A font can make or break a project. A font tells a story. A font sets the tone. The tiniest nuances in font can drastically change the reader's interest in what you have to say. In much the same way that we are able to tell the genre of a book by its cover, a font immediately conveys a message about its contents to the reader. Needless to say, in every text-inclusive endeavor I take on, I spare no expense in ensuring that my fonts inspire the proper motivation for my target audience.
I remember one time I got into a heated argument with a colleague at work over her attempt to use the Arial font in a very dramatic promotional video that was underscored by Gladiator-esque music... Am I the only person that is horrified by this??? We cannot let atrocities like this occur, people!
OK, I might be slightly exaggerating, but the point is that I am very neurotic about fonts and I treat them as strategically placed mood adjusters when I create my training courses.
Imagine my extreme excitement when I stumbled upon Web 2.0 tool Fontstruct. Yes, this seems like the appropriate tool for me to start my reviews with.
Let's begin!
My exploration of Fontstruct was greeted with a fantastic flash video on the homepage that had me itching to create an account and get started. You've got to go here and check it out: http://fontstruct.com/
After a simple registration I was able to immediately start building. It's an easy to use tool, a quick perusal of the help screen had me feeling comfortable in less than a minute. Two minutes later I had designed my first letter:
Quickly I am realizing how addicting this tool can be... and how much work can go into it. You must be able to break the letter you envision down into squares and shapes inside of squares. The possibilities and nuances are endless. This is definitely a skill that could take a lifetime to master. I can see myself really digging into this in future, but for now I'm satisfied with my A, B, C.
Fontstruct allows you to save and download your font for your own use. You can also share your "Fontstruction" with the community, view others Fonstructions, comment on them, and download those as well. There are over 16,000 so this is a wonderful resource.
Fontstruct gets you thinking, gets you creating, and gets you sharing. That's enough for my seal of approval. Not to mention I am 100% sure I will be using it to create my own full alphabet, setting my own personal tone for many projects to come!
I've always wondered how other people made fonts, and wished I had the ability (and time) to learn.
ReplyDeleteNow, I can create my own. It may not create some of the really fancy ones, but it's a nice place to start.
I've also been wary of using fonts for things like my etsy shop or other endeavors that aren't strictly nonprofit.
I love the idea of creating my own fonts for my own use. Thanks for the link!
Kimber, what topic/subject do you teach? I think this would be a great tool for art instructors in both primary and secondary schools.
ReplyDeleteI can even see this being used with a language arts program: have the students write their own story and publish it on the web. They can use this program to develop their own font for the title, to make it more personal and "theirs". I know a lot of students (really, people in general) are attracted to the idea of personalization. Once you perceive something to be "yours", you care about it more. By allowing the students to personalize a project, we're also encouraging them to try harder and put real effort into it.
What a neat way to use a tool in education. Thanks again for this!
Kimber,
ReplyDeleteYou and I should so talk...on my PC alone I have over 1,000 fonts. Yes, I should seek treatment for this disorder!! My family and friends think I'm crazy, but I can now tell them I've found someone else who is just as focused on the fonts for a project!
This tool is great and I immediately went to the site and created an account too. I created one letter...oh, my gosh it is a lot of work and thinking involved in the process. I put a picture on my blog! Great tool! Thank you so much for sharing. Keep me in mind if and when you find some really neat fonts...I can always use more!
Stephanie W.
Glad you guys understand and appreciate my font-nueroticism! Though creating your own letters really is a lot of work, it always nice to know we have the option.
ReplyDelete