Script fonts: high-end, elegant, a quick way to add a touch of class to a design, right? Except often they're not.
Tainted by a number of questionable free fonts, a cloudy history of illegibility and wedding invitation abuse, the reputation of the stylish script font has taken a knock in recent years.
Like handwriting, many cursive fonts fall flat when it comes to readability. Yet amidst the scrawl, a number of true gems exist that do exactly what a good script font should: add elegance and personality, while remaining legible.
Here are seven script fonts you won't hate.
01. Use Adelia on your T-shirt designs
Adelia was designed by Indonesia-based foundry Artimasa. Inspired by traditional sign painting and brush lettering, the bold, playful font lends itself particularly well to logo and packaging projects, as well as headlines, posters and T-shirt graphics.
Format: OTF
02. Baker Street is packed with personality
A single-width typeface, Baker Street is perfect for big text blocks or simple headlines thanks to its flowing curves.
Designed by Thomas Ramey of Seattle-based studio Ramey Foundry, there are four weights in total – Regular, Light, Regular Title and Light Title – priced at £13 each, or £22 for all four.
Format: TTF
03. For a retro vibe, try Everglow
This retro script font features over 560 glyphs and 322 alternate characters. If you're looking to add a vintage touch to anything from logos to letterheads, then Everglow (designed by another Indonesian outfit, Seniors Studio) is your font.
Format: OTF
04. Festival Script Pro is a stunning script font
Fresh from Argentinian type foundry Sudtipos, Festival Script Pro pushes the explorations of designers Angel Koziupa and Ale Paul further into the deco script territory.
With pronounced bilinear contrast and a luxurious ornamental swashing treatment (layered swashing possibilities are included, ranging from minimal to utter exuberance), Festival Script Pro is a modern, appealing script font that'll set you back £46.99 on My Fonts, or £39 on Graduate has over 825 glyphs
For a contemporary calligraphic script, try Graduate, by Netherland-based foundry Fontforecast. With over 825 glyphs, it's a flexible font that you can dress up or down by adding curls to the beginning, middle or end of any lowercase letter.
Format: OTF
06. HT Osteria is part of a decorative family of fonts
Based on 1950s-era wallpaint shopfront advertisements in Italy,
HT Osteria is a retro script font that comes as a single weight.
It's part of a decorative family of fonts from Japanese foundry Flat-it and will set you back £11.
Format: OTF
07. La Paz
For a charming script font, try La Paz
La Paz is the font that most emulates handwriting in this list. Created by Uruguay typeface designer Fernanda Nuñez. It consists of three different alphabets, which are interleaved to provide variations in height, weight and inclination.
This can come at a slight cost to legibility, so think carefully about use, but in the right context La Paz is a charming script font that will add a personal touch.
Format: OTF
