Use glyphs to design a poster

  • Software: InDesign CS3 or later
  • Project time: 1-2 hours
  • Skills: Substitute glyphs, use OpenType fonts, set up glyph sets

What are glyphs? They’re essentially a graphic shape that can represent a character, or part of a character. They can have the appearance of numbers, letters, punctuation or even a decorative form. Glyphs also refer to the graphic symbols that aren’t visible on your keyboard - things like fractions, currency symbols and accented letters.

There are a number of OpenType fonts that have an extensive selection of glyphs, with many alternative forms to represent one character. Incorporating these alternatives into your work is a great way to customise typography and add flourishes to your type design. This tutorial will take an in-depth look at InDesign’s Glyphs panel, showing you how to use glyphs and all the options available to speed up your workflow.

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