AN OBSERVATION PROVOKED BY GOOGLE FONTS.

At last count, there were 221 font families in the “Handwriting” category in the Google Fonts collection. This betrays a certain assumption among graphic designers: that the way to produce text that looks as if it has been written by hand is to set it in type with a font that imitates handwriting. But can you think of any other way to produce text that looks as if it has been written by hand?

Anybody?

Oh well.

. 5 comments.

Comments

  1. The Shadow says:
    September 13, 2022 at 2:27 am

    I know! We should be able to create a device similar to a motorized pantograph to write things for us!

    Reply
  2. Belfry Bat says:
    September 13, 2022 at 3:59 am

    Guttenberg’s original font, which today we might call “Blackletter”, as well as “italics” generally, were both developed to imitate hand-written documents.

    It also goes without saying that typewriters and computer keyboards are usually operated by hands…

    Given these interesting points, the obvious thing to do is to train an AI on Some Sample of Real Handwriting and have it create randomized pictures of What Real Handwriting Would Look Like Really based on the text to be rendered. Optimally the generated AI should run in your browser, produce the rendering at human writing speeds, and should also imitate the occasional failures of a physical pen, leaking or running out of ink or even tearing the paper now and then.

    Reply
  3. tom says:
    September 13, 2022 at 7:36 am

    When all of our brains are finally linked together in the Cloud the issue will simply disappear, as we will all write in Arial.

    Reply
  4. Fred says:
    September 13, 2022 at 9:48 am

    Its pretty easy, all you have to do is teach your pet dog or elephant how to write.

    Reply
  5. RepubAnon says:
    September 13, 2022 at 9:59 pm

    Buy a copy of a decision written by Judge Learned Hand?

    Reply

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