RotW: Build Your Own Font With FontStruct

Some of you may be familiar with Fontographer, a font creation and editing program popular in the 80s and 90s which uses Bézier curves to create font outlines. The learning curve (no pun intended) for Fontographer was a bit steep – for serious designers only.

Now comes FontStruct, a free, online font construction tool brought to you by FontShop. FontStruct allows you to build your own fonts using geometric shapes on a grid. When youve finished making your character set, FontStruct will render your font so you can download it in TrueType format. And did I mention its free?

The wine-and-brie crowd might turn their collective noses up at such a basic tool as FontStruct, but its a lot of fun to play with and, who knows, you may discover your inner Erik Spiekermann.