Favorite Fonts for Journaling
Posted in Type | 21 Comments »
21 Comments »
Layout by Jen L. Credits: Pedal Pusher by Connie Prince Font: Pea Jane
If you want to turn a layout into something special, just add some heartfelt journaling! It’s no secret that we here at The Daily Digi love journaled pages. We have a whole category of “Write-Way”posts to help you get inspired to write (or type) on your own pages:
As a follow-up to the post Fabulous Fonts for Titles, I (Katie) thought it would be fun to share some great fonts for journaling.
TIPS FOR USING FONTS FOR JOURNALING:
- PRINTED SIZE – No matter what style of font you use, make sure it is readable size when it is printed out. You might need to experiment with font sizes to see what you like on a printed page. I never use smaller than a 12 pt. size for journaling because it is just too hard to read. I usually use more like a size 16 or 18, although I have gone as big as 28 pt. at times. Font sizes vary quite a bit, but once you find a few that you like, make some notes on how they print out in different sizes. Remember if you are working on a 12×12 canvas but only printing an 8×8 layout, your journaling will shrink. This is really a matter of personal preference so there is no “right” or “wrong” here, just make sure you can read it. It also is wise to think about older eyes so that Grandparents can read the text as well. Don’t forget that you will be old someday also.
Layout by NeeNee Merry and Bright by Kristin Aagard
Font is DJB_Brittany by Darcy BaldwinA note from NeeNee – I actually use Darcy Baldwin’s Brittany font often. I try to mix it up and have to make a conscious effort to not use it so my pages look different.
I definitely lean more toward fonts that look like handwriting. In fact, I don’t think any or very few have writing that don’t use a handwritten looking font. I use mostly print and not cursive. I want to make sure the pages will be legible for me when I am old and showing them to my grandkids. LOL
- LEGIBILITY – Another readability factor is the legibility of a font. If you use a cursive or handwritten type of font, is it still easy to read? I used to love to use fancy cursive fonts until I realized that my kids were having a hard time deciphering some of the words.
Layout by Melissa L. Credits: Sahlin Studio/Jacque Larsen Water Park Crystal Livesay Creator template (altered).
Melissa says that “DJB Brittany is one of my favorite handwriting fonts!”
- DESIGN – Font choice contributes to the overall feeling and design of a scrapbook page. How you present the text is also a design element. Do you want to fully justify the text into a neat block? Here’s a fun example of how a perfectly lined up block of text can act as an important embellishment on the page itself.
Layout by Melissa L. Credits: Zoe Pearn Sweet Nothings kit, Crystal Livesay All About Mom template, Suzy Q stamped alpha by C.D. Muckosky
Melissa says “I use AmerType Md BT for a lot of my pages.”
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Here NeeNee uses half of her page space for journaling which creates the feeling of a background design that completes the layout.
Layout by NeeNee Sisterly Love by Wild Dandelion Designs and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Font: SF Rachel (from Sugar Frog Fonts)
- PERSONALITY – Fonts have a personality all their own. Handwritten style fonts often feel a bit more playful or casual.
Layout by Dunia Font: Christopher Hand B is for Boy Kit by Designs by Lili Highlights Brush Set by Amy Wolff Birthday Word Art by Sahlin Studio
Dunia says “I love handwritten fonts and Christopher Hand is one of my favorites fonts.”
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Layout by Jen L. Credits: It’s Bath Time and Painted Alphas by Jofia Devoe, Life’s A Beach Snippettes by Sahlin Studio, Date Blots by Stolen Moments Designs Font: Designer Notes.
Jen says “I tend to do most of my journaling in handwritten or typewriter type fonts. I’m a fan of a lot of the Fonts for Peas, and use quite a few of them often. Think my favorite one is Pea Jane, because it looks the most like my hand writing. A different handwritten type of font I tend to use frequently is Designer Notes.”
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Layout by Jen L. Credits: Playtime by Sahlin Studio and DeCrow Designs, Explore, Learn, Grow by Sahlin Studio, Hey Boy by ON Designs Font: Pea Alisha
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Typed fonts add a more graphic style or even a quirky feel to a layout. Type style fonts are great for text blocks.
Layout by Karen CREDITS: Lauren Reid Old Fancy Stamps, Luckiest Day kit, Love Day 2 word art, Everyday ribbon, Happy Place grid paper; Fontologie Printing Primer font; design inspired by Ali Edwards
A note from Karen – I use Steph’s Printing Primer a TON for journaling. I love that it’s typed looking, but is a bit quirky at the same time. I also use Traveling Typewriter a lot. I use a lot of random Pea fonts for journaling, too.
Layout by Karen. CREDITS: Leora Sanford A Year To Remember kit; Font is Traveling Typewriter
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Layout by Katie. Embellished template by Kitty Designs. Font is Century Gothic
I adore the clean look of simple fonts. I love to use Century Gothic and other basic fonts that came installed with my word processing program.
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I’ve already linked to more than 10 great journaling fonts throughout this post. How about 10 more of our favorites? Several of them are even free!
We’d love to know what your favorite journaling fonts are so feel free to leave us a comment!
P.S. The random winner for yesterday’s giveaway was Mary (Happy Now) who said “The this woman’s work kit is awesome! And, from the store, I LOVE the date strips! Sort of a simple selection, but I am working on a Week in the Life project right now, so those would TOTALLY come in handy! Thanks!” Congrats Mary and be sure to check your inbox!
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I also love the pea fonts and Miss Tiina has some fantastic slightly quirky fonts. I like my type to be quite small – usually about 10pt for pea fonts, but I usually increase the spacing as this makes them much more readable (and they look cooler!) I invariably use handwriting fonts, but even though I’ve got a font of my own handwriting, I never think it looks good enough! (The fault of my writing, not Miss Tiina though
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I love handwriting fonts. Like you I have to make a conscious effort to not use the same one all the time. My favorites are Cookie Nookie, Joyful Juliana, Lipstick Script, AJ Hand, several of the Pea fonts, especially Pea Dana Anne and Pea Hurry Up Beck.
Great Post!
I love fun but readable fonts for my boys’ pages. If I’m not using a handwriting font, I usually go for my favorite funky one! Black Boys On Mopeds is so readable and yet has attitude too, plus the name is memorable for some reason!
http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=black+boys
Thanks for that font recommend! I love it!! I have two girls and one boy and I don’t have a whole lot of boy looking fonts and I loved this one!
Miss Tiina, Kevin and Amanda dot com, and sugar frog fonts dot com are my faves.
Great post! I love using handwriting fonts as well and am a big fan of Darcy Baldwin. But, if you want to use your own writing or would like to get your child’s writing into a font, I’ve used this website to do that and it is really fun! and free!
http://www.yourfonts.com
Thanks for this great article! Picked me up a stash of new fonts
I also tend to go w/ fonts that are more handwritten looking but I also like a bit of “scripty” to it. I love Bradley Hand ITC & Savoye LET and I’m a big fan of Papyrus – I just love the texture and clean yet elegant look of it.
I used to use Papyrus all the time – I guess I forgot about it. I love it also!
Thanks for the lovely fonts! I love Papyrus and Darcy Baldwin’s lovely designs!
Thanks for posting about your favorite fonts, I’m finding lots of good ones to add to my collection!
My favorite right now is The Blue Cabin… http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/freescrapbookfonts/the-blue-cabin/
Go to it often!
Thanks for the great post! I love some of the fonts recommended and will be downloading them soon! My favorite fonts to use when I have a lot of journaling are Marydale and Jeanna.
I love handwritten fonts, but I hate that they don’t often have european characters, as my mother tongue is French. So this has become a real issue for me. I love to use Bradley Hand ITC and lately I’ve been using DJB Sweet Robin. I have also been known to use Joyful Juliana and Sophie Regular.
I don’t mind using different fonts but if I am making an album I will use the same font or fonts throughout (ex. 1 for journaling and 1 for titles). Like someone else said I had a font made of my handwriting but I don’t really like it. I do think it is cool to have my own font though and I will use it occasionnally. I love the free software The Font Thing to manage my fonts, as it allows me to write what I want on my page and see how it would look in the fonts that I have. I know a lot of people also use ACDSee to manage their fonts.
I have noticed that some digi designers include European characters in their alphas, but I haven’t seen a lot of them in fonts either.
I love DJB Gimme Space lately- it’s like the Century Gothic of handwriting fonts
I use several of Darcy’s handwriting ones. And Typewriter Scribbled is a stand-by favorite too. Thanks for the great links!
Darcy’s Gimme Space is one of Steph’s favorite fonts too – I forgot to include it in this post. So glad you brought it up!
My favorite journaling fonts (that weren’t mentioned in the post) are…
LD Shelly Print
CK Journaling
Natural Script
Sunnydale
Typewriter Scribbled
I just recently found your site. I’m fairly new to digital scrapbooking and I have learned so much the last few days just reading your past blog/articles. Thank you so much for everything you are doing to help us, the ones that want to understand so bad, but didn’t major in graphics design in college! I am a nurse and really enjoy digital scrapbooking ( or maybe I should say “collecting” because that seems to be all I’m dpoing right now, buying kits!)Thanks again! And I loved my Daily Digi 17! also loved all the pea fonts!!
I had Darcy Baldwin make my handwriting into a font for Mother’s Day last year, and I love it! It’s still my go-to journaling font. I just sent off my scan to have her do my cursive writing, too.
Some of my other faves are DJB Gimme Space, Love Letter Typewriter, Elephants in Cherry Trees, SP Coffee Break, and Heather Roselli’s stamped alpha/font.
Thanks for the great fonts! My current fav is Pea Amy–could that be because my daughter’s name is Amy or just because it’s a super cute font?
http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/?s=pea+amy&x=0&y=0
Anyone have suggestions for masculine looking handwritten fonts? I really need some of those.