Visible Link Fonts

Have you ever found your fonts to be lacking in any of the following:

• kerning or spacing

• style availability (weight, proportion, outline or shadow, italic)

• font format (Macintosh or Windows, Truetype, Postscript etc)

• characters missing, damaged or corrupt

• characters needing alteration

• fonts damaged or corrupt

Or have you ever felt the need for any of the following:

• fonts of personal handwriting

• fonts needing logos or symbols added

• keyable logos or symbols

• campaign or corporate styles created

• architectural or engineering fonts

• special purpose fonts

• non-scaleable, optical size versions for text usage

The average font user may be unaware that the vast majority of digital fonts available for use today are in fact generated from the display size designs of typefaces that were originally intended for text usage. In other words, the typefaces have been digitized from the drawings of 72 point masters for example and modern technology and reproduction methods, advancements in printing technology and papers take care of the optical size requirement. Almost. To overcome this problem we have developed a procedure for improving the readability of text when using scaleable fonts by creating optical size versions of fonts for use within a narrow range of sizes – say 7 point through to 10 point, beyond which the original display size design may suffice, within which the algorithmically scaled display size version may appear spindly or even break up when it hits paper, in particular newsprint.

An extension to the optical size argument is a solution that may provide users with a multiple master version of a font that is designed to scale from an optimised text size version up to any chosen size, using interpolation (morphing) to create instances. In other words, if the text size version is optimised for 7 point, create a multiple master instance of an interpolation for an optically tuned 14 point or 16 point design size.

As font editing is a specialised and exacting skill, it not only requires a knowledge of fonting technology but typographic and visual expertise as well. Visible Link has more than 30 years experience in typeface design, has made contributions to many of the world’s major font libraries and has mastered all the major font editing programs ensuring its customers reliable, trouble-free font data on all platforms.

We can edit existing fonts (conditional on proof of license agreement), create new styles in weight, proportion or angle axiis, create lined variants and add-in new characters, symbols or logos. We can generate new fonts for Macintosh or Windows; Postscript Type 1, Truetype and now in the latest cross-platform format; Opentype which allows for a greater number of glyphs and can include a number of intelligent features such as ligature substitution, swash initials and other stylistic variations or alternatives, fractions, ordinals or small capitals.

Vector graphic logo artwork can be divided into keyable divisions enabling a logo to be ‘keystroked’ just like all other text. Logos can be added to existing fonts and allocated to an unused key or combination of keys where practical or stand-alone fonts can be created perhaps incorporating other vector graphics and used in your documents like any other font.

We consult to advertising agencies, graphic designers, magazines and newspapers and a variety of other in-house publishers.

So if you have been struggling with clip-art or composing characters from a variety of sources, the solution may be simpler than you think. Contact Visible Link on info@visiblelink.com.au to find out how.