Font design is the whole process of creating, editing and developing typefaces. Designers in this field create the visual design of letters, numbers and symbols.
Font design is the process in which factors such as readability, aesthetics and suitability for use are taken into account. A good font design should make texts easy to read, look elegant and appeal to certain emotions. It also helps to create brand identity.
Font Design Process
We will talk about all the necessary stages of the professional typeface design process from the beginning to professional settings and licensing.
Research and Concept Development
It is the first and introductory step of the design process. The choices made at this stage shape the general character of the font and its areas of use. The designer analyzes who will use the font and in which areas. The choice of style is made in this step. The designer researches the history and, if any, the cultural structure of the font’s counterparts. Then, current font trends are researched and similar products in the market are analyzed. The theme is chosen according to the message the font wants to convey and research is done on it. If a luxury style is chosen, a font design consisting of sophisticated and elegant letters is made accordingly.
Depending on the area to be used, the accessibility and technical requirements of the font are studied to ensure that the product is complete in many aspects.
Making Draft Drawings
The context and target audience in which the font will be used are taken into consideration and design ideas are developed. Research is done on the general style and character of the font, and it is decided whether to prepare a formal and corporate font or a relaxed and friendly, warm-blooded font.
The design process starts with the design of the letters that will best reflect the character. This choice is usually made from letters that will reflect the font such as A, G, H, V.
Basic features such as height, width and slope of the letters are determined. Font-specific details are added later in this phase. Drawings such as serifs, corners, dots and notches specific to the letters are made.
Different approaches are tried by working on draft trials. Adjustments are made on letterforms with fine adjustments.
After the drawings, feedback on the final product is collected and worked on. Final drafts are reviewed before digitization. This stage reveals the creativity and artistic perspective of the designer and forms the basis of the font to be prepared.
Digitization Step
It is a step consisting of a large process in which the font designer converts the drafts on paper into digital format.
The process usually starts with scanning the drafts and transferring them to digital media. Drawing starts in digital drawing applications. These applications are vector-based.
Details such as the slopes of the letters, corners and nails, if any, are digitized in this step.
They are transferred to font creation software. Glyphs and FontLab applications are used for this process.
Font Making Programs
Glyphs
This application, which covers beginners and professional users, converts characters developed with this application into fonts. It is prepared for the macOS platform and is used by a wide audience. It is a paid application with mini and full version purchase options.
It has a user-friendly interface. Easy for beginners and easy to learn.
- It allows detailed editing of characters and offers various tools for this.
- Multi-language support is available. Allows adding special characters for different regions and languages.
- Supports opentype features.
- Real-time typeface simulation with live preview.
- Various needs can be easily met thanks to plugin support.
- It is possible to output in different formats with ease of export.
FontLab
It is an application for professional font developers.
- It allows you to develop new fonts or edit existing ones.
- It is a detailed application with precise and alternative editing options.
- Advanced metric and kerning settings are available. It has many settings for developers who pay attention to professional design details.
- It has opentype features. It offers development options such as font alternatives and language support.
- Allows the preparation of color fonts.
- It is an application that can work integrated with other design and typography applications.
Character Settings
This is the step where the aesthetic and functional aspects of the font are optimized and presented. Width and height are carefully adjusted according to visual harmony.
Kerning and Tracking adjustments are made. These are the settings where the space between characters is regulated between letters and in general. For example, it may be necessary to apply a special setting for the letters “AV” instead of the standard spacing. These settings affect the overall readability of the text.
Ascender adjusts letters with an ascending part like “d” and Descender adjusts letters with a descending part like “p”.
Thickness and thinness adjustments affect the entire font. It can cause the developed font to be dominant or less visible.
Ligatures and Special Character arrangements can be made for aesthetic and functional reasons. The thing that allows two letters to be written at once in the combined form is called a ligature.
Diacritic signs can be added to support various languages. Thus signs like “ç, ö, ğ, ñ” will be available in the font.
Testing and Revision
It is the process of testing the font in various scenarios and environments. Every possibility should be considered and repeatedly tested with different scenarios.
- Readability is tested by experimenting with different text patterns.
- The compatibility of the characters between each other is checked.
- Feedback is collected from professionals in the sector as much as possible.
- Edits are made according to the feedback received and released to the market.
Publishing and Licensing
In the first step of publishing, design work is done, such as the preparation of documentation and the preparation of visuals to be used to promote the font.
It is the process of determining the terms of use by releasing the font to the market. A license text that specifies details such as the purposes for which the font will be allowed to be used, what will be allowed in which limits should be prepared by a professional and should be added when the font is published. For example, while it is free for non-commercial use, a license fee may be charged for commercial use. Licensing criteria can also be applied for print and digital use.
For the marketing of the font, it is first promoted on the corporate website. Demo content can be published upon request. After that, you can make agreements with online typeface markets and offer your font for sale in many stores at the same time.