Stylistic alternatives are powerful, but easy to miss. They’re tucked away in menus most designers rarely open. That’s a shame: a few clicks can give your type a completely different feel. I’ll show you where to find them and how to use them. Let’s get into it.
What are stylistic alternatives?
Stylistic alternatives are extra versions of characters or glyphs built into a font. They let you change a single character without changing the whole word. The word still says the same thing; it just looks a little different.
Take BOOTS. It has two Os, and if both use the same glyph, the repetition can become noticeable.
A stylistic alternative lets you swap one O for another version of the same character.
Pumped Up Kicks has at least five variations for each letter, and some letters have up to eight. You can make a word look quite different by swapping individual letters for another version of the same character.
It sounds confusing, but it really isn’t.
The image above is just the word Boots typed out using no stylistic alternatives.
The second image below shows two different Os because I’ve applied a different stylistic alternative to each O. You can see it uses SSO1 and SSO2, and that changes the look and feel of the word Boots.
It’s really powerful, and that’s the best way I could show it without getting too complex.
What popular design software can you use stylistic alternatives in?
Most popular design software gives you a way to select stylistic alternatives. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign all support them, as do Figma, Affinity and Sketch.
Here’s a short list of software that I know definitely supports stylistic alternatives:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Figma
- Affinity
- Sketch
Most design software lets you use stylistic alternatives. I’m not going to list every app under the sun.
Word supports them. So does PowerPoint. I’m not going there.
For now, I’m sticking to the apps below. There’s only so much room in one post, and I’d rather show you how to use them than write an encyclopaedia of menus.
Where do you find stylistic alternatives?
These screenshots show the panels used to access alternate glyphs and OpenType features in several design apps. The panel names and exact controls vary, but the general idea is the same: find the character you want and choose the alternate version.
The screenshots show the relevant panels and examples of how to access alternate glyphs. The Adobe apps are broadly similar, though not identical.
For the sake of this post, I’ll be talking and showing examples in Photoshop from now on. This is for my own sanity.
How to open the Glyphs panel in Adobe Photoshop
- Open the Window menu.
- Choose Glyphs.
- Select the text layer and place the text cursor where you want to change a character.
- In the Glyphs panel, choose the font and locate the alternate character you want.
- Double-click the glyph to insert it into the text.
The panel can show the standard character and its alternatives. Select the character in your text first, then choose the version you want from the panel.
Some stylistic alternatives are case-sensitive. If the font has uppercase alternates, type in uppercase. If it has lowercase ones, type in lowercase. Match the case, or the alternatives may not appear in the Glyphs panel. It’ll save you a lot of hunting around.
Let’s get into stylistic alternatives in more depth
That’s the basic idea. Now let’s mix things up and see what happens when we swap the letters one at a time.
You can also compare two different alternatives in the same word. Here, the first O uses one stylistic set and the second O uses another.
The two Os use different stylistic alternatives.
And here’s another comparison, using a different pair of alternatives for the Os.
What happens when you change more than one letter?
You can use alternatives on more than one character in a word. This example shows BOOTS with a different alternative used for each labelled letter.
That doesn’t mean every letter needs changing. The point is to have the choice. Try a few versions, compare them in the design and keep the ones that improve the lettering.
A Little Variation Goes a Long Way
Repeated words are especially useful for seeing how this works. Changing a repeated character can make the lettering feel less mechanically duplicated.
Aardvark, Apple and Baboon
Aardvark repeats A three times and R twice; Apple doubles P; Baboon repeats B and O. Give those letters different alternatives and each word gets a little more character.
Ball, Balloon and Book
Ball repeats L, Balloon repeats L and O, and Book doubles O. Changing one repeated letter is a simple way to make the word feel less mechanically duplicated.
Bookkeeper, Committee and Eel
Bookkeeper and Committee are packed with repeated letters; Eel keeps it simple with a doubled E. Each gives you another chance to mix up the letterforms.
Fall, Feet and Happy
Fall doubles L, Feet doubles E and Happy doubles P. Try a different form for one copy and see how that small change affects the word.
Meet, Mississippi and Moon
Meet repeats E, Moon repeats O, and Mississippi piles up Is, Ss and Ps. There’s plenty of room to vary the lettering without changing the spelling.
Ooze, Poppy and Sleep
Ooze doubles O, Poppy doubles P and Sleep doubles E. Change one of each repeated letter and the words become less predictable.
Soon
Soon has two Os side by side. Give each O a different alternative and the repeated shape no longer looks quite so uniform.
How many versions of COFFEE could you make?
Pumped Up Kicks has several alternatives for the letters in COFFEE. Use different versions for the repeated Fs and Es, and you can give the word plenty of different looks. That’s a lot of combinations.
The alternatives don’t change spelling or meaning. They give you different drawn versions of the same characters, so you can choose how the word looks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are stylistic alternatives?
Stylistic alternatives are alternate glyphs: a font may include different designs for the same character. Choosing one changes the letter’s appearance, not the underlying text.
Are stylistic alternatives and stylistic sets the same?
Not quite. “Stylistic alternatives” is a useful general term, but OpenType treats Stylistic Alternates and Stylistic Sets as separate features. A stylistic set groups alternate glyphs under a numbered option. Pumped Up Kicks uses numbered sets, such as SS01 and SS02, to access its alternate forms.
How do I use stylistic alternatives in Photoshop?
For the on-canvas options, enable Type layer glyph alternates in Photoshop’s Type preferences, select a character with the Type tool, then choose its alternate from the grid. You can also open Window > Glyphs and double-click the glyph you want.
Which design software supports stylistic alternatives?
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma, Affinity and Sketch all provide controls for OpenType alternates or glyphs. The options and controls vary by app, and not every font includes every feature.
Do stylistic alternatives change the word?
No. They change the glyph used to display a character, not the underlying text. BOOTS still reads BOOTS when you replace one or both Os with alternate forms.
Does every font include stylistic alternatives?
No. The type designer has to include them in the font. If a font doesn’t contain alternate forms for a character, the app can’t provide them.
Why can’t I see the alternatives?
Check that the selected font includes alternatives for that character and case, then look in the app’s Glyphs or OpenType controls. The available features depend on the font and software.
Why use alternatives for repeated letters?
Using different versions of a repeated letter can reduce the look of exact duplication and make the word feel more varied. Whether that suits the design is a matter of taste and context.
Can stylistic alternatives give COFFEE a different look?
Yes. Pumped Up Kicks has alternatives for the letters in COFFEE. You can vary the C and O, as well as use different forms for the repeated Fs and Es, creating a lot of combinations.
Stylistic alternatives in a nutshell
Hopefully, you’ve found this post helpful and interesting—and not too boring. You’ve seen what stylistic alternatives can do, and now you know how to use them.
If you want to test-drive my font, Pumped Up Kicks, you’ll know how to put its stylistic alternatives to work.
That’s all, folks.
Written by Simon Stratford, type designer and graphic designer. These are my opinions, reached after too little sleep and too much coffee. You can take them or leave them. You can also follow my antics on Instagram, although “antics” may be overselling what is largely pictures of type, design and the occasional coffee.