Hello.
I am trying to figure our how to design a font family where every letter would be a different color. Is that possible to do with Glyphs?
Thanks in advance.
There are several tutorials on the website about this topic.
Where please? I did not see any.
.
Thanks for your help.
Thank you for sending the link.
I did see that exact same page las week, but was not happy with the results and was wondering if there was something else.
On a Mac platform, I am guessing that my only option is this:
https://www.glyphsapp.com/tutorials/creating-an-apple-color-font
?
BUT: that means I could only work with raster pieces and I would prefer for my artwork to be translated in vectors. So the more precise question becomes; can I have a vector in color as a glyph placed in the Glyphs App?
Thanks in advance!
you can do that in Glyphs. That is not the problem. But the software that uses the fonts will not be able to display the colors. Most system vendors are only interest to support emoji.
What your answer means is: a colored font can not be designed/executed with Glyphs.
I actually already (and initially) placed a colored graphic in Glyphs and expected it would render the same way in the output. BUT: I would export it and install it and then use in Adobe Illustrator, but each letter would render in black and white.
The intention for creating a font is to be able to use it in applications or with different software, not just look at it in Glyphs.
So (again) my question is: is there a way to design a colored font (where each letter would have its own color) with Glyphs? Based on the experience I had with following the links you provided and your answer above; Glyphs app can not do that, correct?
Glyphs can do several different kinds of fonts that contain color glyphs but Adobe app can’t use them. So, yes, Glyphs can’t do colorful fonts than would work in Adobe apps.
The closest you get are the layer fonts where you export several fonts and put them on top of each other and adding color to them in the app you are setting the text.
Glyphs can produce all color font formats currently available. For adobe applications, your only option is the layered color font.
I believe there is rather some misunderstanding about what you intend and what a color font is. Can you show us the design of your font? Or send us a mockup?
When you say each letter in a different color, you mean only one color for one glyph at a time? That would not be a color font, that is a regular font: You design B&W (or rather, foreground/background) letters in Glyphs, and then apply color in the application you use it in.
Maybe you misunderstood me, but that is precisely what I meant by a colored font and I know I can design a BW font to then color it in any given software, but the point of designing a colored font (where each letter would be colored and a person can type it in predetermined colors when using any app) has to do with a neurological research I am doing. To protect the idea and my work I do not want to disclose the concept at this time or share any letters.
Thanks for your help.
It is not possible with current font technology to predetermine the color inside the font, and use it in any software. You will have to use an app that is able to set the color according to the letter used. InDesign can do it, for instance. In TextEdit or Word, you could use an AppleScript or VB script.
Except with the MS colour font format using CPAL/COLR, right? (I get it’s not possible to use in any software.)
SUPER INTERESTING!!! Did not know anything about that and THANKS SO MUCH for bringing it to my attention.
Can you please tell me more about how would InDesign or Word do it?
InDesign: you need to set up a character style for every color. Then set up a paragraph style containing grep styles for single letters, triggering the respective color character styles. Google “InDesign grep style” for more details.
Word and TextEdit require coding. Not sure if you’re willing to dive into that.
Thanks so much for the detailed message and taking the time to explain more. I greatly appreciate it!
I can figure it out in InDesign (I have experience with it and love it), but my primary reason for creating a font like that was to help/ facilitate/decode/analyze a reading experience for an audience which is not design savvy.
The target audience (has to do with a research I am also undertaking) would never use it in InDesign. Word would be much more appropriate for the designated target group.
Although I do not know how to code for Word, at least I know that there is a way to make it possible. For that I am immensely thankful to you!
Word does not support color fonts and there is no (reliable) way to overlay text. If you just need to give some glyphs a color, you might be able to write a script that does apply the color in Word.
OpenType color vector fonts are supported in Firefox. So you could build a web application for using them.
In Word and TextEdit, you would apply the colouring after typing. As Georg suggested, it would have to be a script that takes the frontmost document and sets the color for each letter. In Word, it would have to be a Visual Basic script, in TextEdit, most likely AppleScript.
Hi, is it the case that Glyphs still cannot generate a SVG font that works in Adobe apps (esp. InDesign)?
The opposit is true. Indesing does not support the file SVG fonts that Glyphs can make. Photoshop (the latest version from a few weeks ago) is ahead of Indesign and does support them.
There are some new custom parameters to make a SVG font from color layers.