Do logotype and lettering designers use programs like FontLab, Glyphs App and Robofont?

[pankajjoshi]

From what I’ve seen, type-design-specific apps have tools far more superior for drawing letters than Illustrator.

I’m wondering:

Beside type designers, do logotype designers and lettering artists use these tools in their work as well?

Do these programs have an option to export the vectors to Illustrator or do you have to save your artwork as a font to use it?

[okaytype]

I know a number of graphic designers who use robofont and glyphs in their workflows. Not just for drawing logotypes but for logos, patterns, and other design elements.

[frederik]

...or simply test install the font and it will be active as a font in Illustrator.

The major benefit of using a font editor, for all sort lettering, is point/shape control, which is simple not possible in Illustrator.

[gferreira]

hello @pankajjoshi,

it’s possible to simply copy and paste contours between RoboFont and Illustrator.

and using the DrawBot extension, it’s easy to export a glyph’s contours into multiple formats. here is an example script to save the current glyph as a PDF:

# get the current glyph
glyph = CurrentGlyph()
# define the document size: page width = glyph width / page height = the font's unitsPerEm
size(glyph.width, glyph.font.info.unitsPerEm)
# move the origin point up so that descenders are not clipped
translate(0, abs(glyph.font.info.descender)) 
# draw the contours into the document
drawGlyph(glyph)
# save the document as a pdf with the glyph's name
saveImage(glyph.name + '.pdf')

hope this helps!