---
title: "How to: Construct Font Families and Fonts"
ms.date: "03/30/2017"
dev_langs: 
  - "csharp"
  - "vb"
helpviewer_keywords: 
  - "font families [Windows Forms], constructing"
  - "fonts [Windows Forms], constructing"
ms.assetid: d3a4a223-9492-4b54-9afd-db1c31c3cefd
---
# How to: Construct Font Families and Fonts
GDI+ groups fonts with the same typeface but different styles into font families. For example, the Arial font family contains the following fonts:  
  
- Arial Regular  
  
- Arial Bold  
  
- Arial Italic  
  
- Arial Bold Italic  
  
 GDI+ uses four styles to form families: regular, bold, italic, and bold italic. Adjectives such as *narrow* and *rounded* are not considered styles; rather they are part of the family name. For example, Arial Narrow is a font family with the following members:  
  
- Arial Narrow Regular  
  
- Arial Narrow Bold  
  
- Arial Narrow Italic  
  
- Arial Narrow Bold Italic  
  
 Before you can draw text with GDI+, you need to construct a <xref:System.Drawing.FontFamily> object and a <xref:System.Drawing.Font> object. The <xref:System.Drawing.FontFamily> object specifies the typeface (for example, Arial), and the <xref:System.Drawing.Font> object specifies the size, style, and units.  
  
## Example  
 The following example constructs a regular style Arial font with a size of 16 pixels. In the following code, the first argument passed to the <xref:System.Drawing.Font.%23ctor%2A> constructor is the <xref:System.Drawing.FontFamily> object. The second argument specifies the size of the font measured in units identified by the fourth argument. The third argument identifies the style.  
  
 <xref:System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Pixel> is a member of the <xref:System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit> enumeration, and <xref:System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular> is a member of the <xref:System.Drawing.FontStyle> enumeration.  
  
 [!code-csharp[System.Drawing.FontsAndText#61](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Winforms/System.Drawing.FontsAndText/CS/Class1.cs#61)]
 [!code-vb[System.Drawing.FontsAndText#61](~/samples/snippets/visualbasic/VS_Snippets_Winforms/System.Drawing.FontsAndText/VB/Class1.vb#61)]  
  
## Compiling the Code  
 The preceding example is designed for use with Windows Forms, and it requires <xref:System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs> `e`, which is a parameter of <xref:System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventHandler>.  
  
## See also

- [Using Fonts and Text](using-fonts-and-text.md)
- [Graphics and Drawing in Windows Forms](graphics-and-drawing-in-windows-forms.md)
