TK wrote:
I have a client whose design agency has come up with a product that makes use of a non-existent letter in the product name. The letter has a backtick on it. Now to do an “e” with a backtick in InDesign, I would normally press Option-backtick and then the letter “e”, which would give me è. However, when I try this with some other letters, I get two characters.
The product name is repeated many times through the document, and I have temporarily solved the problem by decreasing the tracking between the two characters by a ridiculous amount. I’m wondering if there’s a better or simpler way to do this?
Ah, the vagaries of clients! There are several solutions for making custom characters. Your solution of applying a large amount of negative kerning is a very good idea, but I agree that it’s annoying over time. Another option would be to create the character as an anchored frame:
- Make one instance of the special character in a frame somewhere.
- Convert it to outlines (Type > Create Outlines)
- Select the new shape with the Selection tool and Copy it (Edit > Copy)
- Use the Type tool to place the text cursor where you want the character and use Edit > Paste.
Using anchored objects like this isn’t optimal either, but it can work well in some situations.
But my favorite way of handling special characters is to make a special font. Don’t get nervous about this idea; it’s actually incredibly simple to do. The hardest part is to figure out what software to use. Fortunately, the folks at FontLab.com have a wide variety for you to choose from. Their high-end FontLab Studio is great if you want to be a true font developer, but for the vast majority of us, we can get by with their basic $99 TypeTool program. It does everything you’d probably want to build a custom font.
One note that is not immediately obvious: While you can open a font and edit it, be sure to choose File > Font Info and then change the internal names of the font. Otherwise, your old font and new font will look the same to programs like InDesign.
They also offer a $29 SigMaker2 utility, which lets you add any logo or special character to a font in just a few steps. The UI is wonderfully simple and is therefore great for very simple characters.
I’ve had a number of problems importing custom characters/logos into both TypeTool and SigMaker because they only accept EPS files. (SigMaker also accepts bitmapped images, which it does an auto-trace on to create vectors.) The best workaround has been to open a graphic in Illustrator, then save as an EPS in the oldest (and therefore simplest) version you can (such as Illustrator 3).
Having a custom font is often a great way to work around custom character issues (as well as special needs such as custom kerning pairs). Just remember to name it appropriately and send it along with your document!
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on April 25, 2007
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