Journal

Notes from the studio: new typefaces, how they are drawn, and how to use and license them.

All Behind the fontScriptGuideToolsGlyphsLicensingNew releaseType designType pairingVariable fonts
The word minimum set too tight, well spaced and too loose Type design The invisible half of a font: spacing Everyone notices the shapes of letters. Few notice the space between them, yet it decides whether a word reads as a word. A short guide to spacing and kerning.
Merry Christmas set in Last Christmas Variable at five positions of the alternates slider, from plain to fully decorated Behind the font One slider for weight, one for swashes: inside Last Christmas Variable Most variable fonts let you slide from thin to bold. Last Christmas Variable has a second slider that brings in the swashes, from none at all to every one. Four Last Christmas capitals with the base letter in black and each swash part in its own color Behind the font Built from parts: how Last Christmas is put together Hundreds of letters in Last Christmas were never drawn as whole letters. They are assembled from 40 plain letters and 38 swash parts, like a construction kit. Billion Dreams in gold above a line of spaced capitals in Equal Sans, on a dark background Guide How to pair a script font with a sans serif A script and a clean sans are the classic pairing for invitations, menus, labels and posters. Five rules that make the two work together, with examples. The names AI Kerning, AI Spacing, AI Anchors and AI Variable Font in increasing weights Tools Måns AI Tools: kerning, spacing, anchors and variable fonts in Glyphs Four plugins for Glyphs that kern, space, place anchors and build a variable font from a single style. Free on A–Z and a–z; one license unlocks the whole font. The words Desktop, Web, App, Broadcast and Server on a blue background Licensing Which font license do you need? Desktop, web, app and broadcast Most projects need only the standard desktop license. What it covers, when you need a webfont, app or broadcast license, and what each one costs. Last Christmas Swash in gold on a deep red background, with the words Version 2.0 New release Last Christmas 2.0: new swashes, three weights and a variable font Version 2.0 of Last Christmas adds swash alternates for every letter, Light, Regular and Bold, and a variable version. What is new and how to use it.