Learn how to download and install any font on your Mac to add a personal touch to all your creative projects.
(Image credit: Mabel Wynne)
Typography is an essential part of personalising your projects. Whether it’s a design project, a CV, or a presentation, typography establishes your tone, and it all starts with the font you choose. While Macs already come with a wide selection of classic fonts already installed, seeking out and using a different specific font for a project can add that personal, thought-out touch that makes all the difference. And if you’re not a professional, widening your font options can just be fun.
This is why knowing how to download a font onto your Mac opens up a whole new world of creative opportunities. It’s essential to know how to install new fonts to make your font usage richer. That’s why we’ve crafted this guide to aid you through the whole process. Whether you’re looking for free fonts or premium typefaces, the process is simple and rewarding.
You might already have a font in mind that you want to download, but if you’re just browsing, Adobe Fonts, DaFont, Creative Market and MyFonts are the best places to find a range of typefaces. Access to Adobe Fonts is included with Adobe subscriptions and all fonts are excellently crafted and cleared for professional use, while DaFont is free and many are only available for personal use. Creative Market and MyFonts feature a range of professional, well-known fonts to buy and download at standard pricing.
Whatever website you find your font on, there will be a Download button either already or after buying. Click this and a downloading motion graphic will flash across the screen.
In the top right hand corner there will be a Downloads icon. It might now be flashing grey to help you find it. When you click on this, a small panel will appear next to it with a file named after the font you just downloaded. In the example, we’re downloading a font called Lemon Milk, so when we clicked on the Downloads icon, a file named lemon_milk.zip appeared in the panel. Double click on the file.
After double clicking on the file, the Downloads window will pop up in Finder with a zip file already selected. The zip file will be named after your font and will have the extension .zip. This contains the files needed to install the font. Double click on the zip file. A folder will appear next to it, also named after the font. Open this folder.
The folder will contain one or more .otf files, and usually a .txt file as well. The .otf files are the font itself. If there are several, each one will install a different weight or variation of the font family. The .txt file will contain information about the licensing and usage of the font. It is important to read this to make sure you use the font within the correct permissions. There might also be .png files in the folder; these are just flat images included as examples of how the font should look once you have downloaded it.
To continue installing the font, double click on the first .otf file to open it.
Opening the .otf file will automatically launch the Fonts app, which is where all the typefaces on your mac are stored. A pop-up window will already be open in the app showing a preview of the font. Click on Install.
Remember that .txt file we mentioned earlier? Now is the time to read it. It’s something that should not be overlooked so that you can ensure the font is licensed to be used in the places you intend to use it. Double click on the .txt file and double check the license.
Mabel is a freelance writer, artist and filmmaker. When she's not writing about the arts industry, books or culture, she's working on writing and illustrating her stories or developing experimental filmmaking projects. Working in journalism, poetry, documentary-filmmaking, illustration and fiction, storytelling is at the heart of what she does. She started writing articles in online magazines when she was seventeen. After training at the BFI Academy and then studying at UAL, she is now continuing to write articles while she works on creating and launching her first books and films.
