-Special Effects-

MICROFILM is a special effects font with a strong dot screen texture, a mix of past and future. It resembles a bold sans serif font that’s somewhat out of focus.

FLASH MOB is a fun font that combines silhouettes of walking figures with letters inspired by OCR-A, the machine-readable font from 1960. As you type, a crowd appears! Version 1.5 includes an expanded character set.

BOSTON LINE and PHILADELPHIA LINE fonts each have an unusual sanserif design, quirky letterforms, and rounded mechanical strokes that suggest template lettering or machine-readable fonts. Boston is lowercase only, Philadelphia is a bit more conventional including upper and lowercase. These were inspired by 2 different 19th-century educators’ attempts to make a raised-letter alphabet for the blind. Eventually, the dot grid of Braille would prove easier to use, but Samuel Gridley Howe’s legacy lives on at Boston’s Perkins School, as does Julius Friedlander’s at Philadelphia’s Overbrook School. Version 1.5 has an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning. In the… continued

APERTURE is a special-effects font, especially designed to be difficult to read! Use for a puzzling or comic effect or to suggest an alien script that only some can read. There are outline and solid fonts that can be used separately or layered together; each includes alternate letterforms for further play with legibility. Version 1.5 has an expanded character set.

TEXTONA has a unique mix of large and small, stacking letters in a sleek geometric style. Using the Discretionary Ligatures feature of Opentype, composed pairs of stacking letters are automatically substituted, creating a rich and engaging texture as in the example above. Full details for using this unique pair of fonts are given in a separate file. An earlier version of this font was released as Seoul; Hangul, the fascinating and beautiful Korean alphabet, was one of my inspirations.

LAB RAT is a special-effects font designed to create custom working mazes. Print them big so you can traces the paths through each letter and word! The basic letterforms were inspired by the classic Mac system font, Chicago, designed by Susan Kare. Version 1.5 has an improved character set and some technical issues resolved.

DILEMMA is a bold oblique sansserif font with a dynamic inline that twists in and around each letter. The Regular font has black letters and white lines; a pair of companion fonts each have half of each letter. Set your type in each font and layer them in different colors to get the red, white, and blue effect above. DILEMMA was inspired by Sears’ 1984–94 logo. Version 1.5 includes an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning.

IXAT is a pair of bold sanserif fonts that look like they are in motion or affected by glitches. IXAT MINUS has white streaks removed from the letters as in the top 3 lines above; IXAT PLUS (bottom 3 lines above) adds black streaks for even more of a good thing. All caps, but there are 2 of each letter for a more random feel, and the two fonts can be intermixed. Version 1.5 has an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning.

SWEET BAY is a family of plant-based fonts: the letters are made completely of leaves for a fresh, natural feel. The Regular and Outline fonts have all the leaves and can be used together or separately. Component fonts A and B each have half the solid leaves and can be layered together in different colors to create richer and deeper effects. All caps, but two versions of each letter for a more hand-lettered look.

TESSERA is a big bold sans serif that looks like broken-plate mosaic. Separate Tile, Grout, and Deep Grout fonts make realistic mosaic effects easy, and there’s a companion Fill font that can be layered behind the Grout fonts in a contrasting color or a colorful photo. You can type ^^^ in any of the fonts to make a continuous matching pattern. If you need a matching font without the mosaic effect, please check out my Wood Shed font. If you want a more formal mosaic style—serif, square tiles, please check out my Subway Mosaic font.