Want To Be Just Like Albert Einstein? Start With The Einstein Font

With the news a batch of Albert Einstein’s letters discussing God and religion will go under the auctioneer’s hammer on June 11, 2015, it seems everyone wants to be just like Einstein.

And what is a better way to start than writing just like Albert Einstein? Currently there is a Kickstarter project raising funds to develop a font based on his handwriting. While most fonts are designed as stagnant images of letters, the Albert Einstein font is designed to change slightly from letter to letter as it is typed, thus creating the more natural, handwriting feel that isn’t usually achieved with other handwriting fonts.

The Albert Einstein font is being developed by typographer Harald Geisler, a graduate of the University of Art and Design Offenbach in Germany, and physicist Elizabeth Waterhouse, who studies BA Physics, from Harvard. The pair wanted to develop the font in order to create a beautiful font that will inspire users to strive for greatness – just like Albert Einstein did.

The 2015 release date of this font will coincide with he centennial year of the General Theory of Relativity. Geisler and Waterhouse are still raising funds for this project in order to finish production of the font according to their Kickstarter campaign.

“While the prototype is excellent, months more of work are needed to provide the life-like variability that Waterhouse and Geisler envision. The campaign will begin on Tuesday April 14, 2015 and will run through Saturday June 13, 2015. In return for their support, contributors will not only receive pre-sale of the font at a reduced price, but they will also become an integral part of the creative process.”

According to The Telegraph, Geisler and Waterhouse studied the handwritten works of Einstein closely for six months. Once a working prototype was achieved, the pair approached the estate of Albert Einstein and asked for approval. Obviously they accepted the proposal. While a prototype does exist and functions well enough, there is more work to be done. Geisler explains the whole process:

“The design process starts with an research and analysis of the handwriting. I read all kind of different documents and mark certain letters that I find not necessarily beautiful but typical for the writers’ hand. By hand I the digitise the selected letterforms using a cintiq, which is basically a bigger iPad with a very precise pen that allows me to draw directly into the design software.”

As you can see from the image below, the page on the left was handwritten by Einstein himself. The page on the right is the same notes using the Albert Einstein font.

Although, the animated example below is even more impressive:

You can donate to the Albert Einstein font project by clicking here.

[Image credit: Kickstarter and Getty Images / Keystone / Stringer]