Misfitz font began with me playing around on an iPad, sketching letters and seeing where they went. There wasn’t a grand plan. I was experimenting with bold geometric shapes and unusual proportions. Those loose drawings eventually became a complete sans-serif display typeface, with plenty of alternate characters and interlocking letter combinations to play with.
It started with messing about
There wasn’t a brief. I was drawing in Procreate with an Apple Pencil and seeing what happened. I changed proportions, moved letters around and kept the ideas that looked interesting.
I wanted the letters to share the same basic structure without looking identical or overly controlled. Some became wide, others narrow. Certain characters tucked into their neighbours, while others stood apart and took up more room.
The uneven rhythm became the point. The letters belonged together, but they didn’t need to look identical.
Where the design came from
The shapes came from two places: bold geometric lettering from the 1930s and late nineteenth-century American wood type. I liked the clean construction of the geometric lettering, but also the uneven proportions and personality of the wood type. That mix gave Misfitz its character.
Why I called it Misfitz
The name is a play on the word misfits. I changed the final s to a z because I preferred the way it looked. Nothing more complicated than that.
I also liked the meaning. A misfit is someone whose behaviour, attitude or interests set them apart from the group around them. That suited the typeface: the characters belong together, but they don’t all follow the same rules.
Drawing Misfitz in Procreate
I still use paper a lot, especially when I want marks that Procreate can’t quite replicate. If I’m after the look of a dip pen or brush, with all its detail and natural imperfections, nothing beats real ink, paper and a decent brush.
For a more rigid font like Misfitz, though, the iPad was much quicker. I could change shapes, test ideas and bin the bad ones without too much faff. There was still plenty of work before the sketches were ready for Glyphs, but keeping the early stages digital sped up the whole process.
Once the alphabet had a consistent direction, I exported the drawings into Adobe Illustrator. This was where I cleaned the outlines, tightened the shapes and removed the less useful wobble.
Turning the drawings into a working font
After cleaning the letterforms in Illustrator, I used Fontself to turn the vectors into a working font quickly. That gave me something I could type with and test before moving the project into Glyphs.
From there, the job became more technical.
In Glyphs I cleaned the outlines again, corrected the spacing and set the left and right sidebearings for every character. Sidebearings control the space immediately beside each letter. Get them wrong and even beautifully drawn characters produce ugly words.
Once the spacing worked, I kerned the whole typeface. It’s not the glamorous bit, but it needs doing.
Adding alternate characters and interlocking letters
The standard alphabet was only the beginning. Misfitz includes contextual alternates, stylistic sets and interlocking letter combinations.
The alternate characters let designers change the width and rhythm of individual words. Some forms are wider or narrower; others alter the personality of a particular letter. The interlocking pairs pull selected characters together to create tighter, more deliberate shapes.
These features suit logos, packaging and headlines because the overall silhouette of a word matters. Changing one character can completely alter the balance without forcing you to redraw the lettering manually.
My guide to stylistic alternates in fonts explains how to find and use them in Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Figma.
What Misfitz was made for
Misfitz works best when the type needs to carry the design: logos, packaging, posters, advertising and editorial headlines. The changing widths, unusual proportions and alternate characters give short words a strong shape. It isn’t meant for long passages of body copy.
A font for people who prefer the odd one out
Misfitz began as an experiment. I drew a collection of geometric letters on an iPad, let their proportions wander and followed the interesting bits.
The finished font keeps the idea I started with: geometric letters with unusual proportions and enough variation to make a word feel designed rather than simply typed. It’s geometric without looking like a Google rebrand.
You can see the complete character set, try your own words and buy Misfitz font here.
Frequently asked questions
How was Misfitz font created?
I drew Misfitz in Procreate using an Apple Pencil. I exported the drawings to Adobe Illustrator to clean the vector outlines, used Fontself to create an initial working font and completed the spacing, kerning and technical development in Glyphs.
What inspired Misfitz?
Misfitz combines bold geometric lettering from the 1930s with the uneven proportions and commercial character of late nineteenth-century American wood type.
What is Misfitz font best used for?
Misfitz works particularly well for logos, packaging, posters, advertising, merchandise and editorial headlines. It was designed for short, prominent typography rather than extended body text.
Does Misfitz include alternate characters?
Yes. Misfitz includes contextual alternates, stylistic sets and interlocking character combinations that let you adjust the shape, width and rhythm of words.
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.