Shop Talk: Find that Font!

If you want to know the name of a specific typeface, you should try two popular free web services: WhatTheFont?! and Identifont.

WhatTheFont?! is great if you have a scan or digital image of the font you want. Just upload the image, check and correct their Character Selection, and then WTF?! will look for a match in their font database. Sometimes, the program will make mistakes, like splitting the letter "i" into two, but overall it's pretty accurate. My advice: just try to follow the tips/instructions to ensure better character analysis. Try WhatTheFont?!

Identifont, on the other hand, is good if you have a sample of the fonts in front of you. What it does is ask several questions about the appearance of different characters to narrow it down to a shortlist of fonts. A word of warning, though: your patience may be tested a little. In my experience, it takes around 20-30 questions to get results. I also suggest that you use the restricted set of letters option, so that you'll only get questions about characters that you can actually see on your hard copy. Try Identifont

Note: Since this tip is a bit simple, we'll try to post another one by the weekend.