There are free fonts everywhere. Have you ever done a project and can’t find the perfect font? Or you are working on a project with a deadline coming fast? (I know that no one reading this has ever waited to the last minute to do something, at least not on purpose) You could pay for the perfect font. Some of them are $20 or more. I saw one for $54 and it wasn’t anything special.
Installing Fonts
When you get a font you need to install it to get it to work in Design Space. The first step is to unzip the file. Then right click the font file (the otf or ttf file) and select install for all users from the pop up list. If design space is running, save everything and close it. Then reopen it and the font should be in your font list and ready to use. There is a check list in the Resource Library for installing fonts here.
I am a Font Hoarder. At last count I had over 4000 fonts on my computer and probably won’t use most of them but just can’t help myself. And I am not an affiliate or paid to say any of this. I just love these sites. I have even made a few fonts that fill in when drawn on your Cricut and you can find out more about them.
What the Font Tool
What the Font by My font is a wonderful tool. Have you ever seen a project and wanted to use the same font but had no idea what it was? What the font will let you upload a picture of the font and then will tell you what font it is! I tested it on a subway sign I made for my daughter (above) and it identified all but 2 of the fonts correctly (there are over 20 different fonts!!!) and gave me close matches on the ones it got wrong. You never have to look at a project and think if I only had THAT font again.
Font Databases
Creative Fabrica and Design Bundles.net have free fonts and graphics every day. Sometimes they have bundles and sales but I suggest you sign up on their mailing lists so that they let you know when and what they have available. I particularly love their graphics too. Creative Fabrica is where I sell the fonts I make for $1.99 each. But I give them away as prizes or incentives often, so look for those opportunities.
Dafont is the absolute best site and really the only one you need. I don’t know exactly how many fonts they have right now, they are always adding more but it seems like millions! They are almost all free. They divide them up into logical catagories too so it is easy to find the PERFECT font. I go there at least once a week to just look around.
1001 Free fonts is a great site. The fonts are divided up into categories and it is easy to find a particular style if you want it. Some of the fonts are shareware, some are freeware and they are for personal use only. I have never gotten a shareware font from there so I can’t tell you anything about cost or usability. The fonts are made by people who submit them so there are good ones and not so good ones.
Font Utility for Seeing Fonts
One other thing any font hoarder must use: Wordmark.it is a wonderful site. If you don’t know what font you should use (and who does really), wordmark.it can help. Just type a phrase or word and it shows you what that phrase looks like in every font on your system. I have it open anytime I work on a project (It is open right now). With all my fonts the list gets really long but the phrase is short and each font takes just a little room but you can see the exact phrase you are using and can choose the right one or ones.