I've
been wanting to do a post about fonts for quite a while. They're such
amazing bits of software—negligible in size, easy and quick to
install, and then you can open any word-processing program on your
computer and type fancy letters! Or even pictures!
Just type them!
Why
now? Firstly, why not
now? Secondly, the holiday season typically involves greeting cards
and party invitations, and the creative among us might like to design
our own instead of buying pre-made ones. And supposing your party
and/or greetings are Disneyland themed? Hopefully, you will find this
brief guide enlightening.
There
are thousands upon thousands of individual fonts available for
completely free
download online. The really high-quality ones cost money, but unless
you're looking to do professional-grade work, freeware usually
suffices. A simple Google search for “Disney fonts” yields good
results if your primary interest is films and characters—and
there's certainly enough of that to go around in the theme parks—but
“Disneyland fonts” is a less fruitful endeavor.* A few specialist
websites such as The
Disney Experience
and Mickey
Avenue
are invaluable, but the fact remains that you're almost more likely
to stumble across an incredible gem while browsing through a massive
general archive, than searching for one specifically.
The
long and the short of it is that only a handful of lettering styles
specific to Disneyland attractions (or best known in that context)
have been created as fonts for general use by the public. But most of
the park signage actually uses pre-existing typefaces, many of which
have been adapted into freeware versions.** This is where the
aforementioned Mickey Avenue really shines. And when it comes to
bringing across the atmosphere
of a given land or attraction, it’s more about the type
of lettering you use.
Thousands
upon thousands. This is going to
be fun.
