Use color pictures/Symbols as a font

[Christopher Kennedy]

I make a lot of powerpoint pages with symbols to indicate project
status.

For example, when I want to indicate that a process step is complete,
I will use a green circle with a G character in the middle of it. In
this way, even on B/W printouts, you can recognize the status. I will
also use an arrow to indicate that something is in process.

Most of my "status symbols" are really combinations of text & circles,
or arrows.

I would like to create a custom font that will be able to house each
of my symbols, so that by using the "A" character in my custom font, I
will a symbol equivalent to "process not yet begun"; "B" will indicate
"in process"; and so on.

My question is: Is there a way for me to combine all of my eclectic
symbols & combinations of symbols into a custom font set? I do
require that I can maintain my colors of the symbols, so that all I
will need to do is change my character to update my status.

I found programs to create custom fonts, but they seem to only allow
B&W images, and this will not meet my needs.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[Ute Simon]

What you intend to do cannot been done with a font. Fonts have no specific
color by design, thus they are shown black, and get their color settings in
the program.

Even if you made such a font and colored the inserted characters
individually: If you give your slides to someone else, he/she will not be
able to see the characters, unless you embed the font or they install it.

And there might be a license problem. Most fonts are copyrighted. When you
buy them, together with a program like Office or separately, you obtain the
license to use them in normal text, but not to alter them and create your
own font based on them.

You could use images instead. Create your special character in PowerPoint by
combining a (large) letter and a circle, group them, right-click and choose
"Save as image" (PNG).

Best regards,
Ute

 

[Christopher Kennedy]

What you intend to do cannot been done with a font. Fonts have no specific
color by design, thus they are shown black, and get their color settings in
the program.

Even if you made such a font and colored the inserted characters
individually: If you give your slides to someone else, he/she will not be
able to see the characters, unless you embed the font or they install it.

And there might be a license problem. Most fonts are copyrighted. When you
buy them, together with a program like Office or separately, you obtain the
license to use them in normal text, but not to alter them and create your
own font based on them.

You could use images instead. Create your special character in PowerPoint by
combining a (large) letter and a circle, group them, right-click and choose
"Save as image" (PNG).

Best regards,
Ute

My hope was to be able to keep the same position on the page without
having to realign my status each time. If i save as a picture, is
there a way for me to "replace the source" so that i can maintain my
alignment/position/size?