I Made My Own Typeface

I’ve always loved the personality of handwritten type. I often write personalized thank you notes, and calendar events in my own handwriting. I decided to take it one step further and create a series of fonts modeled after my own handwriting.

To create my own typeface, I used Fontself for iPad and was surprised by how easy the process was. I was able to turn my handwritten letterforms into working fonts while still keeping the imperfections and character that made them feel like mine. Creating a custom typeface is also a great branding exercise. Instead of searching for a font that almost captures your personality, you can create something completely unique to your visual identity. I hope to use it across my website, social media, artwork, packaging, or marketing materials.

Have you wondered: How to make custom fonts and typefaces?

It was easy and fun. I created a handwritten font, a bold sanserif font and working on a unique display font to be sure on my website. The iPad app is ony $20, no subscription!

Here is an example of the custom font I created using Fontself for iPad.

Creating your own font with Fontself is surprisingly easy. On an ipad, Fontself's user interface invites you to choose a template to start from, whether a san-serif, handwritten or serif font guideline for example. On a desktop you can import characters into Fontself and assign each one to the corresponding letter or symbol.

In both applications, you can adjust spacing, test how the letters work together, and refine the details before exporting a font you can actually install and use. You can experiment, make mistakes, and let some of those imperfections become part of the font’s personality.

If you'd like to try out the font, you can purchase it here!