15 great free handwriting fonts that are useful

January 23, 2015
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

If you need a handwriting font for your project, look no further. When we talk about free handwriting fonts, we’re not just referring to one style of typography; they can come in a number of various executions. They are in the same area as cursive fontsbut with even fewer constraints and often based of freeform illustrations.

01. Novito Nova

nnova1
“This font was made for making people happy,” Nina comments

Novito Nova was created by Russian designer Nina Z. “This font was made for making people happy,” she comments on Behance. A whimsical design, Novito Nova is great for providing projects with an authentic handmade feel.

02. Dickie

dickie1
Freelance designer David Ellis created handwritten font Dickie using MyScriptFont

Freelance designer David Ellis created handwritten font Dickie using MyScriptFont, an online tool that allows you to create a vector font from your own handwriting. “It’s a great starting point as there aren’t that many great handwriting style fonts out there and it’s a pretty quick process,” Ellis comments.

03. Mink Type

minktype
Mink Type features three variations for each letter to keep things fresh

Mink Type was created by New York-based art director Filiz Sahin. “Mink Type is a cool, handpainted display typeface that was developed using brush tools in Illustrator,” she comments. “Each letter has three variations including upper and lower cases so you can create a custom feel for your designs.”

04. VersionType

version1
VersionType is designed to be playful and loose

A condensed sans-serif font, VersionType was created by senior designer Victor Coreas. “It is meant to be playful and very loose,” he comments. The typeface includes a full set of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters, and it’s free for personal and non-profit use.

05. Billy

billy
Billy is based on Claire Joines’ own handwriting

Created by student and freelancer Claire Joines, Billy is a font made from her own handwriting. “Because it’s my own handwriting it didn’t take me long to make,” says Claire, “So I decided to put it online for other people to use freely!”

It’s free for personal and non-profit use (although attribution or a thank you would be nice); if you want to use it commercially, get in touch with Claire. She’ll normally ask for attribution and a small donation.

06. Happy Fox

happyfox1
All the Caldentey and Llull ask for in return for this free download is a simple tweet

This Happy Fox font design was a collaborative effort between illustrator Laura Caldentey and Fran Llull. Wanting a thin font to use in their projects, Caldentey drew an alphabet and a selection of glyphs, and worked closely with Llull to refine into this final design.

07. Skinny

skinny
Skinny is completely free for commercial use

This handwriting font is, by far, the most popular of the type designs offered online by the artist known as notfon1234. The last update to the design saw a clean up to the spacing and characters, and the font is now completely free for commercial use.

08. Gunny Rewritten

gw

Based on his older font Gunny Handwriting, type designer Vit Condak recently released this new typeface Gunny Rewritten. Unhappy with his original version, Condak completety remade the design and now offers it as a free download for all to enjoy.

09. Halo Handletter

halo
Designer Mario Arturo specialises in fancy and script fonts

This elegant hand writing font was developed by graphic designer Mario Arturo. One of over 20 fonts created by Arturo, who specialises in fancy and script designs, Halo Handletter is perfect example of the latter. Free for non-commerical use only.

10. LeHand

lehand
LeHand is the first font from web designer Ferdie Balderas

LeHand is the first font created by indieferdie. The LeHand font reflects a playful handwriting style that will be great for experimenting with on your new design projects. As a web designer and branding designer, we think there’s much more inspirational work ahead for indieferdie.

11. Yore

yore
Yore is a playful take on the more traditional script fonts

Created by Vietnamese designer Poem haiku, the Yore script is a fun take on the more traditional script offerings. Pulling in his influences from illustration, Yore will be perfect for content experimentation and might even work well on a branding project or two.

12. Whatever it takes

whateverittakes
The designer asks for a $5 donation if the font is used for commercial purposes

The ‘Whatever it takes’ font harks back to those school boards and chalk typography. It’s free for personal and non-profit use. The designer does however, ask for a $5 donation for any commercial use, which we think is still a bargain!

13. Before Breakfast

beforebreakfast
Designer Simon Stratford created Before Breakfast using iPad app iFontMaker in under 10 minutes

Recently, designer Simon Stratford discover iPad app iFontMaker and shortly after challenged to create a font with it in under 10 minutes. The result? This hand drawn typeface Before Breakfast. It may not be one of the most considered entries in our free fonts list, but, as Stratford comments: “It’s a fun, handwritten typeface that probably breaks every rule in typography.”

14. Engine

engine
A free handwriting font that comes in an array of different languages

One of our favourite free handwriting fonts, this design byFerdie Balderas comes in regular and italic as well as capital and lower-case letters. He’s even made it supportive of a number of different languages including French, Spanish and Polish.

15. Chomp

chomp
Another free handwriting font that’s playful and fun

We just had to include this download in our list of free handwriting fonts. Chomp is a playful design created by Camberwell based designer William Bayley Suckling. As a student at The London College of Communication, Suckling regularly experiments with fonts and is happy for you to use it with any personal or commercial work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *