Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Just My Type

One of the blessings of desktop publishing is how easy it is to create convincing paper props.  That applies not only to the technical process, but the imagery of documents.  At this point in time there are...what...two generations that have never used a typewriter as anything other than an affectation?  That makes any typewritten document "vintage" and considerably simplifies the suspension of disbelief needed to make a prop convincing.

For those particular projects you should check out Kingthings Trypwriter, a mildly distressed typewriter font that features a full character set and a free license.


4 comments:

CoastConFan said...

That’s a useful electronic font for simulating a piece of text produced on a manual typewriter. Typed text with a manual typewriter often shows the idiosyncrasies of the typist and the typewriter itself. With a touch typist operator, type characters are struck unevenly and sometimes there is hesitation shown by a rebound (double) strike. Anybody who has touch typed with a manual typewriter can usually detect if a text was typed by a touch typist or was done a hunt-and-peck type which tends to be very evenly struck with the stronger index finger. Electric typewriters (and computer printers) produce very evenly ‘struck’ text – see also daisy wheel printers. Having been spoiled with computers and software over the past years, it would be hard to go back to a vintage typewriter for other than making a prop so this electronic font is really useful. Thanks for sharing.

Phil said...

'Mom's Typewriter' is another good one, if you want a slightly more used look.

josefk said...

This looks like a good font, thanks. I will be downloading it. I have noticed on one or two of the other 'typewriter' fonts that there is a left and right side to quotation marks, so you have to watch out for it as it wasn't on real typewriters.

Unknown said...

Royal is a rather nice typewriter typeface that simulates the nuaces of the Royal typewriters, though it still falls trope to what CoastConFan said of typist idiosyncrasies. I especially like that Royal leaves out 1 and 0, true to form.

Depending on the care one wants with "typewritten" props, fine dodging and motion-blurring of letters can reproduce the look of a touch typist.