Type design resources | 1 How-to

Guides & tutorials for designing type and creating digital fonts. Sometimes general, sometimes very specific. (See also “3 OpenType.”)more

Lettering resources | 1 How-to

These are resources for the practice of calligraphy and hand-lettering more

A User Guide (available for preview prior to purchasing a license and included in your download) is the best way to preview everything that's included in a typeface. From OpenType features, swashes, alternates, language support, technical details and more, the User Guide dives into the complete details of what you can expect to find, along with ideas and examples of how to use various features of the fonts. more

Our New Tool Lets You Dig Deep

The Type Tester makes it easy to see and experiment with what’s included in the font AND it's also a valuable tool as well; once you’ve purchased and installed a Laura Worthington font, you can style your text in the Type Tester, then copy and paste the text into your document! more

Elaina is a tidy, precisely penned script face — perhaps closest of all of Laura’s faces to her own handwriting. In its standard form, with its sober x-height and restrained ascenders and descenders, it’s a pleasure to read at smaller display sizes and in short blocks of text. more

This is the question I get asked the most — how do I find the swashes in the fonts shown in the promotional images? Some of my fonts, particularly script fonts, may offer dozens of versions of the same letter, such as the letter y, but there's only one letter y on your keyboard... so where are these super fancy swashy letters located and how do you get them into your design? Here are some answers for you! more

Frames are a sets of highly customizable elements offering a multitude of approaches to creating frames of any width, height, and style. Frames can be created with simple keystrokes can be created with simple keystrokes or through direct selection from the Type Tester, a glyphs palette or a utility (more info). Use them for corner elements, borders, or to make an actual frame. Frames are available in the Adorn Collection, Adorn Smooth Collection, Boucherie and Charcuterie. more

I’ve worked with Joe Newton so long that I think of him as my personal art director. (Rather than the guy who, during his day job, creates brilliant book covers, brand identities, and spot graphics for the likes of the New York Times, Wired, the School of Visual Arts, ESPN, and Rizzoli.)more

Welcome to my new website! I’m so excited to have this site come to life and to introduce you to its new features and the people who worked hard to make it happen…

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In celebration of National Small Business week, myself and other Small business owners share tips on startup and business management to help and inspire new entrepreneurs. more

In this interview, I describe how Taskworld helps keep me on track with my projects and contractors. Taskworld’s features and customizability help keep everything running smoothly. more

Art is a uniquely powerful platform. With art, we can express ourselves, exchange ideas, and even explore new worlds. Art can also help us to influence change. Kevin McMahon is a customer of mine who has utilized his design talents to educate others and lend a hand to those in need. more

I love getting to know my customers. It’s always fascinating to learn about other people’s passions and creative endeavors. Once in awhile, a customer and I really hit it off and end up becoming friends. Such is the case with Karen Hutchins. more

As a small business owner, customer satisfaction and word of mouth are essential. Recently, one of my biggest fans, Cam Wilde, shared my work with classmate and friend Julia Royal, a fellow designer and typophile. Julia has since created some amazing pieces using Samantha Pro, Fairwater, Boucherie and Al Fresco! more

I love seeing customers use my fonts to create something unique, like these monogrammed towels by Lillian Menzies. more

Founded in 2010, the Society of Typographic Aficionados’ Catalyst Award is given to a person 25 years of age or younger who “demonstrates significant achievement and future promise in the field of typography.” more

Tony Foster is an English artist who has worked in the World’s wildernesses - mountains and canyons, rainforests and deserts, the Arctic and the Tropics for 30 years. more

It’s often been said that love is an adventure. I was honored this summer to have a hand in seeing one lovely couple off on their next voyage. more

This Q&A answers some of my most frequently asked questions. I reveal the origin of my interest in fonts, the challenges of font creation, how long it takes to create a font, the creative uses of my fonts, PUA encoding and its importance, and advice for font designers. Want to know how I spend my spare time? Then, read on! more

Adobe recently introduced a selection of Laura Worthington's display fonts into their Adobe Typekit Library. Read the blog post by Ariadne Remoundakis, Foundry Relations Manager at Adobe Typekit, to learn more! more

Laura Worthington is chosen a Persuader of 2016. Read Laura’s story; how she contributes to the type industry and how she has inspired April through her risk-taking, experimentation, and striving for improvement. more

I have many, many fabulous customers who I do business with every day. more

Besotted offers a wealth of creative resources and inspiration on their website including interviews with designers like myself. In part one of this interview, I reveal why I became interested in lettering, my favorite supplies, and my inspirations. more

In part two of this interview, I give tips for developing your own style, the process of creating fonts, resources for lettering, favorite projects, and tips. Discover my secret talent! more

When I was first contacted by CreativeLive to teach a series of brush lettering classes, I was both excited and terrified! more

I realized in high school drama class, how powerful language really is and how powerful what we say is to others. I taught a Brush Lettering course series for Creative Live; this article includes my video explaining and demonstrating the expressiveness of brush lettering. more

The thrill of seeing my fonts being used on products and packaging never gets old! What starts as an idea takes form with my pen and paper over countless hours. more

Creating typography with expression and flavor is a fun challenge. I’ve designed a range of typefaces in my career, from the delicate to the rugged. I craft original, lovingly handmade letters which form the base of my typeface designs.My fonts Beloved and Spumante are featured in this article.more

Spring is such a lovely time of year, especially where I live in the Pacific Northwest. After short days, lots of rain and sometimes snow, the spring weather is more than welcome. It means longer days, less rain, more sun and spring time wines! During the winter, I like a big, bold glass of wine like a cabernet sauvignon or a petit verdot that pairs well with stews or soups. But just about this time every year, I can’t wait to break open the whites or roses! more

In my own words, I explain how I made a career out of designing type; the ups and downs, experiments, and even a near death experience that have coalesced into a wonderful and creative career. more

Mary Flynn first found my fonts on Creative Market. She purchased Al Fresco and Samantha Upright Pro and used them in beautiful hand painted (no vinyl) signs on reclaimed wood, barn board and other wood. She lives in Barrie, Ontario Canada (an hour north of Toronto) and is a retired elementary school teacher. She was a classroom and technology teacher and says she retired while she still had her sanity! more

Meet my latest font design, Modish, which was created almost exclusively using the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Also, see my favorite shot: the Adorn collection. A special shout out to Calligraphy Original John Stevens whose career I’ve followed for 20 years. more

Amanda Elkins is a Texan, a wife, a mother of two and another customer who has used my fonts to create some fun designs.  more

It’s one thing to design a font to be used on 2-D creative pieces like posters, banners, headlines and other artwork, it’s totally different to see it come to life on physical products like necklaces, balloons and handkerchiefs. more

Check out this time lapse video (shortened from 12 to 3 minutes) I made of me drawing a W for my font Winsome in FontLab! more

Who buys fonts and why? In this lively discussion, Thomas Jockin and I discuss how the casual user audience has affected the font industry. Die-cutting machines, marketplaces like Etsy, and the wedding industry all contribute to the growing interest in custom fonts. Educating casual users on Private Use Area (PUA) encoding and OpenType also allows casual users to use advanced features that were previously only available in professional level software. more

Have you ever had something keep you from doing what you really enjoy? more

Victoria York is an amazing designer and another one of my customers I wanted to shine a spotlight on. more

Chances are you’ve heard of Scentsy – they are a 10 year old direct selling company which offers a variety of home and personal fragrance products. more

I have great customers! So many of you have created amazing things using my fonts, so amazing in fact that I wanted to share some of those with you.  more

I received an invitation from The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) along with panelists Jessica Hische, Ellen Lupton, Nick Sherman, to come together for a webcast discussing the latest issues in the world of type. This article reveals the the top ten insights for “The Future of Type.” more

Women share their experiences and opinions about sexism in the type community and their overall positive experiences and influences. These include Laura Worthington's own experiences as well. more

This article explores the realities of sexism in the type community from the point of view of women, including objectification, hostility, favoritism and stereotyping. The women talk openly about their experiences and thoughts on these subjects. more

Is there bias and sexism in the type industry and at TypeCon? This article surveyed women who were asked if they have experienced sexism and if they enjoy public speaking. TypeCon has made progress and continues to work on increasing diversity. more

Bias and sexism: causes and solutions. more

June was a busy month! I had the opportunity to speak at several different events, all so great that I just had to share my experiences with you! The first started at the beginning of the month in Faenza, Italy, home for some of the world’s best Sangiovese, at the Kerning Conference! This was the third year of the Kerning Conference and it’s the first international conference in Italy dedicated solely to typography and web typography. more

There has been a resurgence of interest in type design and in this article four type designers are featured: Jackson Cavanaugh, Tal Leming, Jesse Ragan and Laura Worthington. Tal Leming is especially interested in smart fonts and web design. Jackson Cavanaugh has won multiple awards and is working on a reimaging of Gill Sans Kayo. Laura Worthington specializes in script fonts and is working on a new typeface based on pointed brush lettering. Jesse Ragan is both a letterer and typeface designer who has finished his first script typeface. more

Here's a video that a former student of mine, Paige Kwon, put together showing me doing a bit of calligraphy and some of the original lettering and sketches used as the basis for the Adorn Collection.  more

The three jurors for the Typography Annual; John Clark, Juan Carlos Pagan, and Laura Worthington, discuss the trends, surprises, and disappointments of the competition’s submissions. Selection for the finals required a unanimous vote and a two-step jurying system. more

A bubbly new script, lively and fun…  more

A visual guide using my typefaces as examples to illustrate OpenType features…more

Script fonts remain one of the popular styles of fonts, however, they present some interesting challenges for designers. Read about my inspiration and the process and challenges of designing a successful script font. more

The idea for Al Fresco began back in April of this year (2013.) more

I discuss my love of calligraphy and penmanship, the differences between typeface design and lettering, why working independently is the right fit for me, and more. Discover my secret fascination with landscape design. Who new? more

In this interview, I talk about my new 1900s inspired font collection – Charcuterie. This interview explores the inspiration behind the font collection and my plans for the future. more

My work has been featured in this fabulous new book about lettering and type design titled Hand to Type. The book also includes a series of chapters outlining principles of script forms and traces script fonts back to some of the earliest examples. more

I had recently purchased some big rolls of paper and was having fun wasting it by drawing letters huge and gesturally. more

In this article by Ilene Striver of Creative Pro, we talk about getting creative with pattern fonts. What are pattern fonts? Discover the uses of pattern fonts and helpful tips, featuring my Wallflowers font series which includes Wallflowers, Wallflowers II, Wallflowers III and Winter Wallflowers. more

This article investigates the process of creating excellent type. From proportion to control letters, inspiration to design, and software to font weights, Bruno Maag, Gumundur Ifarsson, Peter Bil’ak, and Laura Worthington give their insights on font design. more

An interview with Laura Worthington, “a woman with a plan.” Laura explains how she became a type designer, the process of type design, and a little advice for prospective type designers. more