How To: Create a Typeface Out of Your Handwriting

Confession #1: I'm in love with typefaces {fonts}.

Confession #2: I'm also in love with pretty handwriting. I even like to practice my own handwriting and prefer to write in cursive. Yep, I'm that nerdy. In fact, funny story, I had a friend in college who had the most beautiful script handwriting and I had major handwriting envy, so I set out to try and write like her. I practiced. Over and over...in class as I was taking notes, in my journals, grocery lists...you name it. Though my cursive handwriting still isn't nearly as pretty as hers, I still love to try.

So where am I going with this? Well, since I love both typefaces and pretty handwriting, wouldn't it be cool if I could make a typeface out of my very own handwriting? I think yes :). Anyone else think that's a fun idea?

I recently learned that this is possible thanks to a free online tool called My Script Font, which takes a scanned image of your handwriting and turns it into a font you can install on your computer. So I gave it a shot using my own handwriting. It's silly and totally imperfect, but so fun! So allow me to introduce you to the Chaney font:

I used my "block print" handwriting for this one. I love how the uppercase letters came out, but am not as wild about the lowercase. It looks more kid-like than I think my "real" handwriting does.

Just for fun, I created a few squigglies too (the last row - in coral).

So how do you do it?

Step 1: Go to My Script Font and download the template. Print it out. Write out each letter in its designated box with a black, felt-tipped pen (I used a fine point Sharpie).

One hint: try to keep your letters in line with their examples for best results. DO NOT write outside their boxes. On my first attempt, I had a problem with wonky spacing between letters because I wrote outside the box.

Step 2: Scan the template in to your computer as a JPEG, TIFF or PNG. Here's what mine looked like:

Step 3: Name your font on the site and click "send file." It'll generate your font for you to download.

Step 4: Download your font and install it on your computer. If you don't know how to install it, go to the bottom of this post for instructions.

Step 5: Open your favorite word processing application (i.e. Word) and select your font from the font list. Type away and play with your new typeface!

I can't wait to experiment some more with this tool. It's so easy to do that I'm definitely going to make another one (maybe more like my cursive?!).

Have any of you tried this with your handwriting? Or do you plan to after you read this awesomely nerdy post?

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