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Design

Albert Einstein's Handwriting Is Being Preserved as a 'Living' Font

Now, you can write like a genius.

"I like to imagine that when one uses Einstein's handwriting as a font, that a spark of his genius could potentially reflect in one's own writing," explains typographer Harald Geisler. Along with designer Liz Waterhouse, he's been spending the past nine months building a typeface that represents the "typical" scrawl of the renowned physicist (and sometime philosopher) Albert Einstein. Einstein’s handwriting reflected movement with clear rhythm, even flow, and soft curves—Harald's task was to develop a font that preserved that feel. By backing their new Kickstarter with a donation of $15 or more, you'll earn the ability to "write like a genius" too, with 52 letters, 9 digits, and 432 glyphs.

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Designing a 'living' font based around one particular person's handwriting isn't as simple as copying and pasting the letters of the alphabet into a single program. The duo replicated Sigmund Freud's handwriting back in 2013, and on their Kickstarter page, they detail the arduous process. This involves finding the writer's most "typical" characters, in terms of angle, flourishes, and overall aesthetics. After studying them to make perfect, font-worthy versions, they must repeat the process at least three more times to vary the handwriting's flow and make it more natural. Then come the glyphs, symbols, Greek alphabet, and accented letters (of which the Freud font has 1,467) that make the font usable in multiple languages, math, and emoticons.

Einstein's handwriting will be the third typeface Geisler and Waterhouse will have launched on Kickstarter, the third design being Conspired Lovers, a font based on Geisler's own letters. Check out a detailed step-by step outline of how the Einstein font will be born on Kickstarter, where you can donate to get access to your own set of wise words, a poster of Einstein quotes, and more.

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