Dreadful Font

Dreadful is a gothic font created by Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari (2016). Sharp, dark and dramatic, it follows the blackletter tradition of old European manuscripts. The free download includes five styles, and you can try every one of them with your own text in the preview above.

Dreadful Font Details

• Designer: Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari
• Year: 2016 (from the copyright line in the font)
• Category: Gothic font
• Font styles: 5 (Regular, Extras, Rot, Rust and Shadow)
• Weight: Regular (400)
• Glyphs: 275 in the Regular style
• Characters: A–Z, a–z, 0–9 and basic punctuation
• Languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian
• OpenType features: Ligatures and stylistic alternates
• Extra characters: 47 copy-and-paste alternates (Private Use Area)
• Kerning: Built in
• Version: 1.000
• Download: Free ZIP (1.2 MB) with five OTF files

What You Can Type With Dreadful

Dreadful covers the full alphabet in upper and lowercase, plus all ten numbers, so you can set names, dates and prices without switching fonts. Everyday marks like &, !, ? and @ are there too. Thanks to its accented letters, it also works for Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian, not just English.

How to Use the Alternate Letters in Dreadful

Dreadful has stylistic alternates built in as OpenType features. In Illustrator and InDesign, open the Glyphs panel (Window > Type) and select a letter to see its alternates. In Photoshop, use Window > Glyphs. Figma shows them under the text settings as OpenType features. Canva and Cricut Design Space can't reach OpenType alternates, so for those, set the word in a desktop app first and import it as an SVG. Another 47 alternates are stored as separate characters, so you can copy them from Character Map on Windows or Font Book on a Mac and paste them anywhere, including Cricut Design Space and Canva. Its ligatures switch on by themselves in most design apps: certain letter pairs join into one specially drawn shape.

Where Dreadful Works Best

Think of Dreadful for tattoos, metal band logos and dark fantasy titles. Its lowercase letters are tall compared to the capitals, which keeps it readable at smaller sizes. Blackletter is very hard to read in all caps, so type in normal upper and lowercase. Because the family has more than one style, you can mix them in a single design for headings, subheadings and highlights.

More Fonts by Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari

DafontStyle has one more font by Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari:

• Lovadelic Font

Dreadful Font FAQs

Is Dreadful font free to download?

Yes, Dreadful is a free download here (free ZIP (1.2 MB) with five OTF files), no sign-up needed. For commercial projects, read the license note on this page first, since that's set by the designer.

Who designed Dreadful font?

Dreadful was designed by Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari. The copyright line inside the font is dated 2016. You can find one more font by Ricky Rinaldi | Aiyari on DafontStyle, linked above.

How do I install Dreadful on Windows or Mac?

Unzip the download first. On Windows, right-click the font file and choose Install. On a Mac, double-click it and click Install Font. The ZIP contains OTF files, which work on Windows, Mac and in every major design app. Restart any app that was already open so it picks up Dreadful.

How do I get the alternate letters and swashes in Dreadful?

Some are OpenType features, which you pick from the Glyphs panel in Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop. The other 47 are separate characters you can copy from Character Map (Windows) or Font Book (Mac) and paste into any app, Cricut and Canva included.

Can I use Dreadful in Canva and Cricut?

Canva lets you upload it on Pro, Teams and other plans with font uploads (Brand Kit > Upload a font); free accounts can't upload fonts. For Cricut Design Space, install it on your computer first and it shows up under System fonts.

Does Dreadful support accented letters?

Yes. Dreadful includes the accented letters needed for Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian, so it works for more than just English.

What fonts pair well with Dreadful?

A plain sans serif is the safest partner. Two decorative fonts together will fight for attention.