Making Fonts!

The approach to professional type design. Step by step to your own font.

You always wanted to create a font, but somehow you did not dare to start it? You already have draft sketches – analog or digital – but are afraid to create the whole font? Type design has always tempted you, but it seemed like a science in itself? And fonts you quickly made with web applications were not really usable?

Making Fonts! shows the way to professional type design. Illustrative, sound and with catching joy Chris Campe and Ulrike Rausch lead you from the letter sketch to your own font.

Creating Type-Design Basics and Type

In an accomplished manner, the authors pass on basics of type design and guide you towards your own font in 9 steps. Illustratively, they teach the anatomy of letters, present tools and letter shapes and support you in developing type ideas. They make aware of relations in form and tell you how to carry out optical corrections. Because our eyes don’t see objectively. And because the white space plays a role which should not be underestimated.

Laying out Fonts

After an excursion on handmade types, the Tour de Type goes on to the compilation of fonts. You get to know useful tools and different editors for fonts, you will digitalize and vectorize- and lose your fear. And you’ll discern the important role of well-placed anchoring points for perfect curves.

Producing and Programming Fonts

On this basis, you’ll begin to develop your fonts, set spaces and export types. You will make the acquaintance of ASCII and Unicode and add symbols and accented characters for the international appliance of your type. Because letters only become good type in a perfect ensemble, you will see into Spacing and Kerning before exporting and optimizing your font.

In case, up to now, you have been concerned because coding has not been up your alley: don’t fear, writing OpenType features is not that difficult- with two experienced type creators by your side! Here is where Chris Campe and Ulrike Rausch really take you by the hand step by step. And the reward follows immediately, because now you get to “play” with ligatures, alternative letters and positions of characters.

Workshops

Different types of type require different approaches. This is why the authors added eight workshops.

You decide whether beginner-font, the own-handwriting as font, script fonts with flowingly joined lines, monoline fonts with a single line weight, designed fonts with recurring forms or in the advanced stage multiple master or layer fonts. And because you have mastered the rules of type design until here, you will finally dedicate yourself to playing with form and breaking the rules. Making Fonts is making happy!

Features and design

Chris Campe | Ulrike Rausch
Making Fonts!
The approach to professional type design
Step by step to your own font
216 pages with 430 illustrations and 8 details workshops printed on voluminous paper
size 18 x 26 cm
hardcover with matt lamination, straight back and relief embossing
ISBN 978-3-87439-909-8