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Technical information
The Czech school cursive has remained unchanged in its core principles since the Reform in 1932. Subsequent revisions gradually damaged its skeleton — proportions became narrower, curves more mechanised, loops tighter, and all letters were drifted away from the natural movement of the hand. While most European countries continuously updated their educational handwriting models, Czech cursive remained almost untouched, only some poor and anonymous fonts came up over the decades, horribly drawn and in terrible technical quality. Old teaching habits and traditional approaches also won over new projects like Comenia Script.
With Vividbooks Script, we chose a different approach. Rather than replacing cursive handwriting with an unconnected and revised script typeface, the goal was to stay loyal to traditional cursive model and just modernise it’s drawing itself — updating its forms, proportions, and writing rhythm while preserving the principle of fluid letter connection. The aim was to create a contemporary, high-quality and accessible digital school script. The project was developed in collaboration with Vividbooks Publishing, an educational platform combining learning with interactive digital tools. Their open-minded approach made it possible to create the first comprehensive modernization since the 1930s.
Vividbooks Script preserves the essential qualities of traditional Czech connected cursive — fluidity, rhythm, and natural continuity between letterforms. At the same time, it introduces a more open construction, wider proportions, and simplified forms free from unnecessary decorative loops and mechanical connections. Compared to the current model, the result feels calmer, more legible, and more natural both in writing and reading. The outcome is a monolinear cursive with a balanced character. Its variable version additionally allows adjustment of weight for different dimensions.
I have been researching Czech school handwriting since my MA and PhD studies. For me, it represents an important (but not final!) step toward a broader evolution of the Czech handwriting model — one rooted in the natural movement of the hand and better aligned with contemporary children and the way we need today. My ambition for the future is to pursue an evolution of the Czech handwriting model itself and to design a script that children can use naturally — one that reflects their temperament, genuinely engages them, and grows with them into adulthood.
Read more in Custom font post about Vividbooks Script (English) or Vividbooks Script (Czech)
Specification
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Full Name:PD Vividbooks Script
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Styles:7 – Thin, Extra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, SemiBold, Bold
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Variable font:Available
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Type design:Petra Dočekalová
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Designed:2025
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Released:2026
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Classification:School cursive, Script, Monolinear
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Number of glyphs:675
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Font mastering:Petra-D
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Specimen Design:Marius Corradini
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Text:Petra Dočekalová
Glyph
UTF-8: U+0041
Letters uppercase
A
0041
Á
00C1
B
0042
C
0043
Č
010C
D
0044
Ď
010E
E
0045
É
00C9
Ě
011A
F
0046
G
0047
H
0048
I
0049
Í
00CD
J
004A
K
004B
L
004C
M
004D
N
004E
Ň
0147
O
004F
Ó
00D3
P
0050
Q
0051
R
0052
Ř
0158
S
0053
Š
0160
T
0054
Ť
0164
U
0055
Ú
00DA
Ů
016E
V
0056
W
0057
X
0058
Y
0059
Ý
00DD
Z
005A
Ž
017D
Letters lowercase
a
0061
á
00E1
b
0062
c
0063
č
010D
d
0064
ď
010F
e
0065
é
00E9
ě
011B
f
0066
g
0067
h
0068
i
0069
ı
0131
í
00ED
j
006A
k
006B
l
006C
m
006D
n
006E
ň
0148
o
006F
ó
00F3
p
0070
q
0071
r
0072
ř
0159
s
0073
š
0161
t
0074
ť
0165
u
0075
ú
00FA
ů
016F
v
0076
w
0077
x
0078
y
0079
ý
00FD
z
007A
ž
017E
Numbers
0
0030
1
0031
2
0032
3
0033
4
0034
5
0035
6
0036
7
0037
8
0038
9
0039
Marks
́
0301
̌
030C
̊
030A
Punctuation
.
002E
,
002C
:
003A
;
003B
…
2026
!
0021
?
003F
*
002A
#
0023
/
002F
\
005C
-
002D
–
2013
—
2014
_
005F
(
0028
)
0029
{
007B
}
007D
[
005B
]
005D
‚
201A
„
201E
“
201C
”
201D
‘
2018
’
2019
«
00AB
»
00BB
‹
2039
›
203A
"
0022
'
0027
@
0040
Symbols
©
00A9
®
00AE
℗
2117
™
2122
|
007C
+
002B
−
2212
×
00D7
÷
00F7
=
003D
>
003E
<
003C
´
00B4
˚
02DA
Others
ˇ
02C7
Opentype features
aalt
calt
case
ccmp
fina
init
isol
kern
mark
mkmk
salt
ss01
Scripts
Latin
Language support
Czech
English
Indonesian
Somali (Latin)
Czech Keyboard Conventions
The Vividbooks Script font was originally created for Czech educational purposes. With this in mind, the font favours forms that are faster and easier to type on a keyboard, like mathematical symbols: the multiplication sign typically represented as an asterisk (*) is rendered as a period-like dot (·), the division sign uses the form commonly typed as a colon (:) instead of (÷), etc.
In addition, the default forms of ď (dcaron) and ť (tcaron) intentionally use the pedagogically correct caron V-shape, despite it being typographically incorrect. This approach helps Czech children recognize and learn the caron as a distinct diacritical mark before later transitioning to the typographically correct Czech forms using the apostrophe-like caron (caron.salt), whose shape is visually very close to the standard acute accent, common in Czechia.
However, all typographically correct letterforms can be enabled through the stylistic set ss01 or find in the glyph set.
Language support
The Vividbooks Script features a compact character set focused primarily on Czech diacritics rather than extensive multilingual coverage, because it was originally developed for Czech educational purposes. The current release supports Czech, English, Indonesian, and Somali (Latin Script).
If you would be interested in a PRO version with an extended character set and broader language support — such as Central European languages, Vietnamese accents, or Cyrillic extensions — or if you need additional characters for a specific language, feel free to get in touch via e-mail.
á b č d é f g h
Vividbooks Script Medium
Size: 60.0px
Line height: 140%
Česká předloha se od roku 1932 v základních tvarech prakticky nezměnila. Proporce se v průběhu normalizace zúžily, smyčky se staly těsnými — ale nikdo nikdy neřekl: pojďme ty tvary navrhnout znovu s ohledem na to, jak by dnes děti měly psát.
Vividbooks Script Light
Size: 40.0px
Line height: 140%
Písmo Vividbooks Script si zachovává základní principy kurzívy – plynulost, rytmus a přirozené navazování znaků na sebe – a zároveň zavádí otevřenější, čitelnější a širší kresbu znaků se zjednodušenými tvary bez zbytečných ozdob a kudrlinek. Design se zaměřuje
na zlepšení čitelnosti a snadnosti psaní a odstraňuje mechanické tvary, které neodrážejí přirozený pohyb ruky. Ve srovnání se stávajícím modelem se písmo vyznačuje velkorysejšími proporcemi, otevřenými smyčkami a celkově klidnější a harmonickou kresbou.
Afrika Babička Cibule Dům Eskymák Fara Guma Hora Chleba Inkoust Jelen Koza Les Míč Nůž Okno Pole Quasar Ryba Sirka Ticho Ulice Voda Watt Xerox Ypsilon Zima Žluťásek
Vividbooks Script Bold
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
Physics, Chemistry, Natural history, Mathematics
Vividbooks Script SemiBold
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
Oproti stávající předloze je širší a má otevřené smyčky
Vividbooks Script Medium
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
September 1st 15* #9 2+2 2026 ©1882 (16-4=12)
Vividbooks Script Regular
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
Písanka is an animated example of writing letters
Vividbooks Script Light
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
Česká školní předloha vznikla z krasopisných vzorů 19. století
Vividbooks Script Extra Light
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
Combination of printed materials with interactive digital elements
Vividbooks Script Thin
Size: 50.0px
Line height: 120%
První zásadní aktualizace školní předlohy od roku 1932
Á B Č D Ě F G H I J K L M N O P Q Ř S Ť Ů V W X Ý Ž
a b č d é f g h i j k l m ň ó p q r š t ů v w x ý ž
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Special discount
All kinds of schools (whether they work with Vividbooks materials and apps or not), same as individual teachers and mainly individual parents can get the PD Vividbooks Script with 50% OFF discount for use. Please, just send me an e-mail request.
Vividbooks Script was originally developed as an exclusive custom font for Vividbooks’ textbooks, wordbooks and apps. However, its potential is to be used in a much broader context—especially in (home) education—by teachers and parents who create additional materials for children, like homeworks, templates for writing etc., and has no commercial intention with the font. That’s why we offer special discounts for educational use. For publishers and all other commercial entities, the standard pricing remains unchanged.
Font in use: Písanka Online
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 online application called Písanka that supports and train handwriting through interactive tools, animations, and playful exercises. Try it, it’s super fun!
Blog
For more information about the research, design improvements, and development go to the Vividbooks Script custom font project page.
