What the Font!
This week in blogging will be a design-oriented week. We’re talkin’ fonts and color! Today’s blog is all about the art of typography! Typography is one of my favorite design elements, and I’ll be diving into my favorite typefaces, fonts, and my personal “typography’s most-wanted” list.
Typography Basics
Let’s begin with a few typography basics before I dive into the fun stuff! First of all, there are some important vocabulary terms to define in typography when discussing it.
Typeface: a specific design of an alphabet; a coordinated set of character designs
Examples: Georgia, Comic Sans, Times New Roman
Typestyle: a specific way a typeface can be displayed
Styles: italic, condensed, etc.
Weights: bold, bold italic, black, etc.
Font: not the same as typeface; a font combines both a typeface, its typestyle, and its size
Example: 22 point regular Century Gothic
Family: a combination of all of the fonts of a given typeface
Example: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica Inserat, etc.
Kerning: the horizontal space between pairs of characters
Try this super fun kerning exercise to see how good you are placing letters in their correct position of a font!
Below is a chart detailing some more detailed aspects to typography. Typography is so much more complex than one would think, and it is still amazing to me how much detail is truly in a single typeface.
Now for the fun stuff! - The ART of Typography
This is the real reason I enjoy typography so much: it’s an art! Type is just as much of an important element in design as color is! Type can tell a story, communicate a message, express mood, and speak for itself. Type has its own shape, character, texture, and personality. How typography is used can make a huge difference in artwork, web design, print work, and more. Fonts matter! ...and here’s a little reminder as to why:
There are three groups of typography: Serifs, Sans-Serifs, and Decorative Fonts. Serif fonts have little lines or strokes (called serifs) that are attached to the main letter of a font. Serif fonts convey more tradition and seriousness, and some examples can be found below.
Sans-serifs (meaning “without” serifs) are the next main group of typography. Sans-serif fonts are more geometric and smooth, and they do not contain the lines or strokes that serif fonts do. Sans-serif fonts were invented in just the 19th century, and typically present a more modern vibe to design. However, it is recommended to mix a serif with a sans-serif when using multiple fonts in design because they tend to compliment each other. Some popular sans-serifs are below.
The final, much less-used group, of typography is decorative fonts. These include scripts, symbols, old English, and more. They should be used with great care, and they can often be more distracting than helpful. In my opinion, ¼ of them are really neat, while ¾ of them are rarely useful.
This leads me to “Maris’ Typography’s Most Wanted List.” This list was inspired by my Intro to Graphic Design teacher, Chris Kirkman, who shared with us a list of 10 typefaces that should rarely, or possibly never, be used. I thought it was super funny, especially when you begin to see these fonts used in real-life.
A special shout out to Papyrus, which I like to call the “middle school history presentation” font. Nothing screams seventh grade ancient Egypt powerpoint to me like a classic Papyrus title. In fact, there is a hilarious SNL skit, starring Ryan Gosling, solely dedicated to this font. My previously mentioned graphic design teacher, Chris Kirkman, famously says, “If a restaurant uses Papyrus on their menu, it means they do not care enough about their typefaces, which means they do not care enough about your food.” It’s probably true.
Font + Me
If I were to brand myself with some typography, I would choose the following fonts, which are my personal favorites. I love fonts that are fun and bubbly, yet have some sort of balance and structure, as well. (Kind of like myself- lol). I would love to create my own font someday- maybe that will be one of my side projects. I would imagine it would have a similar theme to some of the ones I have selected below. That’s what's so cool about fonts, though. The combinations are almost endless, and there are many typefaces out there yet to be created.
