In a design, fonts act a lot like the soundtrack of a movie. Add the right one, and you’ll underscore the mood and connect more powerfully with your audience. Use the wrong one, however, and you can totally undermine the vibe of the moment, muddling your message and leaving your audience confused. Given a font has the power to convey emotion and capture a moment, picking the right ones for your design or invitation is a pretty big deal.
And in our social media savvy era, handwriting fonts — typefaces that look like printing or cursive that was written by hand — have become especially popular, likely because they create an in-the-moment, organic, and personal look that translates well to an Instagram feed.
But not all handwriting fonts are created equal. In fact, writing fonts are strikingly diverse and can set the scene for everything from soft, elegant formality to exuberant, childlike joy. So, skip the oh-so-overdone Comic Sans and explore the full range of your handwriting font options before you finalize your next creation.
1. Classic Elegance: Embassy
This pretty, flowing font is clean and classic. It’s a perfect fit to inspire a more formal mood for your event, but it’s also crisp and easy to read, unlike some of the more ornate cursive font options.
2. Sophisticated Penmanship: Morgana
Morgana is an elegant yet playful script that has the power to captivate your audience. Its loose swirls have the ability to compliment many designs, especially when it comes to anything with elegance, like weddings and showers. It should come as no surprise to learn that this is one of the most popular fonts.
3. Cheerful Curves: Sacramento
Sacramento is a cheerful cursive font that’s supremely readable, with loops and circles (note the perky dot over the ‘I’) that inspire a casual, happy-go-lucky mood. It’s not what you’re looking for to invite the Queen to a formal high tea, but it’s absolutely warm and welcoming.
4. An Airy Classic: Murray Hill
A graceful, fine-lined font, Murray Hill has a timeless feel that makes it a good match for designs ranging from personal (shower invitations) to professional (business cards). It has a refined upscale vibe that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard to be “classy.”
5. Festive and Light: Delighted
This sunny font is a balanced mashup of high-school cursive and more sophisticated calligraphy. It’s balanced and pleasant, with a bit of weight that mixes well with other fonts.
6. Casual Cursive: Liorah
Another top handwritten font option, Liorah is a light cursive that’s open and fresh. It’s a little more compact than some of the other cursive fonts on this list, making it a good choice when you’re hitting the highlights on an invite, but it might be tougher to read for long stretches of text.
7. Tidy Clean Cursive: Freehand Thick
Freehand Think is a cursive font that’s as close as you can find to a blend of print and cursive handwriting. The letters are sharply defined (it’s the “Let’s Ring in the New Year” portion of this example) so they’re very readable, with an engaging feeling of flow that makes them a perfect fit for a relaxed invitation.
8. Casual Non-Cursive: Black Cherry Moon
When you are thinking about handwriting fonts, remember that they’re not all cursive. Black Cherry Moon is a less overdone option than Comic Sans, but it offers the same cheery and casual style. It’s a font that would be equally at home on a primary-school chalkboard, under a clever comic, or on an invitation to a fun baby shower.
9. Free-Flowing All-Caps: Rock Salt
Rock salt is an all-caps font that looks as if it were written by hand using a felt tip pen. This supremely legible option has a sense of urgency and energy that’s timely, confident, and hard to resist. But like most non-cursive handwriting font options, it’s not a good match for more formal occasions.
10. Pencil-Thin Printing: Amatic SC
An informal all-caps font that looks like it was carefully printed by hand, Amatic SC demands the reader’s attention. Light and ultra-casual, it’s ideal for setting an unfussy good-time mood that meshes with bachelorette or big-fun events.
Whether you are designing for physical products or for virtual designs on Zazzle’s easy-to-use design tool, fonts can make all the difference.
Tessa is a content Specialist based in Cork, Ireland but will always call the Canadian Rockies home. She has a strong passion for discovering independent cafes, exploring new dog-friendly destinations for her well-traveled pup, and mixing maple syrup in her morning brew.
I want to order a blanket with my granddaughter’s name all over it I hope it’s the fuzzy blankets it looks like it I was just wondering if I can get more than one name and how long it’ll take