Custom font: Vividbooks Script (EN)

Vividbooks Script 

I had the opportunity to collaborate with Vividbooks on the digital development of a new Czech school cursive — the first major update of its kind since the early 20th century. The goal was to update and elevate the traditional handwritten model, whose letterforms have remained largely unchanged since the 1932, and adapt it to the needs and motor skills of children today.

Vividbooks Script preserves the fundamental principles of cursive handwriting — continuity, rhythm, and natural flow — while introducing a more open, more readable, wider skeleton with simplified shapes without unnecessary curlicues. The design focuses on improving legibility and ease of writing, removing forms that do not reflect natural hand movement. Compared to the existing model, the typeface features more generous proportions, open loops, and a calmer overall texture.

Vividbooks is a Czech publisher focused on textbooks and workbooks for primary schools, combining printed materials with interactive digital elements. Currently, Vividbooks are used by more than 450 schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Read, test and discover more @ Vividbooks Písanka page. 

Stay tuned: Vividbooks Script Font (7 static fonts + Variable) will be released in August 1st, 2026.

Specification

Písanka

The use of Vividbooks Script extends into a broader educational system — including a new series of exercise books with larger formats and more writing space, as well as a digital application called Písanka that supports handwriting through interactive tools, animations, and playful exercises. Try it, it’s super fun! 

Up and below you can find a comparison between the commonly used font A lodyx, the current school cursive, and the Vividbooks script, focusing on key aspects such as the slant of the glyphs, overall width proportions and differences between similar glyphs, the quality of curves and digitization, inconsistencies in loops and curls, inaccuracies in similar structural details, and issues with connections, spacing, and overall quality: 

Vividbooks’ custom script builds on my long-term research into Czech handwritten script, which has evolved throughout my master’s and doctoral studies. Vividbooks Script represents an intermediate step — a current phase in an ongoing process of shaping a more refined and relevant cursive for future first-graders, that I love working on!