When we teach new designers how to choose the correct typeface (or a term you may be familiar with, fonts) it is easy to fall into the rut of using all the official terminology. Of course it is important for any designer to know the roots of typography, its history, classifications and the like. I find it though very enlightening for our students to look at a typefaces as people and think of each typefaces personality.
Each person has their own unique personality. Each design should also have its own unique personality. Accordingly when designing, it is important to match the correct personality typeface to the personality that you are trying to give the design.
In this typography tutorial we will see how this works with some examples:
1. ChunkFive (click here to download free) If you are looking to portray something solid, dependable and also want to make an impression this typeface is perfect. From the slabs that that letters are sitting on (it looks like the letters have supports to sit on), to the almost even thickness throughout each letter, this font is bold in a dependable way. It also would pair wonderfully with Titillium Text Regular, Calluna, Minion Pro.
2. Euphoria Script (click here to download free) This fanciful, flourishy script that is elegant, but also has a playful note as well which can lend to its youthful appearance!. You would need to be careful to use such a kind of font in moderation. It is great for a headline, but balance it off with a simple font for the body text (I know people equate simple with boring, but you know what they say, too much fancy cake will leave a sickly sweet taste in a person’s mouth)
3. Kawaii Food (click here to download free). This font is a dingbat font. This means it is made of pictures. As you see here, I took one of the dingbats (the letter f), I then paired it with AvanteGarde, which is a clean, unadorned typeface. This gives this whole simple, easy and fast logo a modern look. There are dingbats to fit many of your needs. You can adjust dingbats in Photoshop Illustrator and Indesign, (more on that in another post.)
