Skip to main content

Introducing Cabrito, incorporating the latest research on typographic legibility for children.




After my son was born, I found myself reading him a lot of books. A LOT of books.

Some were good, some were great, but I found myself wanting to develop something using my skills and interests to make something that only I could make. In short, I realized my son needed to be indoctrinated--I mean, introduced into the wonderfully wild world of fonts.




So, I set about to make a board book to teach about typography, called “The Clothes Letters Wear.” You can learn more about the book here, and pledge to receive a copy on Kickstarter. I’ve made the captivating illustrations bright and colorful, and the use of different letter forms makes for a fascinating read to delight ages young and young at heart.

And, as an added bonus, this children’s book has a custom designed font. I’m always looking for an excuse to design a new font, and this book created the perfect alibi.

Drum roll, please.

I now give you . . . Cabrito (“little goat” en Espanol). This new serif typeface incorporates the latest research on typographic legibility for children, features to make it--well, extra legible. A little background: studies show that Bookman Old Style is one of the most readable typefaces, and as a consequence or perhaps the reason why, it is used thoroughly for children’s books. This font became my initial inspiration for the typeface. Then, I found more legibility research saying that (brace yourselves) Comic Sans is also very legible for beginning readers, much due to the large x-height and softer, easily recognizable forms. In addition, forms that are closer to handwriting also seem to be more legible. Once I threw all that into my cauldron and stewed it a bit, the result was a pleasantly rounded typeface that includes not-so-strictly geometric, handwriting-inspired forms for the b, d, p, and q. Es guapo!





Cabrito's slender weights are simple and fun, with extras that turn any “bah humbug” into a smile. Add lighter touches to your project with the typeface’s included sparkles or rainbows (not included). Splash a little more color on the page with the firmer look of the thicker weights. Cabrito's upright variations across all weights are matched by optically altered italics, too, giving you even more variety with the font family.


This modern typeface’s bundle of alternates can be accessed in any OpenType-enabled software. The fashionable options involve a significant team of alternates, swashes, and meticulously refined aspects with ball terminals and alternate titling caps to decorate the font. Also bundled are swash alternates, old style figures, and small caps. Peruse the PDF brochure to check out these options in motion. OpenType-enabled applications like the Adobe suite or Quark allows comprehensive control of ligatures and alternates. This font family also provides the glyphs to aid a variety of languages.


Cabrito is a welcoming, everyday font family by Jeremy Dooley. Use it to convey warmth and friendliness on anything from candy and food packages to children’s toys, company IDs or run-of-the-mill promotional material. Cabrito's unique appearance and high legibility make it equally at home in print as it is on a screen.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Carta Marina

Carta Marina is based on the titling found on the famous map drawn by Olaus Magnus in 1539. The map of northern Europe took 12 years to complete, and the total size is a huge 1.7 meters tall by 1.25 meters wide. More information about the map, as well as the high resolution reference document used to create the typeface and illustration set can be found at the James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota. The titling is slightly aged, very sturdy and elegant. Carta Marina includes a full set of OpenType alternates for every character in the English alphabet, oldstyle figures, historical forms, small caps and 64 discretionary ligatures. These ligatures are used to alter the appearance of the type so that the printing appears realistic and without any duplicate letters to detract from the antique appearance. The Carta Marina family also includes some of the unique illustrations that give the map much of its character. It includes depictions of fanciful sea creatures, land animals a

Microsoft Expression

I have been trying out the Microsoft Expression web design program recently. My final verdict: I like it better than Dreamweaver. I’ve been using Dreamweaver for 5 years now, but where Expressions really shines is its handling of CSS, which is, in my mind, quite a bit better than Dreamweaver. My “problem” with CSS as opposed to tables is that with tables you can visualize what you are doing. CSS is a bit more programmatic. Expression helps a bit. If you are looking to save some money, and you use a PC, you should download Visual Web Developer. You can do some very advanced stuff with this program, and the interface is very much like Expressions. The price is right: free! However, Expression is more intuitive in how it handles CSS. It’s very interesting how Microsoft is starting to head into Adobe’s turf. Microsoft is working on equivalents to everything in Adobe’s product line. My long term bet is on Microsoft.

DevChatt

I had the chance to talk to a group of developers at DevChatt 11. I spoke on webfonts. The talk was recorded, so hopefully I can put the audio up soon. The presentation is available here: I am very happy about my move to Chattanooga (in addition to moving here to be with my wife). There are some tremendous things happening, and a very strong entrepreneurial spirit abounds. After attending DevChatt, I was inspired to brush off a few business ideas and I hope to develop these further. One is related to my core competency, typography, while the other is in a totally different field. I was also inspired by listening to Ale Paul and Luc De Groot in New York City this past week. Here are a few links to some inspiring local organizations: DevChatt CreateHere costarters.co Chattarati colab.is