Fonts - Simple Letter Model

Set up your Pricing and Sizes sections before you set up fonts. Fonts in the Simple Letter model use these settings to calculate the sign size and the price.

Accessing the Font Settings

1. Go to the Sign Customiser admin:

   • Universal admin: Go to Home in your account.

   • Shopify users: Open the Sign Customiser app in your Shopify admin.

2. Click Customisers in the menu.

3. Select the customiser you want to edit.

4. From the left-hand menu, go to Core Setup → Fonts.

Setting the Font Section Title and Description

You can change the title and the description above the font selector on your storefront.

1. In the Fonts section, scroll to Font Settings. ​

   

2. Enter:

   • (Optional) Title – The title shown above the font section.

   • (Optional) Description – The description shown below the title. You can also add a link to an external page.

3. Click Save.

Add and Assign Fonts to Your Pricing

Step 1: Add a font

1. In the Fonts section, click Add new font or edit an existing font.

   

2. In the Label field, enter the font name. Customers see this label. Use one word if you can. This field is required.

3. Under Font, choose one of the following:

   • Add file – to upload a .ttf font file. The file must be 2 MB or smaller. If you have no .ttf file, use the free service Cloud Convert to convert your font. The form has a link to it.

   • Use Google Font – select a font from Google Fonts.

     

The admin can show Font is not supported or Upload a compatible TTF file. In this case, it cannot read the font. Use a different font.

To get a copy of all your font files, click Download All Fonts. This button is below the font list on the Fonts page.

Step 2: Assign a Pricing

1. In the same form, scroll to the Assign a pricing section.

2. In the Pricing field, select a pricing rule for the font. The list shows the pricings that you added on the Pricing page. This field is required.

   

   Pricing not set up yet?
   Follow the Pricing - Simple Letter Model guide first.​

3. Click Save.

Step 3: Set Font Size Availability

You can set a minimum sign size for a font. Customers can use the font only on signs of that size or larger.

1. In the same form, scroll to Font Size Availability.

2. In the Font Size Availability section, choose a size. Choose No restriction - Available for all sign sizes to allow the font for every size. Once you set up your sizes, the form shows an example that uses your own sizes. The size labels in the image below can differ from your size labels.

   

Step 4: Configure Font Style

Line Height

You can change the line height for each font.

To adjust the line height:

1. In the same form, scroll to the Font Style section.

2. Under Line Height, select one of the following:

   • Normal (Default) – Uses the default line spacing.

   • Specific Line Height – Lets you manually control the spacing between lines. Enter the value in the number field that appears.

     • Values less than 1 reduce spacing and create tighter lines.

     • Values greater than 1 increase spacing between lines.

     • You can enter decimal values, for example 0.5 or 0.75.

   

   

Stencil-Safe Fonts

Use the Stencil-safe (bridged) font option to show which type of font you use:

• Checked – The letterforms of the font have the bridges and counters attached.

• Unchecked – The font loses its letter centres when it is cut. ​

This option matters only for Stencil customisers. On a Stencil customiser, the Fonts page shows the warning Fonts not marked stencil-safe. The warning lists each font that you did not check. For neon, channel letter and other sign types, you can leave the option unchecked.

These steps complete the font setup for the Simple Letter model.

Next, in Sign Components, you can set up the support options for your sign type (Backboards, Sheets, Panels or Plates) and Mountings. A Lightbox customiser does not show the support options. For more setup guides, see our Features section.

Best Practices: How to Use the Simple Letter Model Well

Organising Your Fonts

Clear font groups make your pricing rules easier to manage. Each pricing rule sets the cost of each line. Each pricing rule also sets the price for each letter.

1. Align Font Height in Adobe Illustrator

Put all the fonts that you plan to use in one Adobe Illustrator file (or a file in a similar program). Make the font heights the same, so you can compare the fonts. This is an example of a font comparison sheet:

2. Group Fonts By Width

With fixed width sizes, narrower fonts tend to make taller signs in the Simple Letter model. Use the Illustrator file above to put these fonts in a separate group. Assign the group to a higher pricing rule.

3. Test and Measure Maximum Heights

Use the sizes and prices from your supplier in the essential information sheet. For each width, find the maximum height. In Illustrator, test each font as follows:

• Add a number of lines of text, for example three lines. Use the same number for each width you test.

• Set a line height.

• Adjust the text size to match the width you test, for example 60 cm.

You now have the maximum height of each font for that width.

4. Determine Your Pricing Rules

Use your test results to assign each font group to a pricing rule. Use the maximum height of the group. Put fonts that make taller signs in higher pricing rules.

Additional Tips

• Try different font combinations and different minimum and maximum character limits for each size. Find what works best within your size limits. Sometimes a different font gives a better result.

• Limit certain fonts to larger sizes, where they work best.