Are you looking for a specific font that doesn’t exist in Design Space? Do you want to expand the range of typefaces you use to include famous or new, trending font styles? How do you upload new fonts to use with your Cricut machine?
In this article, I’ll take you through the essential steps of:
- downloading fonts from third party websites,
- installing them on your computer (both Windows and Mac machines)
- how to use these fonts in Design Space
Downloading from free font sites
There are tons of sites offering fonts for download, either for free, for purchase or through a membership subscription. The basic steps for getting these fonts downloaded is basically the same.
For example, navigate to Dafont.com. It’s a mega popular site to download fonts, and all of the fonts are free for personal use. Every font category is at the top of the page and you can browse thousands of fonts.
When you find a font you like, click the download button. The font (and any variations, like italic style, bold, etc.) will be downloaded as a ZIP file. In most cases, the file will be directly saved to the Downloads folder on your computer.
[a zip file is a compressed file type with the extension .zip]
Downloading font bundles (e.g. from Creative Fabrica)
Another way you might get files is by downloading a bundle. For example, Creative Fabrica often offers bundles of fonts for free through their newsletter, or for purchase through their site. You can download a batch of curated fonts for special occasions (often 25, 50 or more fonts at a time) in a zip folder.
Getting bundled fonts onto your computer so you can use them in Design Space is the same process as installing individual fonts you’ve downloaded but you can also install them in bulk. Keep scrolling to check the instructions for installing multiple fonts at a time in Windows or Mac.
Installing fonts on your computer
Once you have downloaded a font from a website, it must be installed on your computer before you can use it. (This is true for Design Space, or any other program that uses fonts). The process differs a little depending whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, but I’ll included the steps for both platforms.
This video takes you through the steps of installing a font on a Windows or Mac computer, or you can follow along in the illustrated pictorial below.
How to install a font in Windows 10/11
Open your Downloads folder (click the File Browser icon in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen) and locate the zip file you just downloaded (usually at the top of the list).
Right click your mouse on the file and select “Extract All” from the popup menu. Select a location on your computer where you want to save the extracted files (usually your Documents, Desktop or Downloads folder).
The contents of the zip file will usually be in a folder with the same name as the compressed file. Open this folder and the font file will be inside. The file extension will either be .ttf or .otf. Right click on the file and select “Install”.
The font will be installed on your computer and will be ready to use once you re-start Design Space.
[ttf = True Type font and otf = Open Type font. Either font file type will work in Design Space]
How to install a font in Mac OS (any version)
Open your Downloads folder and double click the zip file you just downloaded. Mac OS will automatically extract the folder. (You can also right click on the zip file and select “Open” or “Open with” to extract the contents)
Click on the folder to see the contents. The font file will have a file extension of .ttf or .otf. Right click the font file and select Open With Font Book. Font Book is Mac’s default font organization software.
In Fontbook, you will get a preview of the font, and an install button. Click the button to install the font on your Mac.
The font will now be ready to use in all your applications, including Design Space.
Installing fonts in bulk (Windows and Mac)
For both Windows and Mac: extract the bundled fonts from the zip folder. You’ll have a full list of folders with fonts inside. Instead of installing each font one by one, here’s how to install in bulk.
In the File Browser window showing the list of extracted folders, type .ttf in the search bar (or enter .otf in case you don’t get any results) in the top of the window. Now you’ll get a list of font files.
In Windows: Select them all (Ctrl + A), right click and choose Install from the popup menu. Windows will install all of the fonts in one action.
In Mac: select all of the font files, right click and select Open with Font Book. Font Book will open the preview screen indicating the number of typefaces to be installed, and you must click the install button for each font. Not ideal, but 50 mouse clicks here is better than adding each font individually.
How to use uploaded fonts in Design Space
Before you can use any of these new fonts in DS, you have to quit the program and then re-start. (Make sure you save your work!).
In Design Space, open the canvas and add a text block. (If you’re not familiar, check out our basic Design Space tutorial for how to add text, shapes and images.) Open the Font menu in the Edit bar and select the System fonts tab. All of the fonts installed on your computer are listed in this location.
Use the search function to find your new font, or scroll through the list. Once you have clicked on your selection and closed the Font menu, the text box will show the new font.
From here, you can change the operation from Basic Cut to Draw, Foil, or Engrave. One thing to note about System fonts: there will be no writing version of these fonts. No matter what operation you choose, DS will trace the outline of the font.
Final thoughts and further learning
So those are the essential steps of downloading, installing, and using fonts for Design Space! After you’ve done it a few times, it will be second nature, and you’ll be able to use all kinds of fonts – trendy, classics, or something wildly unique – in your Cricut projects.
What are the next steps in your Design Space learning journey?
Have you read our guide to browsing and loading Design Space projects?
How about our step-by-step tutorial to uploading your own images to Design Space?
If I left you with any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments! Happy crafting!