In the context of design — including UX/UI design — , font is the most crucial thing. There are many unforgettable designs due the proper use of font. The Coca Cola logo with its iconic cursive font is one of the examples.
However, every designer also knows that choosing the most suitable font for a design has never been easy. Some designers even can spend a few days only to choose a font.
Speaking of font, there are some designers who tend to use a different font for each new project, by creating one from zero. There are some that rely on sites like Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts (formerly Typekit) to fulfill their font needs. No matter which sort of designer you are, here are some handy tools to help you work with fonts.
1. F37 Foundry
When browsing fonts online for your next design project, there is no better way than previewing the fonts you think interesting before downloading them. This will save you much time since you don’t need to install them on your computer first, which is can be time-consuming. Free font download sites like Google Fonts come with this sort of feature. It’s just, the way they preview the fonts tend to less interesting. F37 Foundry offers different experience in previewing fonts. This site will preview the fonts you select in a solid background (as you can see on the screenshot above).
Sadly, you will only be able to preview F37’s collection of fonts within the tool.
2. FonStruct
As said above, there are some designers who tend to use a unique font for every project, regardless the scale of the project they accept. In addition to desktop-based tools, there are also several online font creators you can use to create a unique font. FonStruct is the example of online font creator which you can use to create a unique font. You can use it for free. FonStruct offers an “expert mode” that opens up a few more editing options including “view” options, pen styles, lock guides and Unicode letter sets.
3. Wordmark.it
Sometimes, you want to compare two or more fonts to figure out which is the better one. It seems there is not much tool you can use to do so. If you really need this sort of tool then Wordmark.it is the tool you can try. When you open the website of Wordmark.it, it will automatically detects all fonts installed on your system. All you need to do is type certain word and you will have all fonts on the screen. To start comparing, you can select two or more fonts and click the Filter selected button on the upper right corner. You can download the provided image containing fonts you have selected to compare them. This tool can help a bit in choosing font, especially to save you time.
4. Calligraphr
In you want to use a unique font for your design project, Calligraphr is another tool you can try. You can also use this tool to create font, but the way this tool works is different to Fonstruct. Calligraphr converts your hand-written font into a fully-functioning vector font. This tool comes with an easy-to-follow template for you to fill out that you can quickly upload using a QR scanner. You can use Calligraphr for free, but an account is required before getting started.