New Font Offerings

Carl Shank • May 11, 2023

Introducing the Christograph Font & FancifulAlphabets Font. CARE Typography is pleased to announce two new font offerings, especially for use in churches and ministries—the Christograph Font and the FancifulAlphabets Font. These are pictograph fonts, designed from pictograms courtesy of The Image Book: 2,500 Visual and Verbal Images to Clip and Use During the Church Year (C.I. Publishing, 1993). The pictograms used have been cleanly drawn and sized to fit a normal sized font display. There are 83 pictograms in the Christograph font that occupy font glyphs. They cover the church year adequately and can be used in a variety of newsletter and display materials. These fonts are true Open Type Postscript fonts, the kind preferred by Adobe systems.


The FancifulAlphabets Font is a decorative capital letter font, from A to Z, suitable for fancy text introductions or stand alone old time graphics. One of the nice things about having such fancy lettering in a font family is that they can be sized to fit most any text or advertising use, especially in the larger sizes.


The fonts are free to all churches and ministries. To secure your copy of the fonts, send an email to CARE Typography at cshanktype@gmail.com. The fonts are copyrighted by CARE Typography and can be used only by permission from the creator.


We believe these fonts can be helpful to many!

Successful Layout & Design

By Carl Shank August 30, 2025
Gothics History. Gothic typefaces are a broad group of styles rooted in medieval calligraphy and evolved into distinct print types during and after the invention of movable type via Gutenberg in the 15th century. They are sometimes confusingly named. In Europe “Gothic” usually refers to blackletter (medieval scripts), while in the U.S. “Gothic” often refers to sans-serif typefaces since the 1830s. Gothic script is a broad term for the entire family of medieval European scripts that developed from Carolingian minuscule around the twelfth century. “Minuscules” are lower case letters as distinct from capital letters, or uncials. Type developed in the sixth through tenth centuries with modern lettering evolving from Carolingian scripts. The Emperor Charlemagne used these letters as an educational standard. These densely packed scripts featured tall, narrow letterforms, strong vertical emphasis, sharp, angular connections, a dramatic thick/thin contrast and minimal spacing between letters. Gothic-inspired fonts create immediate medieval impact and work beautifully for titles, logos, and short display text. They are used today in Fantasy Gaming, Historical Projects, Themed Entertainment (like the Renaissance Fair), Book Design, Certificates, Breweries and Distilleries. Jack Nolan, a professional graphics designer, has provided a fetching display of such faces in his "33 Medieval Fonts Perfect for ‘Ye Olde’ Designs in 2025."(1)
By Carl Shank August 20, 2025
(UPDATE FROM POST DECEMBER 23, 2024) Pierre-Simon Fournier — In our history of typography series, Pierre-Simon Fournier (1712–1768) was a French typographer and type designer, renowned for his contributions to the field of typography in the 18th century. He is best known for his work in creating typefaces that reflected the elegance and sophistication of the time. Fournier's work in type design focused on creating typefaces that were both visually appealing and functional. His types were characterized by their clarity, beauty, and legibility. The typeface Fournier is an aristocratic roman typeface. It is transitional, almost modern, in character, with a distinct French flavor, but with more grace and style than traditional French oldstyle designs. This modern character influenced the later work of Bodoni.(See Sample) One of Fournier's significant contributions to typography was his establishment of a typographic point system. He invented a system that standardized measurements for type, which provided consistency and made it easier for printers to produce high-quality texts. This innovation helped printers achieve consistency in their work. Fournier published a seminal work in the history of typography titled Manuel de la Typographie ( Manual of Typography , two volumes published in 1764 and 1766), which included detailed descriptions of his typefaces along with examples. This work served as a reference for printers and typographers. The Introduction gives an overview of the principles of typography. In his Classification of typefaces, Fournier emphasizes the distinction between different styles, such as Roman, Italic, and Gothic types. The manual includes practical tips for setting type, including spacing, alignment, and layout, aimed at improving the quality of printed materials. Fournier includes numerous type specimens, showcasing his designs and providing examples of how different types can be used effectively in printing. Throughout the text, Fournier discusses the historical development of typography and its evolution, reflecting on the influence of various cultures and periods on the art of type. Other contemporaries elsewhere, such as J.M. Fleischman and J. Enschedé, started imitating Fournier's style. In the 1750s, his career was at its peak. He advised royalty in Sweden and Sradinia on types, and set up a printing shop for Madame de Pompadour. He developed musical types in cooperation with J.G.I. Breitkopf in 1756. Fournier's designs influenced future generations of typographers and established a foundation for modern type design. His methods and styles contributed to the evolution of typography, leading to the development of various typefaces we see today. The ORNAMENTS display is a careful digitized reproduction by CARE Typography of Fournier's original ad as seen in the "Fournier Specimen Book" by Lanston Monotype, 1927, in London.
Show More