One of the key ingredients to the stylish professional designs on Inkd is the trained use of typefaces. For most designers, this concept is an old hat, and something intrinsic to good design.  For many businesses newly discovering great design, however,  a myriad of typefaces can seem daunting.

This Urban Travel Flyer by Ian Johnson uses the Mexcellent typeface.

Well, our Raison D’etre here at Inkd is to make great design available for everyone, so we simplify the approach to typefaces and fonts for our customers.  In this post, I’ll elaborate on how to get everything you need to work with an Inkd design, quickly and easily.

First, what is a typeface, and what is a font? A simple explanation of the differences is in this FontFeed post. Basically, a typeface is a term for the type design you see; a font is the actual mechanism for doing something with that typeface – the little program that lets you use it.  It doesn’t do much harm to to refer to either term, however.

So, what you need to use the typefaces showcased in Inkd designs are the fonts for each.

Inkd downloads include all the files you need to open the design and see it just as it appears on the Inkd website – except font files. But guess what – getting the font files you need is really easy! Each Inkd design comes with a ReadMe.txt file telling you how to see the design exactly as it is showcased on Inkd. There you’ll see the name of each font needed for the typefaces used in the design. A quick Google search on the font name, and you’ll find a variety of information on the font.

But wait – it’s actually even easier than that. There are some amazing resources that focus solely on fonts and typefaces.  The following two standouts will have fonts in your hands within minutes. These are Inkd’s go-to services for finding the font you need:

WhatTheFont from MyFonts  & Identifont – both of these websites have great search options to find fonts by name, appearance, style, and even identify a font from an image! (Even from your phone.) Finding the right font is as simple as copying the font name from the Inkd ReadMe file, and pasting it into their search box.  These two resources will guide you directly to purchasing a license, or downloading the font for free.  Simply purchase, download, and install – then open up your Inkd design and start customizing!

Keep in mind, you are not required to use these fonts with your Inkd design – you can customize the design with any other typeface you like, or simply use the typefaces available from the fonts already installed on your computer. WhatTheFont and Identifont are great for finding similar typefaces available at lower cost, or even for free.

You’ll see these sites and others like them listed under the Links header in our blog sidebar as Font Resources.  This list of resources will grow over time as trusted destinations for both designer and customers working with Inkd. So don’t be intimidated – great design is just a few easy steps away!

Tags: font, Resources, typeface