Dingbat fonts likely have a long history in typesetting, a history in which I’d love to research in depth. When composing this post I briefly read the wikipedia entry which didn’t fully satisfy my curiosities in regards to the history of dingbats or “printer’s ornaments”. For part 2 of this post, we’ll see if I can dig up more information for the tale of the printer’s character. For now, have a look at these gorgeous dings. I find them fascinating and irresistible.
Warning: If you go and download them all, I highly suggest using some sort of font manager, as a lot of these can be very graphics/processor intensive. Nexus Font is what I use in windows, and it allows you to use font sets on a per need basis without installing them on your computer. If you run linux, you can run fonty python or create a folder called .fonts in your home directory (use ctrl-H to show hidden dot files). You can switch them out on a per need basis this way manually by just renaming your working font folder to .fonts. Here’s a myfonts list by os.
Post Image Book Cover Texture by: Lost Thyme
Modified ACaslon Ornaments by: Perry Mason or Linotype?
AGA Arabesque Desktop Font by: Qomarudin
Davy’s Dingbat Font by: David Rakowski
4YEOGarden Dingbat Font by: 4YEO
Angst Dingbats One Font by: Chris Dunfield
2Peas GGs Love Me Font by: Melissa Baxter Two Peas in a Bucket
Charming Symbols Fonts by: Iacy
Beautiful Ornaments Three by: Dixie’s Delights
LiveStyle Dingbat Font by: Manfred Klein
Nymphette Font by: Lauren Thompson | Pixel Vixen
Line Dings BRK Font by: Ænigma
I’m Fell Flowers 1 by: Igino Marini
I’m Fell Flowers 2 by: Igino Marini | Brief History of the Fell Types
Obey Galleria by: Bobistheowl | ObeyGiant
The Ikea Uniform Font by: Manfred Klein
Now the Weather Font by: Manfred Klein
Typography Tribute by: Intellecta Design
Cool blog post! I had to really restrain myself from downloading all of them.
Thanks so much! I really like the ornaments by Manfred Klein, as they remind me of the illustration styles from books I read as a young one in the 70's.
I'd like to use some of these ornament dings in digital scrapbooking projects.
WOW .. I'm a font piggy and all these are TERRIFIC! .. ty so very much!
Aww ty for including my dings! It is an honor to be included with such greats.
They other dingbats and their creators that you feature are very inspiring to me.
<3
@Lauren You are inspiring to me! I don't know how you folks have the patience for font creation. I started playing around with fontforge the other day and felt a bit daunted, lol. 🙂 How does one find enough hours in the day?
Hiya, Toots! LOL I'm doing this week's challenge at Digital Whisper. I thought I'd show dingbat use in art. I would like to link to this page to show some wonderful examples. I hope you don't mind. There are literally thousands of articles on fonts, true. But, you do such an awesome showcase of topics, I just really value your information and your choices!
While our group is private, I would be tickled to share an invite link with you. I'll send it via e-mail.
Thank you, by the way, for sharing with me on Stumble! I have really enjoyed those links you've sent! I wish I were closer to that farm with the honey and wine! Sounds like you had fun! I love it!
Thanks, loads and a hug!
Su
Oh thanks so much Sü! I will send you an email. I love stumbleupon, it has been so fun sharing back and forth with people. Thanks for thinking of me! 🙂
::hugs::
Thanks so much. Have really enjoyed "thumbing" thru your collections. Enjoyed your taste in 'Bats', especially Manfred Klein's.