How to get custom fonts on Windows.

To create our own custom font, we can make use of these free programs available for Windows.

Microsoft Font Maker

We are talking about an application developed by Microsoft. Its main function is to help us create our own typefaces in a simple way. In this way we can give a personal touch to all our creations. You can download it for free from the Microsoft Store. In theory, it is possible to create fonts with a mouse click. However, the experience is not very user-friendly. Therefore, it is recommended to have a PC with a touch screen or a tablet and a stylus to use it.

Once we run it, the main menu appears with different squares showing the alphabet. From there we must write the letters and symbols to create our own font. Another feature is that we will not be able to delete those characters in which we have made a mistake. We will also not be able to add special characters or add more options for the text.

In the next screen, you will see three sentences to write. In addition, it is necessary to write them in the corresponding box. This fact will be a little nostalgic for some people. In effect, you will feel like you have to learn calligraphy as in the olden days. It is a similar situation. It is also important that we do it correctly so that the program can detect the typeface we are going to create.

Adjusting the appearance

The last page allows us to adjust the size and create the font. At the bottom, we find three sliders to set the space between characters. In addition to the space between words and the size. Later, in case any letter appears to be improper, we can go back to the previous screens through a small arrow icon located at the top left. If the font size is not too tight, there is no need to worry. In fact, we can adjust it in applications such as Word.

Once finished, click on the Create button. This will open a File Explorer window so that we can save our font. Remember that we must give it a name, and it will be accompanied by a TTF extension.

FontForge

It is a powerful open-source application for creating and editing digital fonts. In addition, it is characterized by incorporating a good number of functions that will help us to customize each letter as much as possible. It also includes several metric and transformation functions. FontForge is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Additionally, it can be used completely free of charge. To do so, just download it from the developer’s website. Once opened, a window appears from where we can load a font already created. We can also create a new one by clicking on New.

Some special symbols are also available. By double-clicking on any box, an editing screen appears. From there you can create the font corresponding to the chosen number, letter, or character. This is something we must do individually with each square. Each time we add the font, the square will become blank, while the rest show an X.

Once finished, we only have to save our font by clicking on File and Generate font. Now we only have to give it a name and a location where it will be saved.

Web applications to create a typographic font

If we would rather not download any software to our computer, we can also create our own typefaces with these web applications.

Calligraphr

This is a web application that allows us to scan our handwriting to create a custom font. It is easy to use and offers several features that will help us to get your perfect font. The results can be exported as TTF or OTF formats for use on both Windows and macOS computers. Additionally, we can use Calligraphr to create and export a custom handwriting font for free. Likewise, a Pro subscription unlocks additional features to help us turn our handwriting into the best possible font.

The main disadvantage of using Calligraphr for free is that its font is limited to 75 characters. That may be enough for uppercase and lowercase letters, every number and common punctuation marks. However, it doesn’t give for much more. To get started, we must access its official website and create a free account.

How does it work?

The first thing to do is to create a template of the source. This is based on a grid of squares, with one square for each character we want to include in the font. After creating the template and printing it, we must handwrite each letter in the squares. Then, we must scan it again in our PC to be able to create the font. To accomplish this, we must click on Download Template and the file format and the size of the cells.

Once downloaded, we will obtain the necessary template that we must print. Then we use a black pen or marker to complete the template by drawing a single character per box. Please verify that each line is clearly drawn.

Now we just need to click on the My fonts section and then click on Upload template to add the template with our font.

It will show us the written characters that we can edit or delete if we like a particular one. We can also adjust their size to make sure that each character has the same height. Once finished, we click on Add characters to the font. Finally, we just need to click on the Generate Font button so that Calligraphr finishes converting our handwriting into a font. Once finished, we make sure it looks good in the preview, then we download the file in TTF or OTF format.

Very well, in this way we have seen how to create custom fonts on Windows. Bye!

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