# Help me ID these fonts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 3, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536 "2023-09-03T00:45:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Baggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Mr.Baggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Baggins)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/1 "2023-09-03T00:45:36Z")

</div>

I’ve been asked to remake this school bulletin, as close as possible to the original. Problem is, I’m not a graphic designer (not even close), and I’m hoping someone here can help. Is there any way to determine what the fonts for the three sections marked are? I’ll be eternally grateful for any help.  
Regards,

[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/svQtgey.jpeg "Imgur: The magic of the Internet") ](https://imgur.com/svQtgey)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/2 "2023-09-03T01:47:58Z")

</div>

If you Google “font identifier from image” you’ll see a whole bunch of web sites that claim to be able to identify a font from an image. You’ll probably have to break the image up into pieces with one font per image, which I don’t have time to do right now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/3 "2023-09-03T01:53:26Z")

</div>

Do you know what program was used to create the existing school bulletin?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/4 "2023-09-03T02:22:01Z")

</div>

The headline “Classroom News” seems to be [HelloBigDeal](https://www.whatfontis.com/FF_HelloBigDeal.font?text=cLASROMN#google_vignette).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/5 "2023-09-03T03:16:04Z")

</div>

No luck on “This Week’s Reading” or “Narrative Nonfiction”. I tried the font identifiers on [fontsquirrel.com](https://www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator), on [whatfontis.com](https://www.whatfontis.com) and [myfonts.com](https://www.myfonts.com/pages/whatthefont).

I haven’t tried finding the body text of sample #3.  
Good luck.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/6 "2023-09-03T03:17:01Z")

</div>

You could try KG Miss Kindergarten (Regular) for #3. Not perfect but might work.  
If you have or could scan a sharper, higher resolution image it would get better results.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr.Baggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Mr.Baggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Baggins)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/7 "2023-09-03T07:57:45Z")

</div>

Thank you for all your help, HelloBigDeal was spot on, and I learned there are such things as font identifiers. Ignorance fought.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/8 "2023-09-03T12:23:07Z")

</div>

The heading of #3 appears to be Miss Kindergarten as well but you’ll need to stroke/outline it. I don’t think it comes in bold. It may also have been made a bit more narrow. Place your type on a new layer over the existing to compare.  
FYI there’s also stand alone software (as opposed to online) font identifiers you can install on your own computer. Useful for searching your own font database as well as online sources.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/9 "2023-09-03T19:26:51Z")

</div>

Sheesh. Okay, font #2 is _Hello Ant Close_. It’s the work of the same designer as _Hello Big Deal_, Jen Jones. I was able to download it by [registering on a teacher resource website.](https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hello-Fonts-Personal-Non-Commercial-Use-301730)

The download comes with about 70 other fonts from Ms. Jones, and they hurt my eyes to look at – all hand drawn without much individual identity, and the names all starting with **Hello**.

The “Narrative Nonfiction” subhead is also her work, but I haven’t located the typeface. The download includes _Hello Asparagus_, which uses the same distinctive lowercase “a”. [You can see Asparagus here](https://www.dafont.com/helloasparagus.font).

A decent substitute for the Narrative Nonfiction font is [Super Kids.](https://www.dafont.com/super-kids.font)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/10 "2023-09-03T23:49:17Z")

</div>

> [@Mr.Baggins](#):
>
> I’ve been asked to remake this school bulletin, as close as possible to the original.

There has to be _something_ you can do. Maybe some Didone typefaces? Throw in some Eckmannpsych and Punk Nova where necessary.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/11 "2023-09-05T02:21:58Z")

</div>

> [@Keith1](#):
>
> You could try KG Miss Kindergarten (Regular) for #3. Not perfect but might work.  
> If you have or could scan a sharper, higher resolution image it would get better results.

Keith1 nailed it there. The #3 text is _Miss Kindergarten_. I downloaded it from [dafonts.com](https://www.dafont.com/kg-miss-kindergarten.font).

In your sample the font has been compressed and the tracking reduced from the default. On my computer I got the best match with the width set to 84% and the tracking set to -10. Personally I think the text would be happier with less tracking – a lot of the letters are jammed together.

What usually happens is that an amateur (or a semi-pro in a big hurry) will make a story fit by just reducing the letter width until the words squeeze into the space – readability be damned. If you want the text to look similar, but don’t need it to be so crowded, then put the letter width to 90% and the tracking to 0 or -5.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/12 "2023-09-05T14:44:40Z")

</div>

Yet another comment–  
When setting body text it’s nice to have multiple styles available: Bold, Italic, Bold Italic, Regular. Obviously that comes in handy for book titles, emphasis, etc.

The current body text, _Miss Kindergarten_, does not have multiple styles, so you’re pretty much limited to quote marks and underlining. “Quotes” can lead to confusion, and using underlines chops through descending letters (qpgj) and often draws too much attention, compared to italics or bold face.

A good place to find fonts is [fonts.google.com](http://fonts.google.com) – free, well-curated, and unlikely to spread malware. Using their search function, I got a list of [handwritten fonts with at least four styles](https://fonts.google.com/?category=Display,Handwriting&stylecount=4).

The one that seemed best for your needs was _[Comic Neue](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Comic+Neue?category=Display,Handwriting&stylecount=4)_, which comes with six styles.

When dealing with clients I often get instructions like “make it look like our other brochure”. I’ll honor that request if the other brochures were the work of an experienced designer. If the previous work was obviously done by someone clueless, I’ll keep the harmless parts and improve the bad. The reaction is almost never negative.

So dump the _Miss Kindergarten_, and go with _Comic Neue_ or something else with multiple styles. Don’t even mention the change.

Your instructions of “as close as possible to the original” were almost certainly not meant literally – more likely it meant “let’s not rock the boat”. Most people won’t notice a change in text type beyond “I don’t like letters with little feet” (serifs).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-these-fonts/989536/13 "2023-09-05T21:15:34Z")

</div>

@Baal_Houtham

Depending on the software used, it may apply a fake bold and fake italics, generating it from the regular font. If so, that might be good enough. And, as mentioned before, outlining is also an option to make your own fake bold.

That said, the idea of replacing it is a good one. I’m just not sure that Comic Neue isn’t too clean looking for the effect they’re going for. Miss Kindergarten reminds me of how the writing textbooks I had as a kid would draw the letters.
