Posted on by marmar20545

Part 4 – Exercise: If the face fits

Brief

Create your own sample book of typefaces on your computer that you can refer to.
Organise them into:
• Serif for continuous text; readable at small sizes and those suitable for headings.
• San-serif for continuous text; readable at small sizes and for headings.
• Script fonts that look handwritten with a pen or brush.
• Decorative fonts only suitable for headings or ‘fun’ uses.
• Fixed width, techno and pixel fonts for use on the web or to give a computer appearance.
Identify which typefaces have bold, italic, black or light fonts.
Now identify which fonts you might use in each of the following commissions:
• A short story in a woman’s magazine entitled “I thought I loved him; now I’m not so sure”. The story is 1300 words long so you will need to identify a text font and a headline font.
• An advertisement in a parish magazine asking for more helpers on the flower rota. The finished size is A6 landscape and the text reads: “Can you add that important artistic flourish to our church? We desperately need more volunteers to join the flower rota. If you can help or would like more information please contact Jennie jennie@vicarage.co.uk.”
• A poster to advertise an after-school club for boys aged 13 – 14. The poster will be A3 size and the copy reads: “Bored? Feeling got at? Nowhere to go? Then why not come and join us on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school in the Old Gym. We’ve got football, ping pong, table soccer, computers, Karate, cooking and lots more. All free just come along.”
• Your friends’ engagement party. They want a flyer A5 size to send to their friends as if advertising a club night. The copy reads: “Mandy and Josh are finally going to do it…well almost!!!!! Come and join them on Friday 24 March from 8pm at the Golden Calf to celebrate their long awaited engagement… and yes lots of presents would be gratefully received particularly if we can drink them!!!!!
Then have a go at mocking up each of these. Try different fonts to see how each changes the feel of the text and make notes in your learning log about which works best and why.

What to consider, when choosing a type?

Selecting an appropriate typeface or family for text usage is a key aspect of a design project. The best starting point is to confirm the requirements of your client and the needs of the audience.

Making the time to explore appropriate font options – whether it takes a few minutes or most of a day – is a smart investment. It will pave the way for an effective design solution and save time in the long run.

Here are seven key factors to consider when searching for an appropriate text typeface:

  • Demographics
    Know who your intended audience is, including their age range and particular interests. Be clear on the goals of the piece. Whether you are selling a product or service, or providing information or entertainment, your typographic objective is to engage the audience. For instance, a very young audience (such as that for children’s books) requires a typeface with simple letterforms that “beginning reader” eyes can easily make out. On the other hand, designing for a high tech audience might warrant a typeface that looks clean and modern, or even edgy.
  • Legibility
    To attract and hold the reader’s attention, typefaces intended for text should be legible and easy to read. Save more decorative, eye-catching designs for headlines, titles, and other more prominent usages.
  • Copy length
    For a book, magazine or newspaper, the typeface you select will be used to set lengthy copy. For this purpose, the degree of required legibility is greater than if the typeface were being used for just a few lines or a paragraph or two. For shorter copy, a typeface with a bit more personality can be considered, because the reader’s attention is less likely to be distracted.
  • Serif vs Sans
    It is commonly accepted that serif typefaces are easier to read for lengthy copy than sans serifs, especially at smaller sizes. This is true in many situations, but not an absolute rule. Other factors to consider before making your decision include the reading environment, meaning whether it will be in print or on the Web, and the design characteristics – especially the legibility – of the typeface being considered.
  • Font family size
    Explore the project’s typographic requirements, and determine beforehand how large a font family is needed to meet all of your typographic needs. While two weights with italics might be enough for some jobs, others might require additional weights and versions to create good visual hierarchy necessary for a strong, effective piece.
  • Special features:
    Many projects can benefit from the use of small caps, multiple figure styles, fractions, an expanded range of ligatures, alternate characters and perhaps even swashes – or expanded foreign language support. Many of today’s OpenType fonts come with some or all of these features. Be sure to check for those you require when conducting your search.
  • Print, Web, or other media:
    What media do you need the typeface for? Be aware of all media in which the typeface or family will need to appear. If just print, then your font search will be simpler. But if it is needed for the Web (via Web fonts), ebooks, smart phones, or other uses, you will need a typeface that is available and appropriate for all usages, and performs well in all required environments.

Sample book of typefaces

I searched for some example of a sample book of typefaces, I found THE TYPE SPECIMEN BOOK. I had a look at some samples from inside the book for some inspiration.

I decided to make a sample book for some of my chosen typefaces. I have chosen one example for each category.

  • Serif font: Garamond
  • Sans-serif font: Raleway
  • Script font: Artifact
  • Decorative font: Blenny
  • Fixed width, techno and pixel font: Courier

I have chosen the same sentence for all my font choices to be able to compare the amount of space they need.

I am going to stick to my chosen typefaces in this specimen book for this exercise.

A short story in a woman’s magazine

Examples of woman’s magazines

Initial sketch

Design process

I found my image from pexels.com, in Photoshop I added more background. Then moved it to Indesign for the background. From a Loren Ipsum generator website, I generate 1300 words of Loren Ipsum and paste it to my document. Because it’s quite a wordy text, I went for a serif typeface (Garamond 10 pt) for the body text. And wanted to pair it with a sans-serif typeface (Raleway) for the heading.

I made another version, using Blenny for the heading.

It’s obvious that the second version doesn’t show the seriousness of the story because of the fun typeface used for the heading.

An advertisement in a parish magazine

Initial sketch

Design process

I used Photoshop for this ad on a parish magazine,. I found my image from pexels.com and added more background to it. I paired A script typeface(Artifact) with a sans-serif typeface(Raleway). Then made another version, using Courier typeface instead of Artifact. The second version lost its sense of artistic feeling.

A poster to advertise an after-school club for boys aged 13 – 14

Initial sketch

Design process

For this poster, I have used Illustrator. Because of the subject, I paired Courier typeface with Raleway. Then made another version with Artifact typeface and Garamond. The first version has got a modern feel and I think it’s more suitable for this poster and the target audience.

A5 size flyer

Design process

I used Photoshop to make this design. For this flyer I wanted something funky and fun. I have found the image on pexels.com. I paired Benny typeface and Raleway to give it a funky and modern look.

For the second version, I used Raleway instead of Blenny and Garamond instead of Raleway. It’s obvious that the flyer’s loosing it’s fun and funky feeling.

Self reflection

The exercise did however serve its purpose. It showed me how type can influence the design of various documents and the feel of the overall publication. It also depended on the target audience as to which typefaces would be appropriate for them. The type of publication can influence what typefaces should be used and who they appeal to.

This exercise was really useful in making me more aware of how type and the way it is used can have a big impact on what is being designed.

It was an interesting but long exercise. It helped me to deep dive into the fonts and typefaces. Also, it was an opportunity to practice InDesign.

For the first part, which was making a sample book, I had some problem to choose one typeface for each category out of all the available typefaces. After using my chosen typefaces for my designs, I was not sure if I had a good choice or not. For example I chose Garamond as my serif category, but after using it as a body text I wasn’t quite sure about some letters eg. letter “g”. Maybe Bodoni was the better choice!

For the second part, designing a flyer, a poster and an ad was quite easy, since I was quite confident with Photoshop and Illustrator. Hence designing a magazine was a bit challenge. It took me some time to get myself familiarize with the software features.

I tried to pair two fonts for each design and to show that It works, I swapped some fonts in each design. And made a mock-up from the final design.

I can say that after this exercise, I can understand the influence of using each typeface in various documents to give it a right feel. For choosing a appropriate type we need some information about the purpose of the document as well as knowing the target audiences. Comparing two exact designs with different fonts speaks for itself.

References

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