Zazzle Rolling Out Stroke Thickness Settings in Editor!

[JessicaAmber]

Only a few weeks after getting drop shadows, Zazzle are now letting us add strokes to our fonts!

Currently you can only edit the color and thickness of the stroke.

Here is how it looks on the font Ad Lib:

As you can see, the max stroke size is 200. Also, the stroke is aligned to the centre of the characters, so it is gonna look weirder on fonts that have a lot of variance in thickness.

I think the most useful application of this new setting can be seen when applied, with same color, to a script font like Amazone:

You can essentially make a thin font thicker, which is great for increasing legibility on some fonts, and even creating a 'faux bold' font variant.

What do you folks think of this new addition to the Zazzle editor? What other useful use-cases can you think of?

[Cat]

That's very exciting news! Especially excited to try it out on some of those fonts that are pretty but just too light and thin for some uses!

[NigelSutherland]

This is more good news, following the drop-shadow release. Now we need drop-shadow blurring and paragraph spacing (please).

[KeegansCreation]

Fascinating! Another use case I can think of is increasing contrast between font and background. Sometimes I want to put a white/light colored font across an image (like a photo) that has mixed light and dark areas. A very thin dark stroke can improve visibility when the font crosses over a light portion of the image.

[JessicaAmber]

Good thinking. Especially makes sense for photo templates when you have no idea what sort of photo the customer will use!

[PLdesign]

Oh, so cool!! Thank you Zazzle! 

[Barbara]

I just tried it on one of my favorite fonts that I never use because it's way too thin (Poiret One), and suddenly, I'll be able to use it. I also tried with contrasting strokes on variously colored backgrounds.

Fabulous.

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[itsMolly]

Thanks! I hardly ever use Poiret One, just tried it & wow.

One of my favorites that I have to use sparingly depending on project, is Great Vibes. Black/black, 50 thickness, 0.01 letter spacing... perfect! 

I'm a font nerd from way back. I think this Zazzle feature along with the Shadow, is an amazing improvement to designing. 

@itsMolly 

[Marcia]

This is wonderful news! I've never been able to use certain fonts because they would be too thin for readability. Thank you, Zazzle!

[Malissa]

A heads up, I think it is still a little buggy right now.  Off and on when I try it on fonts it will make the letters look "hairy".  Also, I am finding that the stroke stays toggled on even if I open a new template to work on so I get a stroke that I didn't intend.  

[Barbara]

Over time and in my nearly obsessive collecting of fonts, I've found some that are poorly constructed, which can be seen when set to large sizes. Of course, I don't know if this causes "hairiness," but if there are tiny lumps and bumps in the lines, they'll certainly be exaggerated by strokes. Of course, this is mere speculation on my part.

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[Connie]

This is a great feature!

[almdrs]

Yes! Yes.. And yes! 😁

[MidnightZazzler]

Thanks!

[Wesha]

This is a very useful and practical feature, specially for thin stylish fonts!

I've re-done a few of my earlier designs using this stoke thing and the results are so much more better now!

Here's an example :

[Cat]

Does anybody know exactly what the numbers mean? Like if you set the stroke to 25, is that 25 pixels/dots (as in DPI) or is it a percentage of something? It seems like it's something relative to the size of the font because in this example the stroke is set to 75 for all of these but clearly the line is wider for the bigger font size.

It would be really nice if we somehow had the option to control which way the stroke was going to expand. Like if we could choose to make it expand outside the edge instead of encroaching in on the letter - or maybe I just don't understand exactly what it's doing.

[James]

Hi @Cat , 

1. Stroke width- The numbers on the stroke signify a range of thickness that the user can choose. There is no particular meaning or unit associated with it.
2. Stroke scaling- As you have noticed, the stroke scales proportionally as the font sizes change. This is an intentional feature we implemented to make it easier to use.
3. Controlling the stroke direction- Our product team is exploring this feature right now, thank you for sharing your feedback.

Hope this helps! 

[Cat]

Thanks @James - that's helpful info!

[Barbara]

I'm glad your idea of choosing either "inside" or "outside" for the placement of the stroke is, according to James, being currently considered. When a font has varying thick/thin parts, the thinner parts easily become nothing but the applied stroke. It can be seen between the R and the L in your example "WORLD." Of course, if the stroke were outside in this example, it might be truly strange looking.

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[Cat]

Good point - if it does expand outside, it might fundamentally change the way the font looks. I guess we'll see. I was trying to use it on a photo overlay (white text with a black stroke) to make the text stand out more, and parts of my letters kept disappearing, which sorta defeated my purpose!

[chefcateringbiz]

When did "outline" turn into "stroke"? Do customers actually know what that means?

[Barbara]

I suspect the majority of customers would understand "outline" more readily than "stroke," which seems to be more an image editor term than a general one. Checking font terminology, I found this: "Stroke refers to the lines and curves of the characters. Some typefaces have uniform stroke weight, meaning each part of the letter is the same width. Calligraphy styles have varied stroke weight, with some parts of the letters very thin and other parts much thicker." An outline font, on the other hand, is the sort that's usually hollow, the defining part being the outline.

So it seems what we have here is neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red herring. LOL

[Barbara]

In Photoshop, when using "stroke," you have a choice of inside, outside, and middle. "Outside" works well when wanting the object to expand, "inside" is best when you're already close to the canvas edge or another object, and "middle" is often the choice when you want a little on both sides of the object. Three such possibilities might be just what's needed.

Colorwash's Home

[RMorganSnapshot]

Cool update. Now if we could just get the one update we've asked for FOREVER of being able to update a current design rather than creating a new product to go along with this.........

[almdrs]

Shouldn't the strokes be outset instead of inset?
Just a thought.
PS... I noticed you were already talking about it... 🙂

[SandyMDesigns]

In the past, I had to add those as images from my Photoshop. Glad to see that we can do this as text now.

[BKMuir]

I just had a thought - Could we make the main font color EMPTY/NONE and then have an outline so that background images show through the text?

Tried it - only white shows - no blank color for the main font color. 😞

I think this would be a great addition to this new font "tweak"

[Barbara]

The only way an outline font can currently be created is to make the font the same color as the background and then stroking it with a contrasting color, but the background has to be a solid color. I just now played around with it, and it's best to choose a font without a lot of curves or other fancy things.

Colorwash's Home

[Lea]

Hi! I may be missing it but it looks like stroke isn't available for foil layers or stamps and such. I think it would be really helpful for those products especially to add some weight to the fonts for better legibility. Really appreciate your consideration for this!

[Cat]

Totally agree! This would be SUPER helpful!