Inky ClipsEMS Readability font
EMS Readability traces the shapes of Source Sans Light, a humanist sans serif from Adobe. The letters are open and slightly narrow, with the small irregularities of a pen-drawn line that keep it from looking mechanical.
- Type
- Single-line (stroke) font
- Style
- Clean
- Characters
- 215 in the file
- Licence
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
- Download
- EMSReadability.svg
About EMS Readability
What it looks like
Of the single-line fonts it is one of the easiest to read in full sentences, which makes it a quiet all-rounder.
On video
Use it for explanatory notes, step labels in tutorials and longer captions that should still feel hand-drawn. It suits whiteboard-style and annotation videos.
For plotters, engraving and cutting machines
A solid choice for plotted letters, notes and addresses where a neutral handwriting-free look is wanted. It includes Western European accents natively.
Every character in EMS Readability
Each letter below is drawn from the single pen line stored in EMSReadability.svg, exactly as a plotter would draw it.
Capitals (26)
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Lowercase (26)
- a
- b
- c
- d
- e
- f
- g
- h
- i
- j
- k
- l
- m
- n
- o
- p
- q
- r
- s
- t
- u
- v
- w
- x
- y
- z
Numbers (10)
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Punctuation and symbols (64)
- !
- "
- #
- $
- %
- &
- '
- (
- )
- *
- +
- ,
- -
- .
- /
- :
- ;
- <
- =
- >
- ?
- @
- [
- \
- ]
- ^
- _
- `
- {
- |
- }
- ~
- ¡
- ¢
- £
- ¥
- ¦
- ¨
- ©
- «
- ®
- °
- ±
- ²
- ³
- ´
- ·
- ¸
- ¹
- »
- ¼
- ½
- ¾
- ¿
- ×
- ÷
- ˘
- –
- —
- “
- ”
- ‹
- ›
- €
Accented letters in the font (88)
- ª
- º
- À
- Á
- Â
- Ã
- Ä
- Å
- Æ
- Ç
- È
- É
- Ê
- Ë
- Ì
- Í
- Î
- Ï
- Ð
- Ñ
- Ò
- Ó
- Ô
- Õ
- Ö
- Ø
- Ù
- Ú
- Û
- Ü
- Ý
- ß
- à
- á
- â
- ã
- ä
- å
- æ
- ç
- è
- é
- ê
- ë
- ì
- í
- î
- ï
- ñ
- ò
- ó
- ô
- õ
- ö
- ø
- ù
- ú
- û
- ü
- ý
- ÿ
- Ă
- ă
- Ć
- ć
- Č
- č
- Đ
- đ
- Ĕ
- ĕ
- Ğ
- ğ
- Ĭ
- ĭ
- İ
- ı
- Ŏ
- ŏ
- Ş
- ş
- Š
- š
- Ŭ
- ŭ
- Ÿ
- Ž
- ž
Letters Inky Clips adds (43)
Not in the font file. Inky Clips draws these on video from the font’s own letters: adding the accent or bar, dropping the dot for ı, or writing ß as “ss”.
- Ā
- ā
- Ą
- ą
- Ē
- ē
- Ė
- ė
- Ę
- ę
- Ģ
- ģ
- Ħ
- ħ
- Ī
- ī
- Į
- į
- Ķ
- ķ
- Ļ
- ļ
- Ł
- ł
- Ń
- ń
- Ņ
- ņ
- Œ
- œ
- Ś
- ś
- Ū
- ū
- Ų
- ų
- Ź
- ź
- Ż
- ż
- Ə
- ə
- ẞ
Write with EMS Readability
Type your own words and watch them write themselves over a clip. Switch fonts and ink colours to compare.
The clip shows “Add flour, then stir” written in Readable.
Ink: White
Letters for other languages
- Latvian: the font file doesn't include ā ē ģ ī ķ ļ ņ ū Ā Ē Ģ Ī Ķ Ļ Ņ Ū, but Inky Clips draws all of them on video from the font’s own letters.
- Lithuanian: the font file doesn't include ą ę ė į ų ū Ą Ę Ė Į Ų Ū, but Inky Clips draws all of them on video from the font’s own letters.
- Polish: the font file doesn't include ą ę ł ń ś ź ż Ą Ę Ł Ń Ś Ź Ż, but Inky Clips draws all of them on video from the font’s own letters.
- Turkish: all its letters are in the font file.
- German: all its letters are in the font file.
If you plot or engrave with the downloaded file, only the letters in the file are available.
Where it comes from
EMS Readability is one of the EMS single-line fonts drawn by Sheldon B. Michaels, each traced from an open-source typeface (this one from Source Sans Pro Light by Paul D. Hunt (Adobe)). Windell H. Oskay of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories converted them to SVG fonts for Inkscape's Hershey Text extension, which is where many plotter users first meet them.
Licence and download
EMS Readability is free under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Free to use, embed and share, including in commercial videos, products and plotted or engraved work. You can't sell the font file on its own, and changed versions have to stay under the same licence.
EMS Readability by Sheldon B. Michaels, SVG font conversion by Windell H. Oskay. Licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
An SVG font. Load it in Inkscape's Hershey Text extension (Extensions › Text › Hershey Text) to set text as single pen lines for a plotter, laser or engraver.
Fonts like EMS Readability
Want a clip of your own words being written? Try the handwriting animation generator, or browse all fonts.