A must-buy for anyone learning about or studying fonts, Typography Insight was created by Dong Yoon Park, an MFA design and technology student at Parsons The New School for Design. Essentially his thesis in interactive app form, it harnesses the iPad to help teach the subtleties of typography and help you distinguish between fonts. The app lets you inspect the details of different typefaces, plus there are sections that teach how to measure typefaces and how to set type.
A curiously old-school typography app, but FontBrowser still appeals
Platform: iOS (iPhone and iPad)
This app appears to have been repeatedly beaten with an ugly stick, but it's a useful freebie for browsing Unicode fonts and keystrokes. Symbols can be searched by type, saving precious minutes if you're frantically looking for a particular arrow symbol.
Not a typography app, but a useful tool for typographers
Platform: iOS (iPhone and iPad)
Quark's free iPad app isn't a typography tool per se – instead it's a product that enables you to rapidly wireframe grid-based designs. But given that many people who deal with typefaces and fonts on a daily basis also need to rapidly work up page layouts, we'd say DesignPad could become an indispensable part of your toolkit.
Another typographer's tool rather than typography app, but a very useful one
Platform: iOS (iPhone and iPad)
Designers of all kinds need to have a tool for creating colour palettes, and that includes typographers too – not least to check the contrast between type and background. Developed by Rick Maddy, Palettes Pro is a great standalone tool for your device, and it can export palettes when you need to work with them in Photoshop or Illustrator.
Use Fontli to discover inspirational photography of type throughout the world
Platform: iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Windows
Fontli is a social network of type lovers, where community members can collect and share inspiring examples of typography from everyday life. Using integration with MyFonts database, the free app also features type tagging on pictures.
Kerning game Kern Type is also a useful typography app
Platform: Web
Kern Type is a free kerning game created by Mark MacKay, and it looks fab on Retina displays. Just drag the letters into place and the site tells you how good a kerner you are.
Words + camera = art! Turn your images into amazing typographic art using text. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how about a picture made of a thousand words?
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Typetester helps you make informed choices about your fonts
Platform: Web
Typetester Classic is a nifty little web app that aims to help you make informed choices in your typography. Paste some text into the field at the top of the page, then set up your font options in the three columns below to visually compare the results. You have full control over font size, alignment, leading, tracking and colour. By testing and comparing you can ensure you get the maximum impact from your type.
Why 'Classic'? There's a new Typetester available now, and it's a WYSIWYG web typography editor that enables you to create, export and share unlimited projects. Take a look here and sign up for a free 30-day trial.
Contributions: Sammy Maine
This is an updated version of an article that previously appeared on Creative Bloq.
Craig is an editor, writer and designer. He writes about design and tech, specialising in Mac, iPhone and iPad, and has written for Creative Bloq, Stuff, TechRadar, MacFormat, The Guardian, Retro Gamer and more. You can view more of his writing on his blog, Revert to Saved.
