Which Mac typeface font design software do you prefer?
J. Bridges
Posts: 91
Hello:
Which Mac typeface design software do you prefer?
I have used Fontgrapher (a long time ago), FontLab, BirdFont, FontSelf thru Adobe Illustrator and Glyphr Studio. So far, I like FontLab 7 and FontSelf because I know FontLab the most and FontSelf is easy.
Which app would you recommend for a beginner or intermediate user?
I have designed typefaces before but just the main capital glyphs for titles and headlines. I want to build out the entire font and include alternative glyphs.
Thanks!
Which Mac typeface design software do you prefer?
I have used Fontgrapher (a long time ago), FontLab, BirdFont, FontSelf thru Adobe Illustrator and Glyphr Studio. So far, I like FontLab 7 and FontSelf because I know FontLab the most and FontSelf is easy.
Which app would you recommend for a beginner or intermediate user?
I have designed typefaces before but just the main capital glyphs for titles and headlines. I want to build out the entire font and include alternative glyphs.
Thanks!
0
Comments
-
I like Glyphs because:
- Having most of my workflow in one app makes my life easy (and it will be easier when I get around to using Kern On instead of MetricsMachine).
- I love that there are hundreds of great scripts and plugins available (Hello Mark Fromberg!).
- The drawing tools are excellent.
- A stripped down UI makes it a lot easier to just find what I need, as opposed to the FontLab UI which has so much going on that I used to have trouble remembering what button did what.
- Self coding OpenType features save me lots of time when I’m just throwing stuff at a wall and I might forget something.
- It’s easy to implement TrueType hinting without stuff breaking because I change the outlines.
- The Glyphs team provides excellent support (Which is important because Georg has a tendency to move fast and break things).
3 -
Glyphs has been my favorite since about 2015*. It can't do everything that FontLab or RoboFont can do, but it does what I need in a way that fits the way think about type design and doesn't get in my way. There is a beginner version called Glyphs Mini. I don't know enough about it to know whether or how well it supports alternate glyphs.
* In the past I've used Fontographer, FontLab Studio, and RoboFont.1 -
I have mostly settled on FontLab 7. I tried to like Glyphs—and think perhaps if I were just starting out it might appeal more—but it required me to change too many ways of working that I have developed over almost thirty years. I do like some of the scripts and plugins available for Glyphs, though,—especially Kern On—and thankfully FontLab 7 reads and writes Glyphs files quite reliably.
I still do almost all my OpenType Layout work in MS VOLT on Windows, because 20+ years on it is still better than anything built on top of Adobe’s half-baked AFDKO.0 -
I've used Fontlab, Font Forge, Glyphs, RoboFont, Fontcreator, etc.But prefer DTL FoundryMaster, whether it is a novice or a professional font designer, he is easy to get started and has excellent support for working with multiple font files at the same time;FoundryMaster is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux;Support different systems to work, can be unconstrained by macOS.
https://www.fontmaster.nl/foundrymaster.html0 -
Thanks for all the ideas. I might give Glyphs a try. I do like FontLab7.0
-
Glyphs 4 Life ✊
0 -
I started with Fontographer then moved to FontLab, which was great until FontLabVI where the whole UI changed into something unintelligible and so frustrating that I tried Glyphs. I haven’t regretted it, as it’s much easier to use (once you get the hang of it) and my workflow has increased dramatically.2
-
My favorite is Letraset Font Studio.5
-
Font Studio was a great app. I did the final production for my first commercial release with it (started in Fontographer). I loved the way it presented the structure of fonts in such a logical and organized way. The drawing tools were also nice—very similar to Illustrator in feel (back when that was a compliment). Too bad it was abandoned and never updated or maintained after the initial release or so.3
Categories
- All Categories
- 40 Introductions
- 3.7K Typeface Design
- 796 Font Technology
- 1K Technique and Theory
- 615 Type Business
- 444 Type Design Critiques
- 539 Type Design Software
- 30 Punchcutting
- 136 Lettering and Calligraphy
- 83 Technique and Theory
- 53 Lettering Critiques
- 482 Typography
- 301 History of Typography
- 114 Education
- 67 Resources
- 495 Announcements
- 79 Events
- 105 Job Postings
- 148 Type Releases
- 162 Miscellaneous News
- 269 About TypeDrawers
- 53 TypeDrawers Announcements
- 116 Suggestions and Bug Reports