The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Free font
Patrick Hand
A free alternative to Comic Sans.
About Patrick Hand
Patrick Hand is an upright print script from 2011 based on Patrick Wagesreiter's own handwriting — neat, rounded, and readable at sizes where most handwriting fonts give out. Letters stand separately rather than joining, and even strokes with consistent spacing keep the texture regular. The result is recognizably a hand, but a tidy one; the irregularity is measured rather than performed.
It is the usual free escape from Comic Sans, and it works by being markedly less cartoonish. Comic Sans carries baggage that's difficult to set aside; Patrick Hand delivers the same warm, informal, approachable register without it, which suits annotations, labels, diagrams, children's material, and anywhere a design should sound personal rather than institutional. Because it holds up small, it can carry short passages of text and not just the occasional caption.
- Designer
- Patrick Wagesreiter
- Released
- 2011
- Available at
- Google Fonts →
Patrick Hand is also a free alternative to…
- Comic Sans → Based on the designer's own neat handwriting — an upright, rounded print script that reads warm and personal at surprisingly small sizes. Less cartoonish than Comic Sans, so it suits notes, labels, and kids' content without the baggage.
- Jenna Sue → Based on the designer's own handwriting, this is an upright, unconnected print hand with the same casual legibility that made Jenna Sue popular for body-sized notes. It drops the cursive joins entirely, so it feels neater and more schoolroom than Jenna Sue's flowing script.
Display + body that work together
Letters that hold their nerve
The display sets the register; the body follows through. When both halves of a pair pull in the same direction, the design disappears and the words come forward.
Display · Body Patrick Hand + EB Garamond
Pages that earn the read
Two thousand years of letterforms boil down to a handful of decisions — width, weight, proportion. Pick a pair you trust, and let the rest take care of itself.
Display · Body Bodoni Moda + Patrick Hand