Looking for the handwriting of a 12-year-old girl
I’m working on a book project and the editor has asked to include a handwriting typeface for central character. I’ve searched most of the free sites and pay sites, but the scripts that are good enough (opentype with ligatures, etc.) tend to be a bit too refined for a pre-teen girl. I must admit I’m a bit stuck.
Her handwriting will likely go up to 3 pages and we need to include “reluctant readers,” so legibility is important.
I’ve managed to find two that come close to filling the job:
Jennifer’s Hand Writing (captures the age)
and Lauren C. Brown (the legibility is decent)
Neither have ligatures, so will require a lot of grooming that I’d love to avoid. I also don’t mind paying for the font if it’s the right one. I know that open type will be opening up doors, especially for script fonts, but I haven’t seen anything that fits this niche.
Help?
15.Jun.2007 5.03pm
You want Amy Papaelias. She’s not twelve, but:
http://www.typetalkfonts.com/
hhp
16.Jun.2007 2.00am
Have a look at Olga included in the Backpacker package from Cannibals (Greece)
George Triantafyllakos - backpacker.gr
17.Jun.2007 6.31am
If you’re doing 3 pages and the readership is broad I would avoid a connected script. Print writing, like those you’ve mentioned, will be much more readable. Also FF Providence, Andy, Felt Tip or ITC Zemke Hand.
To avoid shape repetition you can move baselines a bit and flip symmetrical characters, but at 3 pages you’re going to have a lot of the same letters regardless of how many alternates or ligatures you have. Readability is most important.
Alternatively, you can pay a bit more and have your ideal font created from scratch.
18.Jun.2007 9.38am
The Amy Papaelias site is funny, but not quite what i was looking for :)
And Olga has a bit too much variation in the x-height and character weight to sustain a few pages of text.
Stephen, I totally agree with an unconnected script and I took a look at some of the ones you pointed out. They’re close but they look like boy’s handwriting. I’m anticipating needing to make adjustments to a few words here and there to reduce the impact of repeated letters (doubled letters, character angle, baselines...).
As for getting a font made from scratch, I won’t get any of the ligatures I’m hoping for. I suppose, in my dream world, I was hoping that a type designer who visits this site had one made of his/her daughters handwriting and went to the trouble of adding all the opentype features. Like I said, dream world.
18.Jun.2007 10.03am
You can request extra ligatures in your HandFont for a small additional fee. Contact FontShop and chat about it.
18.Jun.2007 10.06am
One more thing, Handsome Pro has all the features, but it’s a cursive font and thus no good.
18.Jun.2007 10.10am
Thanks Stephen, I may just do that. I’m giving myself til mid-week to exhaust other avenues. Felt Tip, btw, is pretty close. It’s the lead contender thusfar. Thanks!
18.Jun.2007 11.10am
It’s a bit mature but not impossibly so. I knew girls who wrote like that as a kid. They jhust put circles or hearts over their i’s.
If it were a printed character, I’d go with it. It’s be nice to have a slightly combined handwriting font where ’ing’ and ’th’ (etc.) get close to a cursive without completely crossing over.