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Have you ever come across a stylish font but have no idea what it’s called? No problem! We’re going to show you how to identify a font from an image and demonstrate how it works. And in the end – some useful life hacks for business.
The visual component plays a key role in brand recognition. A font is not just text, but a part of the company’s identity. Together with the logo, colors, and other graphic elements, it forms the overall style. But why would you need to find a font? Here are a few reasons:
Not all companies can afford to develop a unique font. Often, small businesses use free typefaces from open libraries. If you find an attractive font on a banner or in an advertisement, you need to make sure that it is available for use. To do this, it is enough to determine its name and check whether it is copyrighted.
There are situations when you need to adapt an old design to new platforms. For example, you may need to transfer an advertisement from a magazine to social media. In such cases, it is important to keep the style and use the same font.
If you are just developing a corporate identity, you should pay attention to what fonts your competitors use. Why these particular typefaces? How do they affect brand perception? Defining the font will help you understand and make the right choice.
Understanding what font is used is only the first step. It’s also important to integrate it into the design correctly so that it harmonizes with other elements and emphasizes the company’s style.
To create a holistic brand image, you can use professional tools. For example, the SendPulse platform has a large library of fonts that can be used to customize subscription forms. And in the SendPulse Site Builder, you can even upload your own font and make your project as unique as possible.
Online font detection tools combine the magic of computer vision with huge databases. Each service has its own nuances, but the general algorithm is similar. Let’s see what’s going on behind the scenes.
The first step is to add an image with text. The better the quality, the more accurate the result. If the photo is blurry or the letters merge, the system may make a mistake.
The program “cleans” the picture: removes unnecessary details – background, patterns, lines. This is necessary so that only the text remains, which can be analyzed.
Here, the algorithm carefully examines each letter and evaluates it:
Based on these parameters, a unique “fingerprint” of the font is created.
The service compares the obtained characteristics with a huge collection of fonts. This is where neural networks or matching algorithms come into play. The database contains both popular variants (for example, Arial) and rare author’s typefaces. Some services even suggest where you can download the found font for free.
After processing, the system displays a list of similar fonts. The results usually contain:
Some services even suggest where the found font is best used – in printed materials or web design.
Even the smartest algorithms have limitations:
Verdict: Although these tools are powerful, they’re not perfect. But you can help them by using high-quality images for analysis!
To get a high-quality analysis, it is important to choose the right source material. Here is what you need to consider:
Let’s try to check how effective font recognition services are. For the test, we have prepared an image with an inscription written in the Caveat font, which is one of the handwriting fonts included in the standard Google Fonts set. It’s not an easy task because handwriting fonts are harder to identify.
This service is owned by MyFonts Inc. one of the largest font providers in the world. It is considered to be one of the most accurate because it has a huge database. It’s easy to use: you upload an image and get options for similar fonts.
However, the service failed to cope with the Cyrillic alphabet. The proposed options did not match the original inscription.
It recognized the English text, but the options offered included only paid fonts, and none of them matched the original.
Another free service that allows you to upload images or insert a link to a picture. There are simple editing tools: you can crop the image, change its scale, or rotate it.
Matcherator could not recognize Cyrillic letters. It offered 32 variants of similar fonts, but there was no correct one among them.
The situation with the English inscription is similar: three dozen variants and not a single exact match.
If the original font is paid, the service offers free alternatives. You can also set up a filter to see only free options. However, there is a caveat: the service requires registration, and if you have an ad blocker enabled, you will have to disable it, otherwise the analysis will not start.
Despite these inconveniences, WhatFontIs did the best job: it recognized the Cyrillic text and even found the original font among the proposed options.
The English text was even easier: the service correctly identified the font, and it was already on the second position in the list of results.
This service specializes in finding free fonts. It processes images quickly and supports various file formats.
However, it couldn’t cope with Cyrillic – it offered only similar options, but not an exact match.
The situation with English text is similar: the service could not identify the original font, but only showed similar alternatives.
Since ChatGPT has the ability to analyze images, we decided to check whether it could recognize the font.
As expected, it failed to recognize Cyrillic.
The result with the English text was also unsuccessful: the system was able to read the text itself, but could not identify the font – instead, it recommended using specialized services.
It is possible to detect a font using a special service, but it is not a given that you will be satisfied with the result. That’s why you shouldn’t limit yourself to one method: combine different tools, consult with professionals, and look for answers in design communities. Recognition accuracy directly depends on the quality of the image, so don’t ignore this point. And, of course, respect copyrights – if you use open-source fonts, don’t forget to mention the name of their author.