Design a Digital Font from A to Z

A course by Juanjo López , Graphic Designer and Typography Expert

Graphic Designer and Typography Expert. Madrid, Spain.
Joined July 2004

Learn to design a font from scratch with Glyphs, Illustrator, and OpenType functions

  • Spanish with subtitles in English
  • 98% positive reviews (195)
  • 3991 students

Learn to design a font from scratch with Glyphs, Illustrator, and OpenType functions

A course by Juanjo López

Juanjo López, better known as Juanjez, specializes in typography design and is here to teach you the process of creating a digital font, from the drawing phase to uploading it to your fonts folder then using it in a design program.

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What will you learn in this online course?

34 lessons & 27 downloads

Some wise advice 1
19 minutes, 50 seconds
Some wise advice 2
6 minutes, 34 seconds
About formats and programs
13 minutes, 29 seconds
Summary of the process
12 minutes, 32 seconds
A little bit of organization
6 minutes, 50 seconds
Hi, I'm Glyphs
20 minutes, 32 seconds
Spanish with subtitles in English
  • 98% positive reviews (195)
  • 3991 students
  • 34 lessons (8h 37m)
  • 27 additional resources (19 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: Spanish
  • Spanish, English, Portuguese
  • Level: Beginner
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

Design a complete digital typeface, that is, a character set valid at least for Western and Central European languages, correctly spaced and including some typographical refinement such as ligatures and other OpenType features.

The final exercise consists of creating a specimen, a poster with your typography.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

Anyone who loves drawing and letters but has never tried to make their own, or they have tried and got stuck at some point.

Requirements and materials

No special prior knowledge of typography is required, just a large dose of perseverance, having a clear end goal, and not being in a hurry.

Regarding the materials, you need a pencil, paper, and a typography design program, although in the course we use Glyphs.


Reviews

3991 Students
195 Reviews
98% Positive ratings
  • More reviews

Juanjo López

A course by Juanjo López

Teacher Plus
Graphic Designer and Typography Expert

When Juanjo López joined Domestika in 2004, he decided to him to call himself Juanjez. Since then, it has stuck!

He is a freelance designer and passionate about graphic design and typography, always trying to keep learning whether it's vectors, lettering, calligraphy, or composing with lead or cast iron levers. His digital typefaces, under the name Huy! Fonts, are distributed by YouWorkForThem and MyFonts, among others. He is part of the Familia Plómez, a pre-digital typographic collective from Madrid, and Unostiposduros.com, the biggest typography website in the Spanish-speaking world. In addition to being a designer, he loves teaching and has taught a wide variety of courses and workshops on typography, lettering, and letterpress.


Content

  • U1

    Come through here

    • Welcome and presentation
    • Shipping library and life saving resources
  • U2

    Before touching the mouse

    • Some wise advice 1
    • Some wise advice 2
    • About formats and programs
    • Summary of the process
    • A little bit of organization
  • U3

    Knowing the program

    • Hi, I'm Glyphs
    • The Font Info window
    • The character set
  • U4

    Draw letters

    • Basic concepts and very useful tips
    • The Bézier curves
    • Illustrator and Glyphs, that strange couple
    • The vertical metric
    • The drawing tools of Glyphs 1
    • The drawing tools of Glyphs 2
    • Your friends the components
    • To the mess, drawing and testing letters 1
    • To the mess, drawing and testing letters 2
    • To the mess, drawing and trying letters 3
  • U5

    Spacing and Kerning

    • General concepts
    • The Spaced 1
    • The Spacing 2
    • Horror, the kerning!
  • U6

    Production: Come on, let's go!

    • Completing the character set. The anchors 1
    • Completing the character set. The anchors 2
    • OpenType Functions 1
    • OpenType 2 functions
    • OpenType 3 functions
    • A look at Python and scripts
    • Hinting for clumsy
    • Let's start a happy family Interpolation 1
    • Let's start a happy family Interpolation 2
    • Let's start a happy family Interpolation 3
  • FP

    Final project

    • Design of a digital Typography from A to Z

What to expect from a Domestika course

  • Learn at your own pace

    Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.

  • Learn from the best professionals

    Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.

  • Meet expert teachers

    Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.

  • Certificates
    Plus

    If you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.

  • Get front-row seats

    Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.

  • Share knowledge and ideas

    Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.

  • Connect with a global creative community

    The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.

  • Watch professionally produced courses

    Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.


FAQs

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
Design a Digital Font from A to Z. Calligraphy, and Typography course by Juanjo López

Design a Digital Font from A to Z

A course by Juanjo López
Graphic Designer and Typography Expert. Madrid, Spain.
Joined July 2004
  • 98% positive reviews (195)
  • 3991 students