Font of the Week (9) – Dingbats
Today we are not talking about just one font … it is more a big crowd of fonts and I won’t be able to present you all members of that crowd.
Maybe you will start to explore this crowd a bit on your own.
I will introduce
Dingbats
to you.
A dingbat is a kind of ornament; you can say “a little picture”. An ornament, a specific character used in typesetting.
Today dingbats describe all fonts that have pictures, symbols or shapes instead of alphabetical or numeric characters. Don’t mix the symbols up with Symbol fonts. Those can be dingbats but usually Symbol font represent Greek alphabet as we use it for mathematical equations.
One famous dingbats font is
Zapf Dingbats
The typographer Hermann Zapf created this font in 1978 for the type foundry “ITC” International Typeface Corporation.
In this font we find shapes like crosses, stars, little scissors, phones, pencils, and bullets.
You will be also familiar with the font
Wingdings
This font was created for Microsoft in 1990 by the Typographers Charles Bigelow and Kris Holms.
We have met that team before when talking about Lucida Handwriting.
Wingdings shows us a great variety of communication symbols, astrological signs, arrows and even flags and computer devices.
Here are some examples from the world of dingbats.
I took a complete alphabet set as shown below.
I had to learn these days that I own about 700 different dingbat fonts.
Some are very useful like Zapf dingbats or my favorite, the family of Commercial Pi 1–7.
Others are just for fun …
Zapf Dingbats
Wingdings
Webdings
Transportation White
Just small letters.
;
Transportation
Also just small letters.
TheGoddess
For the girls 
Stars and Stripes
Sports One
Smiley
Isn’t this a funny font? Express your feelings.
Astro
Peanuts Gang
Ornaments – Woodtype
Musical
Mario and Luigi
Yes I am sometimes very surprised what kind of fonts you can get …
Fruitsy
Fancy some fruitsalad?
Holiday
Heraldic
Game Sport 3
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
CommercialPi 1
Built your own people
We should make a little competition … who will create the most scary dingbats monster M)
Which is your favorite?
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This is a super fun post. How do you keep coming up with them? I really like the skull & cross bones in the “wingdings”. Wonder if we’ll be able to find and use it down the road when we do some pirates of the Carolinas posts????
i just explore my “font explorer” (it is really called that way)
and than i decide which i like – and i “shop” in free font downloads as others shop in candy shops
would be fun “pirates of the carolinas” carolina sparrow
Wow! Had no idea & I LOVE Snoopy. May have to get those & the Super Mario font for my boys
thanks jenny
peanuts gang
mario and luigi
found a new link for free fonts – dingbats too
it is german but the fonts are international
I didn’t realize there were so many different options for dingbats. LOVE that Mario one.
Fun post, Helen!
thanks michelle
so i will do a “dingbats 2 ……” to show the other dings as well
Dingbats and Wingdings. I use them on occasion. But, avoid them in person!
don.t take them out for dinner roy
now and then we need them
i think one day we will have social media dingbats too
WOW! that is cool, so many Dingbat fonts, I had no idea – no wonder they are called Dingbats, is the most appropriate name.
thanks ruth
i am also very astonished how much there are out there
i even have some donkey kong fonts … the son would have been delighted a couple of years ago … but i will never use them! i swear!