In another article in this issue of Traces, I wrote about how a font can be a graphic element. A font can make a big difference visually to your logo, website, advertisement, product packaging, or any other visual area of your business.
Fonts tell a story. Imagine you see a sign with big, bold, and strong letters. It might make you think, “This place means business!” But if you see another sign with soft, curly, and playful letters, it might feel like a party is about to start! Fonts aren’t just letters. They’re mood-setters.
But where do you get cool fonts? That brings me to the resource I’m talking about today and that is the site DaFont.com. I’ve been utilizing the DaFont.com website for many years now. As of the publishing of this article, they currently have 81,175 different fonts available to use. I would say most are free to use or very inexpensive to use.
There are several areas of the DaFont.com website I like to use. The first would be the themes section where you can narrow down the font you’re looking for based on a style theme. For example, if you’re working on a design with a 70’s theme, simply visit the “Groovy” theme listing and you have thousands of options to choose from.
Maybe you want something a little more edgy; there are theme categories such as Eroded, Distorted, or Destroy.
Each having thousands of fonts to choose from. Many times, you can find popular fonts from movies and such. For example, if you are wanting a sci-fi design similar to “Star Wars” go to the search and search for that title. In my case when trying this, the search returned with 6 results that show variations that look very similar.
Another feature I like with DaFont.com is that you can enter your preview text so that you can see the text you’re wanting to design live with each font option available. This saves a lot of time from needing to download the font and install it only to find out it won’t work for what you need.
So, my usual process is:
- Go to DaFont.com
- Find the theme that might be
- Enter my preview
- Set the number of fonts to view per page. (I like to select 100 so that I can scroll through )
- Click submit and start viewing the font
- Once I’ve decided on the font I want, I simply download and install it for use.
You don’t need to be an artist to use fonts. Today, many tools and websites let you pick and play with fonts until you find the perfect one. It’s like trying on shoes until you find the pair that fits just right.
Fonts can make you stand out, set the mood, and make sure customers remember you. So, add a mood setter to your next project and choose a font that shows the world what your business is all about. Dive into the world of fonts and watch your business story come alive.
I do want to mention that the DaFont.com website itself is free to use. The only cost is the instance where the person that provided the font is asking for a fee to use their font. Here are the types of pricing you will find on DaFont.com:
- Public Domain—means anyone can use it without
- 100% Free—which is self
- Free for personal use—You can use it for your own needs but if you want to use it commercially (for a business) you will need to check the license for that font. The ones that I have used in this fashion have been around $25. That is much cheaper than commercial font sites.
- Donationware/Shareware—Generally means if you like the font and feel you want to support the font creator send them a tip or a minimal fee.
- Unknown—While obvious it means it’s unknown if there is a charge for this font and you can download it as is.
I’ve used this site for 15 years or better. It’s my go- to when trying to find that perfect font for a project. Being a graphic designer, I want to provide my client or customer with something that stands out and looks different than everyone else. I’ve used DaFont.com for book covers, logos, t-shirt designs, advertisements, and so much more. So, if you’re wanting to make a difference with your next project that utilizes fonts, I’d suggest DaFont.com for that project.
