digital workshop center - typography...as a one-size-fits-all approach to typography. you have to...

Introduction to Design Fundamentals | Digital Workshop Center.com | 1

Digital Workshop Center -Typography

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What is graphic design?

"art of visual communication through the use of text, images, and symbols"


What are the 3 main aspects of graphic design?

1. Layout

2. Typography - simply, the art and technique of arranging type.

3. Color


Typography Basics


Why is Typography important?

It's central to the work and skills of a designer and is about much more than making the words legible.

Your choice of typeface and how you make it work with your layout, grid, color scheme, design theme and so on will make the difference between a good, bad and great design.


Creating emotion through fonts

In print media, your best opportunities to utilize fonts with an emotional impact are in the logo and the headline text

These are the only times when emotion matters more than readability.

In body font, readability is the most important factor of text.

Emotions create personality, which is what is what elevates a font from just text on the page to a serious visual design component unto itself.

Typefaces are often described as being serif or sans serif (without serifs).



So many variations within one font family…

So many font categories…

There is an estimated 200,000+ fonts available today.



Luxury, fashion…

What about in music?


Serif fonts

A small decorative line added as embellishment to the basic form of a character.

Popular serif typefaces include Times New Roman and Garamond.

Traditional, respectable, stable

Serif fonts carry a distinguished feeling of heritage and pedigree.

They make a brand feel respectable and reliable, instilling the audience with a sense of comfort that they’re in the hands of someone reputable and stable.


Serif fonts


Sans-Serif fonts

A category of typefaces that do not use serifs, small lines at the ends of characters.

Popular sans serif fonts include Helvetica and Arial.

According to most studies, sans serif fonts are more difficult to read in print but often preferred on the web.


Sans-Serif fonts

Simple, straightforward, sensible

Audiences perceive sans serif fonts as clean and simplistic in a modern way.

They allow the message to speak for itself without hiding behind a façade—straight and to the point in an objective way.

Sans serif fonts are typically used in digital design, so they carry a reputation for being contemporary and current no matter what decade you use them in.


Sans-Serif fonts


Compare Serif vs Sans-Serif fonts


Script

Personal, fancy

Script fonts (and by extension most handwritten fonts) inspire feelings of elegance, grace and femininity.

Handwriting is often used in expressions of affection, so audiences perceive these typefaces as personal, creative and genuinely heartfelt.


Script

“The whole is other than the sum of the parts.”— Kurt Koffka

Gestalt Theory: the brain tends not to focus on the individual pieces of a design, but rather applies a universal understanding to the design in its entirety.


Script - Disney

Children in the audience aren’t actually reading every single letter

They’re looking at the entire word as a whole and applying meaning to the entirety of the logo.

The font may not be very readable, but it carries an emotional weight to it and delivers a subconscious message of whimsy and nostalgia.

These emotional values are much more important to the brand’s identity than legibility.


Display

Friendly, quirky, unconventional

Since display fonts are meant to be, well, displayed at a large size (generally 14 pts. or higher), they tend to have big personalities in order to draw an audience.

Display fonts have to be a little on the loud side, so they’re often designed to be friendly or amusing and grab people’s curiosity.


Modern

Smart, trendy, forward-thinking

Audiences find modern fonts to be progressive, stylish and just plain cool.

They can run the gamut from strong and sharp to futuristic and intelligent.

They don’t just reflect the here and now, they set trends and the brands that utilize them carry the same reputation with audiences.

Modern fonts reflect the possibilities that tomorrow may bring.


Decorative

Fun, unique, casual

Decorative fonts are highly stylized and out of the ordinary, bringing fun and joy into a design and relaxing audiences with an informal atmosphere.

They’re best judged on a case-by-case basis because the implications of the design can change from font to font.


Familiar fonts build trust

The more familiar your audience is with the font you choose, the more likely they are to trust you and the message that you’re trying to convey.

This is why even with so many font choices to choose from, many designers just stick to the classics like Helvetica and Impact.

Deviate too far from the norm and you risk alienating your audience.


Fonts can affect other senses

You may not realize it, but the fonts you choose can affect more than just the audience’s sense of sight.

Knowing how fonts active your audience’s senses and sense memory can help your design better deliver its message.

For example, people find menu items more appetizing (and even find that the actual food tastes better) when they’re written in a font that complements the food’s flavor.


Fonts can affect other senses

A recent TED talk from designer Sarah Hyndman revealed that people tend to associate fonts with specific smells and tastes.

http://typetastingnews.com/2014/12/29/tedxbedford-sarah-hyndman/


Complex fonts can actually be more effectiveYou don’t always have to worry about using a complicated, hard-to-read font in a logo because thanks to Gestalt principles, audiences will perceive the logo as a whole idea rather than its individual parts.

However, you might also want to consider using a complex font when delivering a direct message for the exact opposite reason—because forcing the audience to ignore the Gestalt principle and focus on the individual parts helps them to engage more directly.

For example, when a menu is more difficult to read, it helps create the impression that the food is more difficult to make.


Complex fonts can actually be more effective


Complex fonts can actually be more effectiveThis can be a dangerous game to play and you certainly have to know your audience to make it work

But when a font requires more work to decipher, it forces the audience pay attention.

That doesn’t mean you should always use some incomprehensible decorative font, just that there are certain opportunities when you can use this to your advantage.

Consider using more complex fonts when you want to give your reader the impression that a great deal of effort or skill is involved with whatever you’re talking about.

For example, if you’re describing how an expensive product is made, a font that’s arduous to read will make the audience more receptive to the idea that what you’re selling takes a ton of hard work to create.


Final word on fontThese are only guidelines, but there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to typography.

You have to approach each situation differently because every situation is going to be different.

Before you commit to a font, see how others perceive it—for all you know, you might have your own emotional baggage you’re attaching to a font that’s making you connect to it in a different way than others do.

For your projects / assignments going forward, think about these ideas…

What do you look for in a font? What fonts do you see as trustworthy or stylish and which ones are you wary of? What do you think Times New Roman tastes like?


Sources:

http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/what-is-typography-123652

http://www.companyfolders.com/blog/font-psychology-how-typefaces-hack-our-brains

http://conversations.marketing-partners.com/2013/03/logo-design-101-the-wordmark/

http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/what-is-typography-123652

http://www.companyfolders.com/blog/font-psychology-how-typefaces-hack-our-brains

http://conversations.marketing-partners.com/2013/03/logo-design-101-the-wordmark/

digital workshop center - typography...as a one-size-fits-all approach to typography. you have to...

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