Handsome Font: Shinntype’s Cursive Alternates and Name Confusion

In his first-person account, Nick Shinn explains that Handsome began as a skeletal path drawn directly in Fontographer using a Wacom stylus and tablet. Different monoline weights and pen effects were applied to that construction. He then created Handsome Pro in 2005, using OpenType contextual alternates to encode cursive joining rules. Shinntype’s family page describes changing character alternatives as part of the handwriting effect. This background makes the feature settings part of the design, rather than an optional decorative afterthought.

Create two copies of a short note containing repeated letters and common joins: “Hello Anna, a little letter for you.” In an application that exposes OpenType controls, compare the contextual-alternates setting on and off while keeping size and spacing unchanged. Inspect the middle of words and the connections after capitals. Avoid choosing isolated alternate characters solely because they look attractive in a glyph panel; return to the complete sentence to judge the rhythm of the writing.

For a thank-you card, give the personal message its own line and place the sender, date and contact details below in a plain companion face. Print at the intended card size before deciding whether the thin parts remain visible. For a digital invitation, test the longest guest name as well as the shortest. If the handwritten line becomes crowded, change the line break or text size before adding tracking that might interrupt the connected rhythm.

CastleType also publishes a font named Handsome, designed by Jason Castle: it contains more than thirty antique-style pointing hands facing left and right. That symbol collection is separate from Shinntype’s cursive family. Check the foundry and glyph preview when buying or installing a product with this name. The Allura, Sacramento and Patrick Hand specimens here provide independent handwriting comparisons; they are not previews of either commercial Handsome product. Use a pointing-hand ornament beside ordinary text only if that is the intended task.