Hands-on: Fontifier
Date : 2008 02 27 Category : Web Webware.com
I am absolutely in love with Fontifier, a simple service that creates a font from your own handwriting. Fontifier isn't new--Daily Candy covered it in 2005 and I saw it on the Craft blog--but in my opinion, good, ol' fashioned handwriting needs all the help it can get. (By, of course, making it less old fashioned.)
In about 5 minutes yesterday, I printed out Fontifier's template, scratched in my own versions of all the letters and symbols in a typical font, then scanned and uploaded the sheet. I expected that once I uploaded my alphabet, I'd have to wait a few minutes, hours, or even days to get my True Type font back. But after I paid $9 via credit card--ding!--there it was. I downloaded the file, dragged it to the Fonts folder in my Control Panel, opened Microsoft Word and started typing.
The result (below) doesn't exactly mimic my handwriting. I don't usually write with such a thick pen and I typically keep my hand a little straighter. (The vertical unevenness comes from writing my scanned letters at different heights in the template boxes, so I can only blame myself.) Typing with my font in Word, text looks nice at 18 points, but below that, my letters look a little jagged.
Still, I'm already dreaming up uses for my font--valentines! party invitations!-- and plan on creating a few more in weeks to come.
My Fontifier font only sorta kinda looks like my real handwriting.
(Credit: Lindsey Turrentine/CNET Networks)