"handwritten" fonts

I was going over my student's homework blogs and there seem to be quite a few of them who want to use handwritten fonts for post titles and headers. (Quite a few available on the blogspot template editor - ouch!).

Most graphic designers will probably agree that for the largest part handwritten fonts are problematic design elements. And the reason is pretty much right there in the word "handwritten". Well let's face it, they are not, are they? They are artificial constructions which try to imitate something that is quite impossible to imitate since it is so organically individuated.

When we write we follow a personal rhythm; so personal in fact that handwriting is considered to be forensic evidence, just like a fingerprint: We never ever duplicate the same exact shapes; the way we write individual letters depends entirely on the letters standing next to them - each one we shape, link up and place differently.

Handwritten fonts, on the other hand, link or place the (same shaped) "a" in exactly the same way, regardless of whether this "a" is standing next to a "t" or an "m" or an "r". And so what comes out, in most cases ends up looking rather phony, I'm afraid. There are lots of different handwritten fonts to choose from, of course - but not that many are well made enough to be able to get over this inherent limitation of being imitators. Flight (below) is one such good one, I think:

 Note:  And then there are also "script" or "calligraphic" fonts, which should not be confused with "handwritten" fonts at all. These fonts are based upon historic engraver's texts where each letter does in fact follow the same exact rules, is linked similarly, if not indeed identically to the ones standing next to it. So, these fonts usually do look very sleek and find very good usage within the proper context. Below are three nice ones which you can get from dafont.  ) 

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