You’ve picked a hand-painted font, typed your headline and found a colour that works perfectly with your layout. You select the text, click the swatch and… nothing.
The lettering stays exactly as it was. You’ve done nothing wrong. In this post, I’ll explain how to change the colour of an OpenType SVG bitmap font in InDesign, so let’s work through it together.
These fonts work a bit differently from ordinary fonts. Which is helpful to discover after you’ve clicked the same swatch six times. Here’s why, and how to change the colour.
Can you change an SVG bitmap font’s colour directly in InDesign?
No—not through the standard text-fill control. I know that’s a bit of a pain, but let’s get into why.
Unfortunately, with OpenType SVG bitmap fonts, changing the colour through the usual text-fill controls is a limitation in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. But there are workarounds.
A conventional outline font supplies shapes that your software fills with colour. An OpenType SVG bitmap font uses images rather than outlines. Those images contain texture, transparency, brush marks and lots of lovely details. But they aren’t editable vector paths.
That’s why clicking a different colour swatch in InDesign doesn’t work. The colour is already locked into the font. The texture and colour are part of the same image. And on nearly all my fonts, that colour just happens to be black. I usually start with black because it’s straightforward to recolour. So hopefully that explains it without being too long-winded.
For a broader explanation, read my guide to OpenType SVG font support and installation.
Before you start
Use a current version of InDesign and confirm that the font displays its intended texture.
Create a separate text frame for the headline you want to recolour. Keeping it separate makes it easier to apply effects without affecting other text.
Save your document before experimenting. If you’re working in an existing layout, duplicate the headline and use the copy.
The method works with my fonts. Other fonts may behave differently, so test yours before using it in a finished project. The images below are edited mockups showing the steps with my Wild Irish Rose font.
Change the colour using Inner Shadow
The Inner Shadow effect offers a solution to recolour the lettering without leaving InDesign.
Instead of using it to create a shadow, you’ll change its colour, blending mode and size to cover the lettering with your chosen colour.
Step 1: select the lettering and open Inner Shadow
Use the Selection tool, the black arrow, to select the text frame.
Right-click the frame and choose Effects → Inner Shadow. You can also access it through Object → Effects → Inner Shadow.
Step 2: open the effect settings
Enable Inner Shadow in the Effects dialog.
The example shows Settings for: Object, which applies the effect to the whole object. Keep the frame’s fill and stroke set to None so they don’t introduce another shape into the effect.
Enable Preview to see your adjustments as you make them.
Step 3: choose your colour
Click the colour square beside the Mode control.
In the Effect Color dialog, choose a swatch or use the available colour controls to specify your colour. Click OK to return to the Effects dialog.
This changes the effect’s colour, rather than the ordinary text fill.
Step 4: change the blending mode, opacity and size
Set Mode to Normal and Opacity to 100%.
Increase Size while watching the preview. The aim is to cover the lettering with colour rather than leave a narrow shadow around its edges.
The large 13 in size belongs to this example. It isn’t a universal setting: adjust it for your lettering and inspect the result closely.
Step 5: inspect the result and export a test
Click OK, then check the lettering over your intended background.
Look closely at the fine brush marks and partly transparent areas. You want the colour to change without filling in the gaps or losing the painted detail.
The mockup below illustrates the intended result.
Finally, export a test page using File → Export → Adobe PDF (Print). Open the PDF separately and inspect the colour, texture and character positions.
That’s the colour change sorted
That’s the hack to get an OpenType SVG bitmap font’s colour working properly in InDesign. Is it a pain in the arse? Yes, it is. Does it work? Yes, it does.
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a trade-off. If you want the lovely textures, transparency and painted qualities of an OpenType SVG bitmap font, this is the price you pay for that look and feel. Once you know how, it’s not too much of a hassle.
Frequently asked questions
Does InDesign support changing the colour of an SVG bitmap font?
InDesign supports displaying OpenType SVG bitmap fonts, but its standard text-colour controls generally won’t recolour their embedded images. The Inner Shadow effect provides a workaround for my fonts. Other fonts may respond differently.
Why can’t I change the font colour like I normally do?
The colour belongs to the image artwork inside each letter. Changing InDesign’s text-fill swatch doesn’t repaint those images as it would fill the shapes of an ordinary outline font.
Will the text still be editable after applying Inner Shadow?
Yes. Applying an effect doesn’t convert live text into outlines or an image. You can still change the words, font size and spacing. However, the effect may need adjusting when you change the size or shape of the lettering.
Can I change individual letters to different colours?
Put differently coloured letters or words in separate text frames and apply an Inner Shadow effect to each frame. Check the spacing carefully, particularly with connected script lettering.
Will changing the colour preserve the font’s brush texture and transparency?
Yes, it should. It does with my fonts, but I can’t guarantee the same result with other fonts. It’s always worth checking your work afterwards to make sure it’s kept all the detail.
How do I fix white gaps between coloured areas in an exported PDF?
If you bought the font, contact its designer. The fix described here involves rebuilding the font, rather than changing a setting in InDesign.
If you’re building the font yourself: in one font-export case, two coloured areas fell out of alignment in the PDF, leaving unintended white gaps. The original font used CFF outlines in an OTF file, but changing between .otf and .ttf didn’t solve the problem.
The successful fix was to uncheck Export COLR Table in the font editor while retaining the SVG artwork. After replacing the installed font and restarting InDesign, both versions exported correctly.
This resolved that particular case. Other white-gap problems may have a different cause.
Will converting the text to outlines preserve the bitmap texture?
Don’t assume it will. The painted detail exists as image artwork, so outlining cannot turn every brush mark into an equivalent vector path.
Depending on the font and application, conversion may produce different artwork or expose simpler fallback outlines. Keep an untouched live-text copy and compare the converted result before using it.
Can I use SVG bitmap fonts for professional printing?
Yes, provided the artwork has enough resolution at its final size and your exported file works correctly with the printer’s workflow.
Follow the printer’s colour and export requirements, and request a proof when fine texture or accurate colour matters.
Why does my SVG bitmap font look blurry or pixelated?
The lettering contains pixels, so enlarging it beyond its available resolution can reveal soft edges or pixelation. Changing its colour doesn’t increase that resolution.
InDesign can also show a lower-quality preview. Try View → Display Performance → High Quality Display. If you’re working with placed image artwork, inspect Effective PPI in the Links panel; that information isn’t available there for live font characters.
What should I do if the Inner Shadow workaround doesn’t work?
Remove the effect and check that the font displays correctly without it. Test a duplicate headline in a new document to rule out unrelated layout settings.
Can I save the recolouring effect as an Object Style and reuse it?
Yes. Once you have settings that work, select the text frame and open Window → Styles → Object Styles. Choose New Object Style, name it and include the relevant effects settings.
Exclude unrelated attributes you don’t want the style to change, such as frame dimensions or text formatting. Different lettering sizes may need different effect settings.
Can I use a spot colour with this method?
Don’t assume that selecting a spot-colour swatch will make the entire lettering output exclusively on that spot plate. The font’s embedded artwork and the transparency effect can complicate the result.
Use Window → Output → Separations Preview to inspect the plates, then confirm the exported PDF with your printer. For foil, white ink or another dedicated production plate, use artwork prepared specifically for that purpose.
Written by Simon Stratford, type designer and graphic designer. These are my opinions, reached after too little sleep and too much coffee. You can also follow my antics on @itsmesimonok, or leave a comment below. Despite all the opinions, I’m actually quite nice.