Case Study/

Collins Happy Handwriting Font

An educational font that combines clarity and functionality to support children’s handwriting development

Overview

Commissioned by Oriel Square on behalf of HarperCollins, I collaborated with the team and handwriting expert Dr Jane Medwell to design a custom font for the Collins Happy Handwriting programme.

This project supports children’s handwriting development, helping them learn to write with confidence.

Collins Happy Handwriting Font – e – Jamie Clarke Type
Collins Happy Handwriting Font –sample – Jamie Clarke Type

Method

The font was developed with extensive OpenType programming to ensure natural in-strokes for initial letters, seamless joins for middle letters, and out-strokes for final letters.

With 75 unique joining letters, each character was carefully designed to flow naturally, mirroring the teaching methods of the Happy Handwriting programme.

Additional dotted versions were created for tracing exercises, along with special characters designed specifically for left-handed students.

Collins Happy Handwriting Font – 75 joining characters – Jamie Clarke Type
Collins Happy Handwriting Font – Dot and Arrow – Jamie Clarke Type

Outcome

The result is a versatile font family that empowers educators to teach handwriting effectively, providing children with tools to develop clear, consistent writing skills. By integrating tailored features, the font supports a wide range of learning styles, making it an invaluable resource in classrooms. Explore the programme at collins.co.uk.

Content ©HarperCollins Publishers

Our client is absolutely thrilled with their final font and we would undoubtedly work with him again!
Rebekkah Hughes, Design Manager – Oriel Square

Collins Happy Handwriting Font – Styles – Jamie Clarke Type

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