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PART III SHARING YOUR WORK
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CHAPTER 7: PROJECT IDEAS
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Step 2. scan the template. Feed the template through your scanner or place on your flatbed. Fontifier recommends a resolution no higher than 150 dpi. Save this file to your hard drive or desktop.
Step 5. install and use. Fontifier downloads your custom font to your desktop. All you have to do is click on the download and it will automatically install the font into your font library in a format known as true type. You can size the type so it’s smaller than the size you wrote it. If you enlarge it past 14 points, you may find that the font begins to get blotchy due to the fact that your original sampling was done very small. The charm, of course, is that you can type fast and furious while composing a handwritten note.
Step 3. upload, preview, and buy. Fontifier has a stream- lined interface that leads you through all the steps in a quick and painless way. Uploading is the fourth step, and after a few minutes you receive an e-mail that contains a preview of how your font will look. If you are happy, you give your credit card information or pay by PayPal. Each font you design costs $9. You can share this font with as many people as you want and use it in any program.
Step 4. name your font. Fontifier will ask you to assign a name to your font after you preview it. It is important to make note of this name, because it will become the official font title that will appear in your font list on your home computer.
The seven steps are easy. The payoff would be worth seventy-seven steps. —JK
Jamie comments, “When I made my own font, I played some with making a set of dingbat-type elements: custom arrows, exclamation marks, dashes, slashes, asterisks, bulletsofacoupleofsizes,rules,boxes,checkmarks,andsoon.” —JK
Six fonts by six personal media makers. Smudge Studio font (top) by Jamie Kruse and Elizabeth Ellsworth; (second) Jamie Kruse; (third) Elizabeth Ellsworth; (fourth) Vichai Chinalai; (fifth) author; (sixth) Jamie Kruse
By the way, it is a total rush when you are working away on a document, pull down the font menu in search of something just right, and, ta da, there is your own hand- writing sitting proudly amid all the other fonts that come on your computer. —JK
GALLERY