Image as Text – A Sibelius workaround

Many of the publishing clients I work for want to have their logos on the score and parts for the music they publish.  Simple enough, and there are lots of different ways to do this depending on the notation program you use.  Sibelius and Finale both have graphic tools, while Dorico’s page templates in Engrave Mode allow you to add graphics as needed.  Another option is to use programs like Adobe Acrobat to add the images to various pages. 
 
When using Acrobat, Dorico, or Finale, it’s easy to set the image to show up in the same location on the score and parts and have a consistent size.  However, in Sibelius, it’s another matter.  Unlike Finale, where you can place an image on the first page of the score and have it show up on all the parts, or Dorico, where you can adjust your part page template to include it, Sibelius has no direct way to place a single graphic that then appears on the score and all parts simultaneously.  You can place the same graphic into the score and each individual part, but there is no way to have a consistent look and placement.  Even when opening the inspector with the image selected, there are no options to set a repeatable placement location or resize the image to the same specifications on each part.  It would be nearly impossible to place and resize the image on each part to exactly match all the others.  In the past, I would finalize my score and parts, generate PDFs, and then add the image as a custom watermark in Acrobat, which gives precise controls over placement, size, and what pages it appears on.  But what if you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on Acrobat, but still want the consistency that something like that will offer directly in Sibelius? 
 
I was pondering this problem several months ago and lamenting that Sibelius has no native way to achieve the results I could easily do in Finale or Dorico.  Sibelius does have options to have elements show up on the score and parts in certain, consistent locations and sizes, like headers, footers, part names, etc., but they are all font styles and images cannot be fonts.  That seemed like the end of the matter till I asked this simple question, “Wait, can an image be formatted in such a way that it could be used as a font?”  Behold, an idea was born!  To achieve this, it does involve some other programs, which you can download and use for free, or here’s a place where AI (shudder) may also help if you’re brave enough to use it.
 
First, you take your image file and then convert it to a vector (.SVG) file.  I used a program called Inkscape to help me do this, but this is a place where your AI of choice might be able to help as well.  In short (and I’m certainly not an image editing expert), instead of having the image as a JPEG or other file format, you convert it to a vector file, which can then be coded into a font. 
 
Second, you need to create a custom font for this vector file.  For this, I used IcoMoon, and once I uploaded the vector file, all I had to do was click “Generate Font.”  The last step before downloading the font from IcoMoon was to assign a custom ligature (a series of letters or numbers, which are case-sensitive) to the image.  That way, when you use this font in any program, it will behave just like any normal font, and you can type whatever you want.  However, once you type in the specific ligature you assigned to the image, the image will appear like magic!
 
Third, now download and install your new font.  Once you’ve done that, open Sibelius and it’s time to put the new font to work.  Go to the Text tab, open the font styles menu, and create a new font style, calling it something like Logos or whatever you want.  Set the font to use your newly created logo font, set the font size (this is how you adjust the size of the image when placed in the score/part), and set the specific location you want.  Hit OK, and that should be ready for you to use.  Now create a new text using the new font style you created, type in the ligature for the image, and it should appear! 
 
Lastly, just test to see if the image shows up when generating a PDF.  It should, but it’s always good to check.


The best thing about this method is that you can now have repeatable and consistent sizing and placement of images throughout the score and all parts without having to place the image into each part and hoping you get the placement and size just right.
 
If this feels like a lot of steps, I get that, but it’s actually a straightforward process.  There are a few things to remember/consider:

1. I have found that black and white images gave me the best results.  Complex color logos and similar images can be converted to a vector file, but they didn’t give great results for me. 
2. You can create an account on IcoMoon to save your project, and you can keep adding more images to it to expand the image library within the font.  Just remember that each time you add an image to the font, you need to download and reinstall the font again for the new images to appear.
3. It’s best to have a separate document that catalogues the ligatures for each image, just so you don’t forget.
4. If you want the image to appear in the same location on the score and parts, like a part name or header, it’s best to duplicate a font style in Sibelius that already uses similar characteristics.  You can always adjust them, but if there is something that behaves almost exactly like how you want to place the image in the new font style, why not save some time and use that font style as a basis for the new one?

 
The last thing to consider is that if you give your Sibelius file to someone else, they won’t have this custom font, and the image will not appear; it will just show the string of letters or numbers you used as the ligature for the image.  Make sure you share your font and ligature code sheet with anyone who might need to open the Sibelius file, and even then, it’s best to generate a PDF for them as well to make sure they know how it should look in case something goes awry.
 
Okay, that’s it!  In an age where we seem to be converting text to images and even videos, this backwards method of converting an image to a usable font gives Sibelius an entirely new function that was not present in the program before.  A classic workaround!

Got questions?  Reach out to me and let’s chat.  Want help creating your own fonts for images or help with Sibelius template design all the way to formatting scores and parts for studio or stage? You got it; reach out and I’ll be happy to help!