Step Away From Papyrus: 3 Sources for Free Fonts

What's more fun than a fantastic font? Not much, I say, but I'm kind of nerdy like that. Still, now that computers can do all sorts of magical things, many of us end up making flyers, posters, and other goodies at home or in the parish office.

Here are three sites I go to when looking for free fonts. The first two are particularly great because the fonts are cleared for commercial use, so you don't need to worry that your lemonade stand will get busted by the font cops just because your daughter didn't get permission before using that fancy stick-letter font. (This may be a risk you're comfortable with, of course.)

First up, my personal favorite: FontSquirrel.

If there's a font you've been seeing on your favorite blogs, chances are that you can find it on FontSquirrel. I love the sturdy block letters of ChunkFive, the chalkboard sketchiness of FFF Tusj, and the fanciful strokes of BlackJack. Each of their fonts can be downloaded for use on your desktop machine, and if you're a bit of a computer ninja, you can figure out how to embed the font on your website, too.

Next, we have Google Fonts, which are designed specifically for use on websites but can also be downloaded for desktop use.

Lobster has a whimsical, bold look that's starting to show up on all the best blogs (observe!), while Fondamento is a neat little calligraphic font I'm eager to try. To download the fonts, you add them to a collection which you can then download as one group - very convenient. Like the fonts from FontSquirrel, they can be embedded on websites, although again - it requires a bit of know-how.

Last, dafont.com has a very wide selection of free fonts, and contributors specify whether they're exclusively for personal use or if they can be used commercially. Fabrics is a cute font for crafty types, and I like the dignified look of Optimus Princeps.

So step out of your Font Comfort Zone and try something new - and, if your soul is aching for Papyrus, try Chantelli Antiqua or Gothic Ultra. It's time to let a new font have a turn.