With thousands of fonts in circulation, it’s tough to identify a specific font from memory, when you see it. Fortunately, you don’t have to—there are free websites and an iOS app that can identify font samples for you on the fly. It’s easy and fun.
How to tell if a font is in a printed sample
It doesn’t matter what resource you use to identify a font, it works the same way no matter what: Take a scan or a photograph of the text and then upload it. Once the characters are correctly identified, the resource attempts to locate the font.
Use a straight image of the sample copy text for best results. Ideally, find a large printed example of the font and then scan it–18 point text or larger works best, because the edges of the characters will be more accurate. If you don’t have a scanner, take a careful snapshot with your smartphone or camera. Hold your camera steady so the text isn’t skewed horizontally or vertically. If you’re working with an image that’s askew, you can straighten it out in an image editor.
The free method is the best way to recognize a wild font. WhatTheFont Mobile app. Simply launch the app and snap a photo wherever the text appears on paper or signage, walls, books, or other media. The app prompts to crop the photo to show the text. Next, identify each character. You will see the probable fonts below the photo. The list includes the letters of your example text. This helps you to choose the best match. Click on any font to view more details.
Below are the steps you need to take to identify the font in the iPad box by using the WhatTheFont Mobile application on an iPhone.
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If you don’t have an iOS device (!Try these alternative websites instead.
Every site will examine the image you upload, and then ask you to input the letters in your image. The website will then try its best to find the right font for you. The better the image, the greater your chances of finding the font.
How to identify a font in a webpage
Happily, it’s far easier to identify fonts on the web than it is in print. Just use if the font you’re trying to find is in live text and not an image. WhatFontThis bookmarklet is also available as an extension and a bookmarklet. Safari Chrome. Once installed, the extension adds a small “f?” button to the left of the address field in your browser. The button can be clicked, then you can point your mouse at text to see information about the font.
You can use the WhatFontSafari plug-in to identify fonts that you see on websites.
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When WhatFont active is clicked on, a panel with font details will be added to the text. This panel not only indicates the font name and size, it also shows the font’s alphabet and its color (as a hex value).
Click the text for more information about WhatFont fonts.
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Find a font in an image from the internet
If the font you want to identify on the web is actually inside an image (say, a logo or an ad), you’ll need to use one of the printed font resources mentioned earlier. Instead of uploading your image of the font, drag it from the website onto your desktop, and then upload the image to the font-identifying site.
Firefox and Chrome users can upload images automatically with the Extension WhatFontIs. Once installed, simply right-click an image and choose “Use this image on WhatFontIs.com.” The WhatFontIs.com site opens in a new tab with your image primed and ready for identification.
Ask the professionals
If none of the resources above can identify your font, you might upload the image to one the following font identification forums. Your font should be identified within minutes in the best case scenario. If it is not possible, it could take several hours or even days.
This article was originally written by Lesa Snyder and has been updated since its original posting.
