Handmade Typography

A custom typeface built from my own handwriting, digitized letter by letter into a working font. I wanted a way to add handwritten elements to my digital projects, notes, sketches, labels, and designs, while still keeping the authenticity of something handmade.

Opening page of the type specimen booklet

The cover and opening spread of the type specimen booklet

01 The Process

The process started on paper. I wrote out phrases like “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” and “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs” to capture every letter of the alphabet, then went back through what I'd written and picked out the clearest version of each character, refining and redrawing it to keep the feel of my own handwriting.

Selection process, Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs, clearest letters circled

Selection process, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, clearest letters circled

After writing the same sentence over and over, I circled the clearest version of each letter

02 Digitizing

Through this process I found out my handwriting is naturally monospaced and written in all caps. That led to two versions of the font, one mapped to uppercase keys and one to lowercase, so it can be used either way depending on what someone needs.

Calligraphr character template, handwritten uppercase letters and numbers, sheet one

Calligraphr character template, remaining uppercase letters, sheet two

Each letter, scanned across two character-template sheets and run through Calligraphr to build the actual font file

03 The Result

After digitizing every character, I had a fully usable font that reflects how I actually write on paper. Seeing my own handwriting work as a real typeface, something I can drop into notes, sketches, or any other digital project, has been one of the more rewarding parts of this one.

The finished digital typeface, full uppercase alphabet specimen

The finished digital typeface, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

The finished typeface, set from the digitized letterforms

Closing page of the specimen booklet, an invitation to download and use the font

Thank you page, closing the type specimen booklet

The closing spread of the specimen booklet

Download the font (.otf)

Free to use for notes, sketches, posters, or anything else that could use a bit of a personal touch

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