Promotional postcard by smartsteuer looking very individual

[Member Ste…]

Hi,

I was given a promotional postcard sent by a German tax consulting company that look like a handwritten message. All the glyphs are a bit different from each other, even words used multiple times differ. Yet, it is a "dialogpost" postage (28 eurocent instead of 60 ct for a regular postcard) which is only available for a minimum of 500 items. The "handwritten" part is actually printed in the same way as the photo on the other side (see detail pictures) – but it is not a simple facsimile, as the forename in the salutation and the whole address is written/printed in the same way.

How can this be achieved?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[Member Kev…]

I’ve had no luck identifying this particular handwriting typeface, but the variations you see in the letters is commonplace with OpenType fonts these days.

As for executing it, that is also rather simple these days. InDesign has had dynamic content capabilities for a very long time—pick a data source and plug in the data fields into your layout, and you can generate custom messages (works for text and images).

Many direct mail fulfillment houses use similar software to achieve the same end, directly tying in to their four-color digital printers to create customized pieces on the fly.

[Ralf Herrmann]

Looks surprisingly realistic. I can’t remember coming across a font like this one on any of the big retailer websites. Could also be a custom font of a direct mailing provider that offers this type of service. It’s a good business. You can even have it with real ink:

 

[Member Ste…]

21 hours ago, Kevin Thompson said:

I’ve had no luck identifying this particular handwriting typeface, but the variations you see in the letters is commonplace with OpenType fonts these days.

It seems very clear this is the correct explanation. Thank you.

When researching a bit further, I found the following Q/A on StackExchange Graphic Design (from 2016!) with interesting details:

https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/26833/handwriting-font-that-at-random-picks-characters