Talvez Assim

Today's continues the theme of grunge fonts that I started last week. Talvez Assim not only has an interesting name, but a variety of textures within the characters of the font. From a distance, some of the characters seem to have a bit of a brick wall in them. Others have big dots or even small dots. Check out the font for yourself and tell me what you see in the characters.

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Raw Street Wall

I'm on a grunge kick and I don't know why. So for the next few weeks I'm going to hunt down grunge fonts for you. Today we'll start with Raw Street Wall. I guess the idea is that this is the kind of font you might see on a street wall. A wall is definitely not necessary for this one.

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Premium Fonts Supplied with CorelDRAW X5 Boxed Version

CorelDRAW has always been known for supplying a large number of fonts and CorelDRAW X5 continues that tradition. A few days ago I posted the list of fonts included with CorelDRAW X5. What you won't find on that list are the "premium fonts" that are new to CorelDRAW X5. You will only get the premium fonts if you buy the boxed version and they are installed separately from all other fonts.

Let's back up and talk about these fonts first. Most of Corel's font collection comes from Bitstream, one of the top font foundries. The new premium fonts come from Linotype, yet another top foundry. There are a total of 32 fonts from four font families: Frutiger, Futura, Garamond and HelveticaNeue. Each of the families comes in a number of weights and styles and the character sets are larger than most fonts. The Garamond fonts also include small capitals and old style numerals. Unfortunately you will not be able to access all of those characters in CorelDRAW since full OpenType support is still lacking.

When you receive your CorelDRAW X5 DVD, you'll find the Premium Fonts as a separate item to be installed. These fonts will be automatically placed (and installed) inside your Windows/Fonts folder. It is very discouraging that Corel does not provide a way to store the fonts in your chosen location since not all users will want all of the fonts immediately installed. Once they have been installed, you can go into the Windows/Fonts folder and move them somewhere else so you can install them at a time of your choosing. That's exactly what I've done.

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Modius Frigid

Here in Arizona the weather has been absolutely beautiful the last week with temperatures around 80 degrees (that's 27 Celsius) each day. Yet when I turn on the television, I'm greeted with the visions of winter at the Olympics. Of course NBC won't show anything live to those of us in the Western half of the United States so I usually know the results before the event is shown. OK, enough digressing, let's get to today's font. In the spirit of the ice on television, I found Modius Frigid. It has to be one of the coolest "ice" fonts I've ever seen.

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Kinkie

This will be the last font in the heart and love theme and today we're going to get a little Kinkie. Don't worry, that is just the name of the font and the characters are perfectly safe for even a kid's viewing. Quite honestly I'm not sure where the font gets its name, but the characters are still pretty cool with some of them incorporating hearts. If you've almost let Valentine's Day slip by unnoticed, this font gives you a last chance to design something cool for your sweetie or even a client. Just keep in mind that while it is free, it is not licensed for commercial usage.

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Heartbreaker

We're one week closer to Valentine's Day and so I'll continue my theme of heart and love themed fonts. While Valentine's Day can be a great day for some, it can also be a Heartbreaker for others. This font comes in both a regular and a heavy version. You'll also find a cool logo included within the font. It is licensed for personal use only.

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Heart and Soul

I'm not one who obsesses over a calendar so I hadn't even realized that we were so close to February already until I looked at the calendar today. With February comes Valentine's Day so I figured I would point you to some fonts with hearts and love as a theme over the next two to three weeks. Today's font is called Heart & Soul and it is a dingbat font with various pictograms geared towards a lover's favorite holiday. I think the font designer has an absolutely wonderful middle name. You'll have to look at the font to see the name. Also make note that this font is free, but it is not licensed for commercial use.

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KR Down By the Sea Font

For the last week, I've been enjoying time on and near the ocean. I've done some diving and saw all kinds of fish. I've walked the beach and found a variety of shells. Since I can't share that directly with you, I thought I'd try to find a font that might do the trick. Check out KR Down By The Sea Font and you'll find pictographs of many of the things I've seen.

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R and R

By the time most of you read this post, I'll be headed for the airport so that I can escape for some rest and relaxation. Don't worry, I'm a hard working blogger and you'll still get a post each day. In the scheme of my rest and relaxation, I found a font called R and R full of pictograms showing a few of the things I'll be enjoying. While I can't bring you all along for the fun, I can at least let you enjoy the font.

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Frostbitten Wanker

I'll admit that the name of today's font, Frostbitten Wanker, might not be considered politically correct to some. I didn't name it, I simply found it online for download. It is an all caps font where each of the letters has a pile of snow on top as well as some other cold highlights. I thought it was only appropriate since so many of you have been experiencing very wintry weather right now. Just stay in front of your computer and keep warm!

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PF Snowman Font

It seems like every time I saw a weather report on television this past week there was news about a snowstorm somewhere. Of course weather here in Phoenix just means it isn't as hot as in the summer. I can only remember back to the storms when I was a kid. With school canceled because of the snow, all I could do was build a snowman. That leads to todays font, PF Snowman. There are actually three different fonts, each containing a different style of snowman. It might not be as exciting as building your own snowman, but they are still some pretty fun fonts.

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Sarcasm Font

There is a little bit of a story behind today's post that I first have to explain. I think you'll enjoy the explanation. A couple of days ago I got a note from a loyal reader. It was just another forwarded joke with the request that I satisfy #4. So I guess I better include the joke so that we all know about #4.

***

20 Individual Thoughts

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after BluRay? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever...
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?
19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
    

***

Now that you have hopefully gotten a chuckle and you understand the reference to #4, I'll direct you to the Official site of the Sarcastic Font movement. There you can even download Arial Sarcastic. Admittedly it isn't the most interesting font I've ever seen, but it came with a great story.

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Scooby Doo Font

As a kid, I was a huge fan of Scooby Doo. Of course we all learned that it was the old guy from the amusement park who turned out to be the bad guy. Even the recent movie mixing live action and animation was great. So when I found a font by the name of Scooby Doo, I couldn't resist. For those of you needing to create a vehicle wrap for the Mystery Machine, you'll be all set.

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Degrassi Font

Yesterday was very relaxing. It was the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States where we take time to share a tasty dinner with our family and friends. As my family is many miles away, I joined an eclectic group of friends. We shared conversation around a wide variety of subjects and also shared an amazing meal. Now it is time to share a font with you and I've chosen Degrassi for today. It is listed as a "grafitti" font and I guess it does bear a resemblance to something you may see spray painted on the side of a building. Give it a look and let me know how you might use it in a project.

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We Give Thanks

Last week I provided you with a link to the 4YEOTHANKS dingbat font as one example of Thanksgiving designs. With the holiday less than a week away, we need another appropriate font to use. We Give Thanks is another dingbat font with some really intricate designs appropriate for the holiday. Now that we have the fonts we need, it is time to start thinking about all the great food to be shared.

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4YEOTHANKS Font

That name is sure a mouthful. Canadian Thanksgiving has already passed and the US version is getting closer every day. That led me to a search for an appropriate font. 4YEOTHANKS is a dingbat font with some cute graphics related to the holiday. If you are hosting a feast at your home, this font is sure to help you make invitations.

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Origami Font

I have always been fascinated with some of the things created with Origami. Today's font shares a name with the ancient method of folding paper into unique shapes, but doesn't really have anything to do with origami. The characters all do have various lines at 45 degree angles and something that looks like a fold mark, but that is about the only connection. I just think it looks cool and would be perfect for headlines on the right project.

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Thriller Font

Just one more day until little goblins and ghouls wander around looking for candy. It is also the week when Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack and movie are being released. So it seemed only appropriate to highlight the Thriller font today. Maybe this font will get you and the other zombies in the office dancing. Or maybe you'll just get more designs done.

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Sinister Fonts

Last week I directed you to a dingbat full of skulls to use for Halloween themed graphics. Today I'm going to continue that trend by telling you about a site loaded with some really sinister fonts that are perfect for the holiday. The Sinister Fonts Web site contains a number of free ghoulish fonts, wallpapers and even a few desktop themes sure to get you in the mood for Halloween.

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Skullz Halloween Font

We are now halfway through October and that means Halloween is getting closer. Or maybe it is Dia de los Muertos that you celebrate. Regardless, I found the perfect font for the occasion. Skullz is a dingbat font full of various skull graphics, many with crossbones. Of course the best of the bunch has to be the skull in the top hat.

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Ocean View

I spent the day yesterday checking out all kinds of output devices being driven by CorelDRAW to create products for customers. Seeing all these devices in action shows the numerous ways that CorelDRAW can be used and even the devices I saw barely scratch the surface of what is truly available. Once I have time to absorb everything I saw, I'll try to tell you more about it.

Before I tell you about today's font, I guess I should tell you that all these devices are located near the Atlantic ocean in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. So I wanted to try and find a font that was ocean related. That led me to Ocean View which simulates a sunset and ocean waves in each character. I'll let you enjoy the font and I'm going to see if I can find a little free time to visit the beach.

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Anillo Font

The first day of the latest CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camp is complete and it was a long one. The campers were loaded with so many questions that we ran almost an hour over the time scheduled. No complaints from me as I love to see so much information shared.

I'm not really sure how to describe today's font. I guess it would be called decorative, but it definitely has some odd shaped characters. Anillo is a very unique font. Download a copy and let me know what you think of it.

***

I think this is probably nutty on my part, but I’ve signed up to walk to the top of two 25 story buildings. All in all, 1272 steps. Of course it is all to raise money for the American Lung Association. You probably know what comes next, I need to get people to donate money to the cause. Thanks in advance for your support! Now I just need to figure out how I’m going to survive this...

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Densmore

A couple of weeks ago I talked about fonts that don't have isolated holes. A user who cuts designs with a scroll saw can't have characters with holes like that. In searching for today's fonts, I tried look for stencil style fonts and found Densmore. There are no uppercase characters, just lowercase. Some of the most interesting characters to me are the punctuation characters. Check it out and then post a comment and let me know what you think of this font.

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Sand Bureau

Last weekend I saw a lot of sand as I traversed the desert from Phoenix to El Paso to Truth or Consequences and back. Along the way I got to see a good football game and ride in a hot air balloon owned by a former student of our CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camp. Anyways, all that is leading me back to sand and today's font, Sand Bureau. It looks like a font that was handwritten with a felt pen to me. I'm also guessing the person writing the letters had a lot of caffeine before they wrote out the letters.

I got some notes from a few of you who really enjoyed the link I provided to Sans Pointy Things on Tuesday. This is a multi-part article and you might want to read Sans Pointy Things Part 2 to learn even more about sans serif fonts.

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Scroll Saw Fonts

I was recently contacted by a loyal reader who wondered if I might know where to find some good scroll saw fonts. The key is fonts that don't have holes in them. So that you understand this, let's look at the letter "O". Typically it has a hole in it. So if it were cut by a scroll saw, the middle would fall out. Thus a "scroll saw font" must have a way to connect all the holes. Of course you aren't limited to using them with a scroll saw.

That led me on a search where I found several fonts at Scrollcrafters. I'm not sure this will meet the needs of everyone, but at least a few choices are offered. For those of you who need this type of fonts, do you have any suggested fonts? Leave a comment and let us all know of other fonts that are available.

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Dirt2 SoulStalker

The name of the look of today's font, Dirt2 SoulStalker, have me thinking it is perfect for something geared towards racing, particularly motocross. Of course that is just my first impression of a place where this font could be used and I'm sure that your imagination will think of other places where it would work well.

Of course I always find it interesting to look at the category listed for a font. This one says Gothic > Medieval. I suppose the look of the font may fit in that category, but I consider it more of a grunge font and certainly something that is very trendy right now. In ten years we'll probably all look back and absolutely hate it.

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Score Board

We are getting closer and closer to the start of football for high school, college and pro teams here in the US. One of the things that you find at any stadium is a scoreboard to help the fans keep track of the game. Today's font, Score Board, mimics what you see on that scoreboard. I know that many of you create graphics used by schools of all sizes and this font may be exactly what you need for those projects. Give it a try!

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Pacfont

When I think back to the summer of 1983, I remember working as a lifeguard at a local pool. This was at the height of Pac-Man mania so I remember many of the swimmers taking a break from swimming in front of a Pac-Man game (download a trial version or buy a copy if you want to play it). Those memories brought me to today's font, Pacfont, whose characters resemble variations on our hungry yellow friend. You'll even find a font character of a ghost and our yellow hero.

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Ecofont

I have a feeling that some of you will love this font and some won't like it at all. The idea behind the design was to create a font that used less ink. It is meant for printing everyday documents in the office and not for high-quality. Ecofont uses around 20% less ink by filling each characters with holes. I doubt it is a font that I'll use often. What do you think of Ecofont? Will you give it a try in any of your projects?

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Fine Toonin

It just doesn't make sense to me, but school started in Arizona this week. Back in the good old days when I was a young whippersnapper, we started in early September. My font search for the week was to find something related to school. In my search I came across Fine 'Tooning which also looks like it would be good for labeling comics. Regardless of the type of project, enjoy!

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A Charming Font

Now you might think I am giving you my take on the look of this font. No, the name of the font is A Charming Font. Like many of the fonts I've highlighted, this font is best used for headlines. To me it is a cross between a calligraphic font and a handwriting font. Enjoy!

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Toyota iq Font

At first glance the Toyota iq font doesn't seem like the most interesting font. What is absolutely amazing is how the font was created. Using sophisticated technology tracking motion sensors on a car, the font was digitized by having the car drive in the shape of each letter. Included on the same page as the font is a movie documenting the creation of the font. Definitely the most unique way I've seen a font created. Thanks to Brian for giving me a heads up on this font!

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Bleeding Cowboys

In the last couple of weeks I've spent a fair amount of time around cowboys. The most interesting was attending the "world's oldest rodeo" in Prescott, Arizona on July 4. If you've ever been to a rodeo, you know that the animals seem to win about as often as the cowboys. That led me to today's font, Bleeding Cowboys. As with many new fonts, it has a grunge aspect to it. In fact, I'm not really sure where the reference to cowboys comes from. I just know it is a very unique font that could make for some new headlines in the right project.

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Bete Noir

Ever since the movie Jurrassic Park came out, I've been fascinated by fonts that had some sort of internal design element. Sometimes it is just a highlight that follows the outer curves and other times it is a more complex pattern. That is the case with today's font, Bete Noir. It contains a zig zag pattern within each character. According to the description it is a Retro font although I don't remember seeing anything like this in days gone by.

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Hawaii Lover

I'll be the first to admit that I love Hawaii. Of the islands I have visited, Maui is my favorite. Hawaii is also the newest of the 50 states in the United States so I felt it might be night to salute it just before we celebrate Independence Day. The Hawaii Lover font combines a script and a grunge font into one really cool font. Some of the characters even include what looks to be a grungy orchid. Just looking at it has me thinking of a trip to the islands.

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LaPointe's Road

Sometimes I find it hard to categorize the styles of fonts. Today's font is listed as a Calligraphic font and I certainly don't think that it wrong. Yet that doesn't really seem to properly categorize it. It does look like handwriting with a lot of nice flourishes and swashes. Check out LaPointe's Road and let me know your description of it.

On the page you will see an old time photograph with a sample of the font at the bottom. I really love how this font fits with the image. It does have an "old time" feel to it. I think you'll find it a cool font to add to your arsenal.

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Frog II

When I went searching for this week's font, I didn't have any particular font in mind. I just let the search flow where it might. Those of you who remember the Frogger game from the 1980s will remember how you had to guide your frog through the flow of traffic on the river. So the result of my search is a dingbat font full of frogs. There are many people who just love all kinds of frog images and decorations. How about decorating a document with some of the frogs in this font?

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Font Friday: Marquee

I always loved the cover of Styx's Paradise Theater album. Yes, album! If you remember the cover, it shows the marquee of a theater. I included the cover of the CD at right to remind those of you who aren't already familiar with it. Thinking of that album led me to today's font, Marquee. If you need to create text for a marquee, this could be the font you need.

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Font Friday: A Tale of Three Fonts, Part III

In the first two parts of this series we talked about the problems converting Mistral and Caslon Antique into PostScript Type 1 fonts at The Font Company. Today we'll go over the last of the three fonts and my favorite: Chromium One.

Just looking at the sample above, you can see why it is so complex. Inside of each character are shapes that simulate the reflections on chrome. I'm sure it would be a nightmare to cut and weed it from vinyl, but it sure looks cool in print!

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Font Friday: A Tale of Three Fonts, Part II

Last week I gave you the background on the three fonts that were too complex for us to convert to PostScript Type 1 at The Font Company. The second of the fonts is Caslon Antique. Of course it was really popular back in the early 90s since it was the font used by the Broadway show "Les Miserables". I am displaying the Adobe version of the font, but the URW version is the closest to the one we had at The Font Company.

Corel even included a knockoff of the font in early versions under the name Casablanca Antigua or something like that. Sorry, my memory is a little vague going that far back. This font was particularly complex because of the "antique" variation on the Caslon font. Each of the characters had notches around the edge to show the aging of the text. Next week I'll tell you all about the third problem font and my favorite of the three.

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Font Friday: A Tale of Three Fonts, Part I

I'm not sure how many of you have read my biography close enough to realize my past in the font industry. It was the early 90s and the digital font industry was very young. I was in charge of technical support for The Font Company and we offered over 2000 PostScript fonts for both PC and Mac. Three of the fonts in our library were problematic. There was so much detail in the font characters that we couldn't make them into a PostScript Type 1 font (the typical PostScript font in use today) without removing detail. I'm going to cover each of these fonts in the blog. No, they aren't free. But you might find something similar for free and you will find a variation of today's font included with most versions of CorelDRAW.

First up is Mistral. CorelDRAW users may know it as Staccato 222 BT. I'm showing the ITC version of the font, though the one closest to what The Font Company offered is the URW version.

The idea is that it represents casual writing done with a felt-tip pen. Go ahead and write some text yourself with a pen and look carefully. Notice the really rough edges of the characters? That is what made this font so complex. Luckily the OpenType format allows for more complex data and the font has been made available with all of the detail included.

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Font Friday: Font Fight

Normally I give you a link to a font you can download. We're going to do something a bit different today. I found a really funny video of a street fight between a bunch of fonts. It was a followup to the equally funny font conference video from a while back. Along the way you'll learn a little bit about the fonts we use on a regular basis and get a good laugh out of it.

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Font Friday: Madison

Comic Sans is constantly under attack for poor design and overuse. Yet a handwriting font is needed by many users to fill the gap. Today's font, Madison, is a very attractive handwriting font and you should consider it for projects that need such a font. Give it a try!

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Font Friday: Walt Disney Script

I was talking to someone the other day who was doing a custom shirt design for his granddaughter who would soon be visiting Disneyworld. He wanted a "kids" font. Maybe the perfect font would have been today's offering, Walt Disney Script. Basically it looks just like Walt Disney's own handwriting.

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Font Friday: A Font For The Computer People

I think the name of this font says it all: A Font For The Computer People. I'm not sure I would group this with the grunge fonts, but then again I might. It definitely has a few rough edges, but I bet it would look great on the right poster.

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Font Friday: Acid Dreamer

My mom used to tell me a story about one of her friends from way back when. This friend was fascinated by the word fart. Just hearing it would start her laughing. I'm guessing she isn't the only one since last week's font, Fart Bubble, had a lot more traffic than any previous font I've featured. It wasn't the best font I've ever seen, so it had to be the name.

I don't think today's font will have the same name appeal, but I think it is a more interesting font. Acid Dreamer is definitely in the grunge category and may be just what you want for rough looking type.

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Font Friday: Fart Bubble

I was talking to a friend the other day who was working on a design needing a "kids" font. That led me to start searching to see what I might find. When I found Fart Bubble, I just couldn't resist the name. It wasn't the right font for that particular project, but anything that made me laugh that much had to have some value. Download a copy and let me know just where you find a use for this one.

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Font Friday: Easter Fonts

With Easter just over two weeks from now, I thought we'd try and find some appropriate fonts. It seems like every time I search for holiday fonts like this, I find more than just one font. In this case I found eight fonts. Some of them contain an alphabet while others are picture fonts. No matter what you need, I bet you can find that at least one of them will be useful to you.

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Font Friday: KR B'Ball

Those of you in the United States know that this weekend is all about the madness of college basketball. In all there are 48 games between Thursday and Sunday. So i felt it was only appropriate to find a font related to basketball. That led me to KR B'Ball. Each letter and number is featured inside of a basketball spinning on a player's finger. I'll admit, I'm not really sure where you will be able to use this font. It was the only basketball related font I could find.

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Font Friday: Celtic Fonts

We are only a few days away from St. Patrick's Day where we all celebrate being Irish for a day. That means it is time to look for some fonts to fit the occasion. I actually found six free Celtic fonts for you. Download each of them and you'll already feel a little more Irish.

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Font Friday: President

This week has had a real presidential theme. It started out with President's Day (US holiday), then President Obama visited Phoenix (my hometown) on Wednesday. Yesterday President Obama was in Ottawa (Corel's hometown). So I thought it was only appropriate to tie it all together with a font by the name of President. Even more interesting is that the font's author is listed as Corel. My memory isn't good enough to remember for sure, but it was most likely supplied with an older version of CorelDRAW. Something like CorelDRAW 3 or 4. If you don't have a copy around somewhere on your system, this is your chance to get it now.

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Font Friday: Sexy Rexy Smitten

Last week I presented you with a font that incorporated fonts in each of the characters. We're going to stay with the Valentine's Day theme, but this time I picked a dingbat font with lots of cool graphics related to love. Sexy Rexy Smitten also has a cool name! Download and enjoy it with someone you love.

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Font Friday: Heartland

Is Valentine's Day really only a week away? Wow, being gone for half of January has really thrown off my calendar. With Valentine's Day coming so soon, I thought I better find a font that is fitting for the day. That led me to Heartland, where each character has a heart embedded in it. Just using it should get your heart aflutter.

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Font Friday: Presidente Tequila

After a week in Mexico, the best thing to talk about may not be tequila. Nevertheless, I thought you might enjoy the Presidente Tequila font. The good news is that overuse of the font may lead to bad design, but at least you won't wake up on the floor wondering what happened the night before.

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Font Friday: Krystal

I watch the weather reports on television and I see that most of the United States and Canada is dealing with cold weather. Here in Arizona, I'm nearly immune to snow and cold. But that doesn't mean I can't find you a font that is fitting for the season. Today's font is Krystal and it features a snowflake on each character. I'd rather have the flakes on a font than on my driveway!

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Font Friday: District

One of the big trends in type is grunge type. Today's font, District, falls into that category. But it is different in that the center of the characters is mainly white (or transparent). It actually looks like there is a double outline around each character. Download your copy and start incorporating it into your designs.

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Font Friday: A Yummy Apology

The holiday season is over and it is time for all of us to get back to work. Did you eat too much this holiday season? I did fairly well but certainly had a little bit too much. That leads us to today's font, A Yummy Apology, to help make up for that extra food. Download your copy and get your year started right.

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Font Friday: Football Fonts

The greatest week of football is in full swing here in the United States. I know I'm excited because my Kansas Jayhawks are coming to Arizona for a game on New Year's Eve. That led to to looking around to see if I could find some football related fonts. There were actually 32 different fonts that were tagged with football as a keyword, including some that are what we in the US would call soccer. I'm sure you'll find a few that you want to add to your collection.

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Font Friday: New Year's Eve Fonts

If you are going to celebrate the new year, you need some fonts to help design the invitation, right? I've found four cool fonts you can download for free. They provide text with cocktail bubbles, party streamers, stars and even a font full of feast images. With these fonts in hand, you'll have a good start on those party invitations.

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Font Friday: Christmas Fonts Part Two

Last week I gave you a link to download a wide variety of Christmas fonts. Guess what, there are so many of them that I'm back with more of them this week.



There are quite a few fonts to choose from, including the one shown above. No matter the reason you need a font, you are certain to find one that meets your needs. Happy font hunting!

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Font Friday: Christmas Fonts

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, now we turn to a number of other holidays taking place in the next month. Just yesterday I had to create a flyer for a Christmas party and wanted to find a festive font to use. Since it is the season of giving, today I'm giving you a link to 16 free Christmas fonts. I'm sure you'll find at least one to add to your collection and maybe more.

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Font Friday: More Thanksgiving Fonts

I'm still full from the Thanksgiving feast yesterday. It is hard to pass up large helpings of turkey and dressing. Continuing with our theme from last Friday, I found even more Thanksgiving fonts for you to download. You'll also notice a few other holidays represented on the page so get started early on designs for those holidays.

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Font Friday: Thanksgiving Fonts

For those of us in the United States, we'll be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday next week. So I looked around to see if I could find some fonts with a Thanksgiving theme. I found a wide variety of Thanksgiving fonts to download. I'm sure you'll find one or more to add to your collection.

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Font Friday: Political Graft

We've finally gotten the elections behind us in the United States. Even though we elect a president once every four years, it sure seems like the election lasts for at least two of those four years. It will be nice to have a break from political ads for a while. That doesn't mean we can't look for fonts with political in the name like today's font: Political Graft.

To be honest, I have no idea why it gets the name. It is definitely unique. Download your copy for free.

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Font Friday: Zing Diddly Doo

I've seen some interesting font names over the years, but this one just might take the cake. Zing Diddly Do Right is a crazy name for a font with a little wiggle in the caps. While on the page, also check out Feetish and Dr. Eve L. I like the fonts, but I like the names even better. Enjoy!

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Font Friday: Viking

Since today is Halloween, I was still searching out fonts that might be a good fit for the holiday. Rather than finding another "scary" font, I thought about finding something related to a costume someone might wear. That led me to the Viking font shown at right.

You can download both the PostScript and TrueType versions of the font for free. So what costume are you wearing for Halloween? I want to hear all about it!

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Font Friday: RemiHead

Usually I can give you a good reason why I picked a particular font. As I was searching around for today's font, one of them just jumped out at me. I have no idea why, I just wanted to select it. RemiHead is described as a hi-tech retro font. It does supply all four weights, but it only has lowercase letters. Download and enjoy!

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Font Friday: Diskontented

With all the crazy financial news these days, there are probably more than a few of you feeling discontented. So how about we pick a font of a very similar name, Diskontented.



This is a free download and definitely provides a simple grunge font.

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Font Friday: You Murderer BB

Wow, the the name of this week's font really caught my eye. I was looking for a font that would fit well with the upcoming Halloween holiday. The designer claims he dipped his finger in wet ink and rubbed it on bristol board to try and simulate bloody writing on a wall.



You can download this scary font for free from the folks at 1001 fonts. For some reason this font makes me think of the word "REDRUM". What about you?

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Font Friday: American Sign Language

Normally when we think of an alphabet of characters, we think of the standard shapes like this text that I have typed. For those who need to communicate with the deaf or who need something to teach someone to "speak" in sign language, today's fonts will come in very handy. You can download several variations of American Sign Language fonts in both TrueType and bitmap formats.

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Font Friday: Dirty Ego

We're going to look at another grunge font today by the name of Dirty Ego. You'll see a nice sample of the character set at right.

The font is from the folks at misprinted type 4.0 and they offer both free fonts and commercial fonts. Fonts are designed by Edudardo Recife. Dirty Ego is available for free download for both the PC and the Mac.

While visiting the site, look around. I found a number of interesting things to check out.

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Font Friday: Wunderbach Rough

Today's font is somewhat of a cross between a slab serif face and a handwritten face with some grunge thrown in for good measure. It is called Wunderbach Rough and comes from the folks at wcfonts. Even better, it has a freeware license so you can use it in your projects for free. It is also supplied in both TrueType and OpenType format. Enjoy!

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Font Friday: Caslon Antique

Last week, John posted a comment and asked if I could suggest a font that would replicate articles from an old western newspaper.

The font that I suggested at the time was Caslon Antique (shown at right). Many of you will recognize it as the font used for the Broadway show Les Miserables.

If you look around, there are other fonts with antique in the name. It simply means that the shapes of the characters have a few bumps and bruises on them. Caslon Antique is certainly the best known of the genre. Enjoy!

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Font Friday: Wanted Fonts

The font I wanted to present this week doesn't have a page all its own. But that just means you get a link with several fonts to download. That's not such a bad deal. Wanted Fonts has hundreds, if not thousands, of fonts available for download.

I wanted a kind of handwriting font today and I liked the look of Scribblicious. It looks as if someone has taken several strokes to make up each letter. It is listed as freeware, but read any usage restrictions carefully.

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Font Friday: Verzierte Schwabacher

Today's font is a recreation of a scanned blackletter font named Verzierte Schwabacher. That's German for Schwabacher Handtooled. It was originally drawn by Carl Kloberg in 1891.

You can download it for free. No readme file was included regarding its usage. To start the download, click on either of the samples shown on the page. Each of them will give you a different re-creation of the original font. You can also download a PDF file with a scan of the original art.

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Font Friday: Kegger Collegiate

It is back to school time so what better time to talk about a slab-serif athletic font. These fonts are especially important for anyone creating garments, signs or awards for school athletic teams. Our font today is Kegger Collegiate and it comes with what they call a "recreational use license". That means you can use it free for personal use, but not for commercial use. Read the included license agreement for details.

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Font Friday: Parkland

Today's Font Friday will be really short and sweet. Our font for today is Parkland (both sans serif and serif versions) as shown at right. It is a shareware font, so make sure to read the included readme file for instructions on how it may be used. In short, you can use it non-commercially for 30 days without cost. After that it is $10 for non-commercial use and $100 for commercial use. Remember, a quality font includes over 200 individual graphic characters and it takes a lot of work. Please support those who create cool typefaces or we probably won't get very many new designs.

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Font Friday: Circus Fonts

It's the end of the week so let's look at some fun fonts. What is more fun that a circus, right? OK, don't answer that. Well, circus fonts can be very ornate and fun to work with in your designs.

The font shown at right, Ringmaster, is just one of the fonts featured today. At last check, there were a total of 20 fonts labeled as circus fonts at fontspace.com. Some of those fonts include multiple styles. So your actual font haul could be closer to 30 fonts this week. Some of them are headline fonts and there are also a few dingbat fonts. I really liked Fair Face and Clowners. What are your favorites?

If anyone has suggestions for fonts to feature in future weeks, please let me know! It certainly isn't hard to find new fonts, but you may have found something really cool and I want to tell everyone about it.

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Font Friday: Fantastic Creatures

The fonts I chose last week were very buttoned-down, only useful for business fonts. This week I decided to pick a font that has more artistic uses. It is a dingbat font, which simply means it is made up of little pieces of vector artwork.

Fantastic Creatures has a very self-descriptive name as it has ghosts, dragons, pegasus, dinosaurs and other cool creatures. I've included a graphic at right that shows just a few of the pictures included in the font. Those of you creating artwork for shirts will definitely find some of this artwork useful and I'm sure others will find a good use for these cool creatures as well. Download the font and enjoy!

Since it is Font Friday, I thought I'd throw in some font-related humor as well. There is a really funny video showing what goes on at a font conference. If you've been doing graphics for any length of time, you'll definitely enjoy watching the video.

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Font Friday: Roadgeek Fonts

When I drew up the plans for my daily topic, today was supposed to be Font Friday. That means one font. I decided we should start with a bang and I'll direct you to a bunch of fonts today.

Roadgeek fonts were created to duplicate the fonts used on highway signage. Please read the license agreement carefully as they are not licensed for sign production, commercial logo design or mass publication. As you scroll down the page, you'll find links to download the individual fonts or series. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list and find the one labeled Complete. Click this and you can download them all at once. That means you get a total of 27 different fonts. While we're about road sign fonts, let me throw out yet another freebie for today. There is a font created by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that contains a number of recreation symbols.

Whew, that's 28 fonts today. That should keep all of the font fanatics out there satisfied until next Friday.

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