Here’s this weeks featured designer, Misti’s Fonts. Check out her story below;
Could you tell us about yourself? Where are you from, what do you do, etc.?
Hi, my name is Misti! I am originally from Texas, but I currently live in Germany. I am a type designer, and I make mostly handwriting-inspired fonts and calligraphy scripts.
How did your design journey begin?
My obsession with fonts started in 2012, where I would literally spend hours downloading fonts from free font websites (yeah, I had no life back then 😆 ). I found them so fascinating and I always had ideas of what fonts I would like to see. That is when I thought I should try making my own. So, it began! I have been making fonts since 2013. In the beginning, it was only a hobby, but I am blessed to now have it as my form of full time income. I did not actually have a background in graphic design or type design, so it was a long learning process that was filled with trial and error.
Featured product: Hey Pretty Girl
Where do you usually find your inspiration?
I love looking at lettering on Instagram and admiring other fonts on the market. I am always staring at lettering/fonts in real life (logos, magazines, products, signs, etc.). This inspires me and gets my own creative juices flowing. I also just play around in Illustrator and FontLab Studio to see what happens- completely spontaneous! Sometimes, if I cannot sleep at night, I will lay there and think of design ideas.
Featured product: Sippin On Sunshine
Any favorite design references that you can share that might be helpful for other designers as well?
I love designing script typefaces, and I have found a couple of ‘webinars’ that have helped me immensely. The first is called “Making Connected Script Fonts: FontLab Studio 5 tutorial with Laura Worthington” and the other is called “Typography Dojo: Translating Scripts with Laura Worthington” These can both be found on YouTube.
Featured product: Spooky Halloween
What are the most common design problems that you face?
I find it quite challenging to create the uppercase letters of script fonts. I can usually get the lowercase completed quite quickly, but then struggle to make uppercase letters that work well in the design. Another thing that I find difficult is designing so that the letters work in all combinations without awkward spacing or collisions (I am still trying to improve on that!). Lastly, I also find poster design challenging as I am not a graphic designer, so this is not my strong suit (I do license high quality stock images from Adobe Stock which make them look better).
Featured product: Texas Woman
Final question, do you have any advice or tips for anyone starting to sell their designs?
I have found releasing fonts free for personal use helps to generate traffic. If you are not comfortable releasing whole versions of your fonts for free, then try a few demos (with a limited, yet usable character set – people usually do not appreciate demos where there is not at least a full basic alphabet of A-Z). Or maybe try a freebie here on TheHungryJPEG! Also, be patient and do not give up! It took me years before I could make this my living.
Featured product: End Of The Dream
