Handwriting Fonts and their differences

There are many handwriting fonts available on the internet today. Most fonts are stock handwriting fonts, or "canned" fonts — standardized handwriting fonts created to reflect a handwritten style. Many of them are casual printed styles that are intended for informal usage, like Comic Sans (over-used in web design), or Lucida Handwriting or ITC Bradley Hand.

Others are formal script fonts that are intended for fancy invitations, like ITC Edwardian Script or Lucida Calligraphy or Zapfino. Many of these are styled after formal calligraphy writing. These script fonts usually employ a method of overlapping the tail of one letter to the start of the next letter, to give the illusion of "connected" cursive writing. This doesn't always work with some letters.

Handwriting fonts can be a nice change from standard text fonts like Times New Roman or Arial. Some projects can benefit from the use of handwriting fonts, such as personal notes, letters or cards, or envelopes for mailing or hand delivery, especially if you have a lot of notes or envelopes to print. But it's important to use the right handwriting font for the occasion, whether you are writing personal or business correspondence.

As mentioned above, some fonts are casual, and some are formal. There are even fonts that are created to reflect hasty writing, or poor penmanship. You need to consider your message when you decide which font to use: the appearance of the font can change the meaning of your message. A hasty or sloppy-looking font can make your message look thoughtless or careless, which can undermine your message altogether, especially for business correspondence. On the other hand, a formal script font used for a short personal note may appear "over-dressed."

Some companies offer custom-made handwriting fonts, based on your own handwriting sample. Most of those offer basic printed fonts which consist of simple alphabets (upper and lowercase), with numbers and punctuation. A few offer to make "cursive" fonts, but again, they employ the method of overlapping the tails of letters to the next letter, so there's no real connection.

One company offers true connected cursive fonts, with variations on the letters to create true connections between letters. This allows for variety in the letters, and for the different connection types that exist in real handwriting. You can learn more at www.vLetter.com.

 

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