InDesign vs Kittl

Carl Shank • January 30, 2023

InDesign vs Kittl

InDesign vs Kittl. Perhaps this is an unfair contest right from the start. Adobe's InDesign is a well-crafted layout program with expert features for type crafting and setting. It is my go-to program for professional layout jobs. Kittl is a graphics program available on the internet for free, though to unlock its many templates and graphic powers, a monthly ($15 for Pro users) or yearly fee ($120 for Pro users) is necessary.


Kittl (www.kittl.com), built by Tobias Saul, allows real time advanced text editing with built in text manipulation features, like shadows and easy to use text slanting, rise, text on a circle or an angle and textual distortion features. Its claim to fame is the multitude of template styles available to the user, especially the fancy vector ornament library, shapes and banners and texture collections built into the program. It is easy to use and  manipulate and change elements and colors and then export your finished product to a JPG or PGN file (or PDF for Pro users) or post your creation on many social platforms. It advances WYSWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) to a whole new level, and for many users — it is FREE!


Adobe InDesign, of course, is part of Adobe's Creative Cloud offerings, and available by subscription to users. The subscription price is substantial per year, but you get a number of professionally designed layout and graphical programs, like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and many others. It is heralded and used by many graphical and video editing professionals worldwide, including myself. The training curve for InDesign and other such programs is also substantial, but well worth the time and effort for professional uses.


I have included a comparison of a poster I did for a client in both InDesign and then an adaptation in the Kittl program. Both look acceptable for use and possible publication, though I did not attempt to publish the Kittl design. I still like the preciseness of InDesign over Kittl, and I noted that my personal type font (CARE Font) looks grainy in the Kittl mock-up contrasted to the InDesign poster. However, for Victorian swirls and ornamentation, Kittl has many advantages over the traditional Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop programming and steps necessary.


Successful Layout & Design

Typeface Characteristics: Which Type Where?

By Carl Shank • September 9, 2026
Typeface characteristics are the visual and structural features that distinguish one typeface from another. They determine a typeface’s historical appearance, readability, personality, and appropriate use. Useful Ways to Analyze Any Typeface. When examining an unfamiliar typeface, ask these questions in order (provided by ChatGPT) — Does it have serifs? What kind of serifs? How much thick/thin contrast is present? What is the stress angle? What is the x-height? How wide or narrow are the letters? How are the counters constructed? What do the terminals look like? What are distinctive letters such as a, g, e, R, and Q doing? How does the typeface behave in a paragraph—open, dark, dense, airy, mechanical, or calligraphic? What historical or technological process does its construction suggest? What personality does the combination of these characteristics produce? There are a number of online sources to help identify typefaces ( See Feb. 6, 2022 Blog for more explanation and use.) Sources include — MyFonts ( www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont ), FontSquirrel ( www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator ) WhtFontIs ( www.whatfontis.com ) Identifont ( www.identifont.com ) is one of the best. Here are the questions it will ask you — Does it have feet (serifs) or not (sans-serifs)? What style is the tail on uppercase Q? What style is the ampersand (the &)? Is the numeral “4” open or closed? What style of vertical line does the Dollar sign ($) have? How high is the center vertex of the uppercase M? Sit on the line or not? What type of bar does the uppercase G have? How far below the baseline does the uppercase J extend? What about the uppercase R? How far does the center bar extend? Is there a gap with the vertical part of the letter? Does it meet or cross the vertical? What about the question mark (?) What shape is the dot at the bottom? Is it circular, square, triangular, rectangular or even missing? The important point is that a typeface should not be identified by a single characteristic. Its identity comes from the interaction of serifs, contrast, stress, proportions, counters, terminals, spacing, and letterform construction.

More on Variable Fonts (2)

By Carl Shank • September 5, 2026
Google’s variable font selection includes IBM Plex Sans, Inter, Newsreader, Open Sans, Playfair Display, Express Fraunces and Roboto. FF Meta Variable is now a licensed font from Monotype (myFonts.com). Formata Variable is a demonstration only font from CARE Typography. We consider two Google Variable typefaces here — Playfair Display and Express Fraunces. Playfair Display Playfair Display is a high-contrast transitional/display serif typeface designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen and released through Google Fonts in 2011. It was designed primarily for large display sizes, especially headlines, titles, and editorial typography. Its appearance draws inspiration from the late eighteenth-century transition from traditional broad-nib writing toward pointed steel pens, as well as from the elegant typefaces associated with the European Enlightenment and neoclassical period. Playfair Display is a contemporary high-contrast serif designed primarily for display typography. Its visual ancestry lies in the 18th-century transitional period, particularly the movement from broad-nib calligraphic forms toward the sharper, more vertical forms that ultimately produced Didot and Bodoni.
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