover art for novels – hand-rendered artwork and clear typography on the edges of the poster or layered on top of the art rather than integrated as a part of it. Here are some other typical trends of this time period:

• Black, white, or brightly colored text contrasting strongly with the picture;
• Thin black or white strokes on the lettering;
• Heavy drop shadows on thicker kinds of type.

These classic posters show the first glimmer of merging text and art. For example, poster designs for the 1933 movie “King Kong” feature the film’s giant gorilla moving in front of the title’s text.

1940s – ’50s: Text Takes Center Stage

This is the era with a distinct movement toward making the typography part of the artwork. Movie posters, such as the one for the 1950 movie “Sunset Boulevard,” put the typography front and center. Besides combining text and art more obviously, the biggest changes to typography involved using modern and eye-catching typefaces for the times.

1960s – ’70s: Letting the Hair Down

Posters from the 60s took an extreme departure from the elegant-looking typefaces of the 40s and 50s and replaced them with a wide variety of styles. Here are a few 60s to 70s poster trends:

• Diverse text – bold block lettering, “cartoon” text with outlines, and in-letter detailing
• Tilted, warped, or shaped text
• A rainbow of colors for both text and images

Art interacting with lettering is even more common here, and the 70s are responsible for such iconic images as the poster for the 1978 movie “Jaws.”

1980s – ’90s: Branded Text

In the 80s and 90s, typography became artwork. The unique shape and color of the title was a branded image to associate with each movie. Lettering took on creative shapes and spacing, as seen in the 1990 movie “Night of the Living Dead.”

Textured text made to look like different materials was also in. The title for the 1984 movie “The Terminator” featured shiny metallic lettering to match the film’s cyborg and futuristic themes.

2000s: Photo-realism

With the advent of computer graphics and photo manipulation, designers have the freedom to show any image they can dream.

• Text made of anything – smoke, birds, negative space, even tongues
• Lots of photo-realistic special effects, such as rain, mist, lighting, and blood
• More extreme/artistic photography to stand up to shiny text effects

Since designers can digitally make text from physical materials, hyper real word/image fusions are popular. Contemporary movie posters often show photo-real scenes of impossible things, as is the case with the 2009 movie “Zombieland.”

What’s Next?

Throughout the years, the art of movie posters has evolved, but posters made entirely of typography aren’t likely to catch on as the standard. Designers with no limits on their technical ability to make something must come up with new designs unlike anything anybody has ever seen before.

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To succeed as a graphic designer, you must be willing to take risks. This is a cutthroat industry where only the most creative survive. As such, the sooner you begin experimenting with your design elements and following your creative instincts, the more likely you will be to build up a solid client base.
One of the best ways to improve your work is by experimenting with your typography usage. In fact, in most design work, typography is the main attention grabber with the other design elements supporting that typography. The following are four ways you can begin experimenting with typography usage to improve your designs.

1. Go BIG or go Home

If you want your message to grab your audience’s attention and slap them in the face, then big is the way to go. Big, bold and thick typography attracts attention and demands to be heard. However, when experimenting with this typography trend, you must be strategic in the use of big lettering. Sometimes, using large typography creates an unintended interpretation and can even offend audience members. Therefore, test out this experimental usage on friends and colleagues before introducing the design to the general public.

2. Play with Emotions

Colors can stir various emotions within the human mind. As such, a great way to experiment with your typography usage is to incorporate rich, vibrant colors that speak specifically to the emotions you want to call out in your audience members. Red is punchy, loud, and can stir up feelings of anger and lust, while blue is more soothing and calm and can play to the audience’s caring side. To be most effective with your use of experimental color, use it strategically and sparingly. Few things are worse than a color explosion that sends the senses of your audience members into overload.

3. Using Textures

People enjoy viewing designs with interactive elements. While using this interactive element in print design can sometimes be difficult, one option is to incorporate textures into your typography usage. This textural effect can either be authentic, such as by using grainy paper, or it can be simulated by using a design program to create the effect of texture.

4. Improve on the Past

The history of graphic design holds many examples of the risks taken by early graphic designers. By looking to the past, you may discover ways to take those old- school trends and place a modern spin on them. Sometimes a mixture of the old and new is just what is needed to start a typography revolution. At the very least, these early designs can rev up your creative side.

The more you experiment with typography usage, the increasingly interesting methods you will find to draw in audience members and portray your intended message. You have chosen a career field that requires immense creativity and the willingness to take risks. Therefore, don’t be afraid to try new things. While using experimental designs poses certain risks, it also provides the chance to set your work apart from the design crowd and become a trend setter.
Sonia Mansfield is the content editor for PsPrint and editor of PsPrint Blog. PsPrint is an online printing solutions company, which you can follow on Twitter and Facebook.

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Every now and then we need some inspiration… If you’re under a deadline & can’t get your creative juices flowing, the best way is to live vicariously through others work. What’s a better way than some typography that’s animated right on your screen.

Letterpress Coasters

Repeat Press of Somerville, MA created some custom coasters for the guys at Highsnobiety and Selectism to hand out for the holidays. Check out his intricate process from beginning to end.

Leadtype & Bookprinting (Bleisatz und Buchdruck)

The Ten Commandments – motion (kinetic) typography

The ten commandments motion typography animation created in Adobe AfterEffects CS3.

Fight Club – Chemical Burn – Kinetic Typography

A typography experiment animated and designed by graphic artist Sebastian Jaramillo ( http://www.sebastianjt.com ) based on the movie Fight Club on the scene “Chemical Burn”.

A lesson on typography

What is typography? – a nice lesson by from the Vancouver film school

Type Test

Playful type / video experimentation.

An alternate title sequence for the movie “Alice in Wonderland” (2010)

In March 2009, Suzanne (wife) and I spent several days in Rome to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. This was also a chance to observe in detail the Coliseum, which I’d already selected as the next subject in my series of letterpress posters (see cameronmoll.bigcartel.com/category/posters).

Over the course of the next 12 months, the artwork was handcrafted character by character, totaling roughly 250 hours of work from start to finish. Characters from the Goudy Trajan and Bembo Pro typefaces form the Coliseum, also known as today as Colosseo (Italian) and originally known as Amphitheatrum Flavium (Latin).

Portal – Still Alive typography

The ending song to Portal in a typographic animation.

The Hush Sound — Lions Roar

Matt and I decided long ago (early 2006) that we wanted to enter the 7th annual film festival held at Art Institute of Schaumburg called Artimation. Our goal was to make a stand that the Graphic Design majors could very well enter and compete in a very video & animation filled world.

That said, we decided to do a typographical motion graphic piece to one of The Hush Sound’s songs. We love the band, we love typography, we love design, and we love motion graphics. Heavily inspired by motion graphics studio MK12, we decided to try our shot at it.

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Un.titled is a creative agency. They are an eclectic group of thinkers, designers, programmers and artists. Their passion is to engage an audience; tease, tempt, entertain and compel with and elusive mix of big ideas and bold design. Never defined by one media, they move seamlessly between online and offline, creating astonishing brand experiences with some of the world’s most respected companies.

Name: Un.titled

Site: http://un.titled.co.uk

Location: Leicester, UK

Select/Notable Clients: Nike, Clarks, Agenda, Jockey, Lacoste Footwear, Mint Advertising, Sheridan & Co, NTU, Puma, Phoenix Arts, Speedo, Wembley Stadium.

GAGA 2009

Hickling & Squires

NTU Art & Design Invites

Web

Photography

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I love browsing around the creative web for new inspiration. Lately I’ve been really attracted to bold & creative typographic portraits. It’s really impressive how one can express their thoughts & mood by arranging text within a shape. Below is a list of 15 stunning typography art which I found over the web. Some of you may have already seen certain artworks, but to those who have not, I hope you’ll gain inspiration through these creative works.

1. mos def lyric portrait | Cris Wicks

2. britney | Cris Wicks

3. Thom York in typographic style illustration

4. Neville Brody | Thierry Eamon

5. i give you desire | lupuscrystalus

6. John Lennon in Type | Dencii

7. RickRoll in Type | Dencii

8. Face Typography Style | faisali

9. Type Face | paperairplane

10. Weiland Type | CaliburlessSoul

11. Michael Jackson, Text Portrait | BenHeine

12. Che. | smLLan

13. 007 | saabe

14. Ze Frank Layout in Type | thewalker09

15. CAP Typography illustration | moratlitas

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Here is today’s Inspirational roundup. Lots of beautiful typography today it seems! 

1. The Meringue family

2. Poster series of four for the Oslo based math-metal/hardcore band Manhattan Skyline

3. Valens Energy Drink – Identity

4. Undersized Recession Business Cards

5. Energo-Holding brochure

6. Hugo & Marie Newspaper

7. White city

8. Logo collection 2009 I | David Pache

9. Noveu™

10. Direct mail poster (new website) for design studio Hello Monday

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The last time I wrote a guest article on FYC, I bragged about the animal logos posted on IncSpring.  At the time, I mentioned how I was impressed by any designer able to pull off a successful animal logo.  I’ve always thought one of the most difficult processes was to take the concept of a living, breathing animal and create a brand around it.  I’m not changing my view on the difficulties involved, but the logos below might have them beat.

So here’s what we got! All of these logos combine two or more individual concepts to create one seamless design.  Some are a little more obvious than others, but all equally impressive.  Please share any “no-so-obvious” elements that I missed, I’m certain I missed a few.

Birds + "A"

Grass + "Y"

Shovel + Tack

Island + "i" + "D"

Heart + Pen Tips

Quotes + Boxing Gloves

Heart + People

Ghost + Movie Reel

Lock + Key

Fly + Business Suit

Bar Chart + Xylophone

Piano Keys + Trees

Foot + Africa

Hearts + Bug

Bug + Ink Drops

USB Plugs + People

Castle + Thumbnail

Houses + Propeller

RSS Symbols + "S"

Cowboy Hat + House

Happy Face + Bird Nest

Woman + Umbrella

Lion + Flower

Couch + Beer (mmm)

Pencil + House

Sushi + "8"

Couch + Keyboard

Phone + Place Setting

Crown + Spotlights

Falling Stars + Umbrella

Your turn. Did I miss any elements? Do you have any other good examples?

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Since human existence, communication always is playing very important role in our life using drawings, word of mouth, eye signals etc. To make communication easier and to save information, human invented symbols to describe things they see, speak or just use. Now in our days, for example, we don’t write actual letters, we just send an email, which is really impersonal if we compare those two things.  Now people tend to use handwritten fonts, sketched graphics to give their design more personal touch, in the sake of old days. Handwritten font  can really say something special  personalizing communications with Your visitors. Actually there are a huge amount of great fonts out there, we never heard of. I wanted to dig a little deeper and so I created my own selection with some very special handwritten fonts and also great font resources, You probably never heard of!

1. Paperfont
Ok, I will start with fun font, which could be used to really spice Your web design with something eye catching, though it’s not really handwriting. But I hope You’ll forgive me this time.

PC / MAC
2. Leonardo Hand

Download Leonardo Hand font
3. Ink Burrow

Download Ink Burrow font
4. Aircut

Download Aircut font
5. Alphamac

Download Alphamack font
6. Crushed Out Girl

Download Crushed out girl font
7. Jellyka – Estrya’s Handwriting

Download Jellyka font
8. CK Becky

Download CK Becky font
9. Quilline Script Thin

Download Quilline font
10. Cursive Handwriting Tryout

Download Cursive font
11.Steve Handwriting

Download Steve font
12. Journal

Download Journal font
13. Harrison

Download Harrison font
14. Angelina

Download Angelina font
15. Simpsons
Pretty good font for titles and headings.

Download Simpsons font
5 More Free Handwritten Font Resources

2. Auto FX software
Nice collection of hand scripted fonts.

3. Desktop Publishing: About.com

4. Font Garden
Huge list of free premium handwritten fonts.

5. MyFont.de

Actually there are lot more free handwritten fonts available out there – if You are really interested, check out article 15 Excellent Free Font Resources – usually fonts are separated in categories – search for Script/Handwritten category and You will find a lot more great and free fonts!

About the author

Dainis Graveris is a 20 year old web designer and blogger. He runs his blog at 1stwebdesigner.com. It’s a design blog – topics focus on web design, graphic design, tutorials and inspirational articles.

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Last week I wrote a guest article for Andrew over at myinkblog. Here is a little snippet of the article and if you’d like to read the full version, head on over and check it out!

Plenty of you that stop over here at myinkblog have most likely seen most, if not all of these sites before. Have you ever really looked at them? Closely? Many of the typefaces used in these examples I chose are all pretty similar. That’s not a bad thing. You can find inspiration in almost anything! Today I am focusing on type + color, and have written a line or two underneath each choice I have made to display below. It’s crazy how many combination’s can be created with color + type and movement too. You may find yourself going back to these sites to look at them more closely. I hope you draw some inspiration from this article.

North Temple – Combining graphics and layers into type, not too much, not too little. A great flow.

ipleadthefirst / Andy Mangold – Great hierarchy & color. The mix of bold, upper lower & uppercase are just beautiful. Be sure to read the article while your there.

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This continues with Part 3 of Typography is Sexy – except this time Brian from Elite by Design suggested I do a web typography focus, I hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to check out part 1 and part 2.

Jon Tangerine

Hot Meteor

octwelve

FutonMedia

e house studio / blog

Jason Reed

Viget Labs

The Deck Network

Bob Galmarini

Abigail Wynne

dawghouse design studio

Function

Jeff Sarmiento

Winnie Lim

DM2 Interactive

New Concept

AIGA DC

Sean Klasson

The things we make / Mike Kus