When starting any kind of project, we want it to look as beautiful as possible: since we are putting a lot of work and effort on it we are passionate, and we want to be proud of it, so we want it to be absolutely perfect.
This is especially true if the project is something you are pouring your heart in, or that has sentimental value, like a baby or wedding video.
We want everything to be perfect, to the last detail: even the font can make a difference.
But, how to make it look beautiful without it being overdone? What type of font to choose?
In this article, we are going to give you advice on how to select a font that is adequate for this type of projects and orientate you on how to use calligraphy fonts in an elegant way.
For starters, you have four big “groups” where you can put similar fonts: this is called “typefaces.”
Serif, which has little adornments at the end of the letters and looks classic and timeless, sans serif, with no adornments and with a professional look, slab, which uses really thick stokes and gives off an aggressive feeling, and script which is very adorned and calligraphy-like and gives of a dainty, fantasy feeling.
But before you go crazy and run to search for calligraphy fonts download, we should explain to you how to use it and how to properly combine it with the other typefaces so your project doesn’t end up looking like an exaggerated mess.
The font you see in the image is a script typeface (in fact, it is called “Free Pen Script”). As you can see, it has a lot of adornments, it is very refined and dainty, slightly slanted and overall gives a delicate, whimsical feeling that imitates the calligraphy of human handwriting. That is how script type fonts are: they try to imitate calligraphy for an emotional, warm, cute feeling. Another script font that you probably remember is the one used by Disney that has become representative of the brand.
As you can probably imagine, this font is not to be used in an entire project. It would become too ornate, exaggerated, complicated to read, and impossible to take seriously.
This typeface is best used for titles, headlines, logos, or something that is going to be small and needs to catch the eye and be impactful: the name of the bride and groom in a wedding invitation, the name of the baby in a video about a recent birth, a presentation about your new, fancy French patisserie and for the rest of the project, use more moderate fonts like serif (if you want an elegant, classy, timeless feeling) or sans serif (if you want the rest of the project to be more professional and no-nonsense, or if you really want it to be taken seriously).
Since most projects that are going to use a calligraphy font are going to be whimsical and dreamlike if you are using a calligraphy font, script typefaces are best matched with classy, elegant, timeless serif fonts like Baskerville, Garamond or Romana; but for more serious projects where you need a “businesslike” typeface, do not fear using script fonts next to sans serif fonts like Verdana, Futura or Proxima Nova.
Do not combine slab and script fonts together unless you want an overtly exaggerate, too eye catching feeling that might be difficult for the readers to understand.
To summarise, use script fonts carefully and moderately, only in those projects that really merit a curvy, friendly, funny, warm font: wedding invitations, baby showers, theme parks, fantasy books and use it only for headlines, titles and other lettering that has to be charming and eye catching; combining it with different typefaces in the rest of the project.
If you are looking for some recommendations for script fonts, our favorites are Sacramento, Alex Brush, Allura, Cookie and Pinyon Script; but we are sure that with some research you are going to find a font that is absolutely perfect for whatever needs you might have, so fill yourself up with patience, put some enthusiasm onto the task and head to fontsly.com for fast, free calligraphy fonts downloads.
