Color Fonts
Explore the possibilities of chromatic type
The Brief
Use color fonts to create a type poster inspired by the work of Ed Ruscha
Trim Size
US Letter/A4
Learning Points
Exploring available color fonts
Choosing alternates
Combining type and image
Tools
Illustrator
Fonts Used
Gilbert
Inspiration
Ever since the first letterforms were set in lead, typefaces have been a single color — usually black. That single color would roll across the plate, then impress upon the paper, and that was that.
This limitation has held true through all the ups and downs of typography, from letterpress through letraset to True Type fonts and beyond. The letter was a shape: The shape could have but one color — ’twas ever thus!
Enter Color fonts — or OpenType-SVG fonts to give them their full title — an exciting new frontier in font technology. The letterforms of a color font can include color, gradients, even bitmap images. They are stored as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) data inside OpenType font files.
A few color fonts are installed with InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, and there are a growing number available for free or a modest price on graphic resource sites like Creative Market. Look for an SVG badge on the Font menu.
How can this be, you may ask? Heresy! Yes, it is a departure from the norm, and it is a certainty that this new tool will be abused. But we’ve noticed that any time someone says “it’s just a fad,” the tool in question takes over the world.
For our example, we chose Gilbert, a good-looking color font made in memory of Gilbert Baker, the creator of the iconic Rainbow Flag. It’s available as a free download at typewithpride.com. Gilbert comes with a number of alternates, which let you add more personality, and — on the phrase that we’re using, where there are multiple Es, As, Rs, and Ws — avoid being repetitious.
If available, alternate characters allow you to choose glyphs of different colors. Select a character, and alternates will appear directly beneath. You can also explore alternates on the Glyphs panel. Those characters with a triangle in the bottom right of their square have available alternates.
Many color fonts are also available in a “regular” black-and-white version as well as the color version. The leftmost text is in the regular version with an extruded shadow made from a copy of the text in the color version. Right, the relationship is flipped: The text is in the color version and the extruded shadow made from a copy of the text that is the regular version.
Above: Popsky by Igor Petrovic Below: Trajan Color Concept by Sérgio Martins, based upon Trajan by Carol Twombly, comes with an extensive set of alternate characters in different colors.
Note that the fill color and stroke color are irrelevant when using color fonts. Also, if you convert a color font to outlines, you lose the color information. Files will be bigger and tasks more processor intensive. But don’t let any of this put you off.
To test-drive our color font, we created a composition inspired by Ed Ruscha, known, among other things, for his jarring and provocative juxtapositions of text and imagery.
Taking things further, we added an extruded shadow as a Transform effect. This extrudes the colors of the font, creating a very colorful result. If you’re finding this a bit too much, duplicate the text to a new layer and switch the font to the regular (i.e., non-color version) of Gilbert. That way the type is one color and more readable, but you still have the rainbow shadow.