While checking out an app (Windows Phone, Windows 8, iOS or Android), have you ever admired the font it uses? Ever wondered what’s the name of that awesome font? Maybe you could use it in your own app, that is if you knew! Choosing a font that makes content reading easier and also blends well with other design elements of an app plays an important role in creating a visual impact on users. And, you may come across the font that you were looking for in some other app.
In this post, I will show how you can find a font used in an app that made you stop and take notice of its typeface. To make you familiar with the tool and the steps required, I will try to identify the font used in Windows Phone app Say it with Flowers.
Tool
whatfontis.com – It is a free online tool that can identify a font from an image of the text.
Steps
1. Clip the text written in custom font.
Take a screenshot of the app page having text written in custom font. Clip the desired text area from this screenshot using an image editor. whatfontis.com also gives you an option to use an image editor for clipping the text online. This text should have 2-10 characters.
I have clipped text ‘FLOWERS’ from the screenshot of app’s about page.
2. Upload the text screenshot.
Upload your screenshot and select a radio button to specify whether the background is lighter or darker than the characters, and you are ready to continue on to the next step.
I have selected the first radio button in this case.
3. Input characters.
Next, the tool will ask you to input the character shown in each image, in the adjacent text box, to confirm what that image letter is supposed to be.
4. Result.
A list of fonts matching the image you uploaded is displayed. This list contains free as well as commercial fonts. Scroll through the results and find a font that is an exact fit or a close match. Make sure you read the licensing and attribution rights before downloading a font and using it in your app.
In my case, I was able to find a close-match.
Limitations
There are certain limitations that you should keep in mind while using whatfontis.com. The text must be horizontal and it should have at least 2 and a maximum of 10 letters, these letters must not be touching.
Despite having these limitations, whatfontis.com is an useful easy-to-use tool to identify fonts used in any app. All it takes is a couple of minutes to complete above steps. You can use this tool to identify a font you came across while using an app and found it appealing. And, please do not forget to share this with others.