If you want to go the free route, do not fret, because we’ve got your back! FontForge is a free software that will allow you to create a custom font from an Illustrator file. On their website, Fontself has a great starter’s guide, along with many useful tutorials. It’s paid and it allows you to turn Illustrator or Photoshop artboards into font files. There is no native way to do that in Illustrator. Secondly, if you are all done and you want to export a font file you have two options. If you are designing a new font in Illustrator, first of all, Kudos to you! Font designers are awesome! In this case, you should find a suitable alternative to use in your project (more on this later). If you still can’t see your newbies, they might be incompatible with Illustrator. If that’s the case, close Illustrator and reboot your Mac a second time, then retry. Sometimes Illustrator might not pick up new lettering. This will make it easier to find it because they are listed in alphabetical order. Note down the name of the font after installing it.
Once OSX is up and running, open Illustrator (either open an existing project or create a new one):
To install a new font on your Mac do the following: Step 1.Ĭlick on each of the font files and choose Install font (there will likely be one for each variation e.g., bold, italic, etc.). Freebies for commercial use are hard to come across, and the best place to get those is Google Fonts. Free fonts are often only free for personal use.
Add Fonts to Illustrator on Mac OS XĪdding fonts to Illustrator on a Mac is definitely no more difficult than doing it on Windows.īefore you start, close all applications that use text.
In the latter case, your best bet is to find a suitable alternative to use instead (more info on this later). If all fails there is a chance that that particular font is not compatible with Illustrator. If it’s still not working, uninstall and reinstall the font. If your font still doesn’t show, try closing Illustrator and rebooting your machine. It’s useful to know the name of the font, as they are listed alphabetically. Use the drop-down along the top, next to “Character”, to select your new lettering and make sure it’s there.Add a text box to your artboard and type anything.You can open an existing project or create a new one: Repeat step two for every font file in the folder (e.g., regular, bold, italic, etc.).Īfter your shiny new lettering is installed, fire up Illustrator. Alternatively, you can right-click and select install from there. Unzip the font’s folder if it’s compressed.ĭouble-click on the file, and click install. To install a font on Windows you need to: Step 1. If you need freebies that you can use in commercial projects, your best bet is Google Fonts. Many free fonts are free only for personal use. Hot tip: Always double-check the license agreement when you download a font.Fonts are supported in the following formats: OTF, TFF, PFP, and TTF, but OTF tends to work best overall (also for use with other software).This means that they should have multiple styles (at least regular, bold, and italic). Illustrator works best with complete lettering.
It’s really simple to learn how to add fonts to Illustrator on Windows.įirst, you need to close Illustrator, or it will not pick up the new lettering.ĭownload any fonts you wish to add to Illustrator and install them.