Designing Fonts

Type design is often presented in either such detail-obsessed complexity that it is not welcoming to beginners, or it is so simplified with the help of apps and web services that the resulting fonts are virtually useless. This book is different. It shows readers how to design professional fonts – without having to find out all of type design’s secrets first.

Designing Fonts teaches the basics of type design from sketched letters to finished font, offering an uncomplicated but thorough introduction to type design. With easy-to-follow instructions, many examples and professional tips, readers will learn how to design unique typefaces tailor-made for their own projects or customer orders. This book has two parts. Part 1 explains the theoretical, creative and technical basics of type design and font production. Six chapters then cover everything from alphabet to font, showing readers how to find and develop typeface ideas, design matching letters, produce fonts and expand them with special functions. Part 2 comprises eight workshops that explore how to design and implement different kinds of typefaces, from decorative interlocking display fonts with alternative letters to well-developed headline fonts with multiple cuts and OpenType features.

Chris Campe's Hamburg design studio 'All Things Letters' specializes in typographic ideas and hand-designed typefaces. Chris's work has been widely used by publishers, packagers, websites and retailers. Ulrike Rausch is a Berlin-based type designer. Since founding her font label 'LiebeFonts' in 2009, her high-quality, handwritten fonts have been used around the world in publications, advertisements and on websites.