It can be hard to find the right typeface to use when you’re designing. Sometimes, you just need to abandon all hopes and create your own font. Making a full typeface family can be daunting and time-consuming but thanks to the world wide web you can make your own font in no time.

Creating your own font is easy and fun now. You no longer have to spend years crafting metal and perfectly sizing dies. Today, there’s a handful of great programs available that let you create your own font in just a matter of hours – for free!

Not only is creating a font time-consuming but it can be expensive too. Take a look at these great free programs to help you create your own custom font!

Fontstruct

FontStruct, the free font-building tool from FontShop, has been around for almost a decade. This website lets you quickly and easily create fonts that can be downloaded as high-quality TrueType files. Build fonts constructed out of geometrical shapes arranged in a grid pattern, similar to tiles.

Users can share their custom fonts and explore the Gallery of fonts made by other FontStruct users. Download them, copy them, and make your own variations. Fontstruct offers a powerful platform to start designing typefaces and it’s completely free!

Calligraphr

The relatively new program, Calligraphr, lets you make custom fonts from your own handwriting. Start by downloading a PDF template, fill it in with your handwritten letters, then upload the image by scanning or taking a photograph. Calligraphr then turns your handwriting into a font! 

Don’t like a character? Just edit it with the tools included in the program.

Calligraphr is free to use but you are given a limited amount of controls and can only work on one font at a time. However, the Pro version is only $6.90 a month and allows you to create your own ligatures, as well as more different variants of each character. Variant characters are used randomly to give your font a more authentic look.

Take a look at this Get Started on Calligraphr Tutorial to make your own handwritten font.

Prototypo

Quickly create your own fonts using Prototypo! The thinking behind this program is to let you create your own custom font in just a matter of minutes.

You start with three basic typefaces: Prototypo Fell, Prototypo Grotesk, or Prototypo Elzevir. Prototypo then lets you tweak and play with more than 30 parameters, including; thickness, aperture, roundness, and serifs. Once you’re done, you can export your font to the .otf format, for use on Mac, Windows, Linux, or any web browser.

Like many font creating programs, it’s free! But with a limited range of abilities, right now Prototypo does not support creating handwritten fonts. All the bells and whistles can be unlocked in the Pro version for $8.25 a month. Prototypo Pro offers users 48h support, full-range parameters, unlimited font exports, manual editing, glyph individualization, and web preview extension.

Each one of the programs or websites has it’s strengths and weaknesses depending on what type of font you want to create. Experiment with all 3 of them to find what works best for you and remember – have fun!

Filed in // Design