Found signs. Typography | Off Book | PBS Arts. Swissted. How Helvetica Conquered The World With Its Cool, Comforting Logic | Co.Design. This is the second excerpt from Just My Type. To read the first, "The 8 Worst Fonts in the World," go here. What is it about the Swiss? Or, to be precise: what is it about the Swiss and their sans serif typefaces? Helvetica and Univers both emerged from Switzerland in the same year--1957--and went out to shape the modern world. They would sort out not just transport systems but whole cities, and no typefaces ever looked more sure of themselves or their purpose.
The two fonts appeared at a time when Europe had thrown off all shackles of postwar austerity and had already made a strong contribution to midcentury modernism. Helvetica is a font of such practicality--and, its adherents would suggest, such beauty--that it is both ubiquitous and something of a cult. A few years ago, a New Yorker called Cyrus Highsmith put his life on the line by trying to spend a day without Helvetica. His troubles began as soon as he climbed out of bed. Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica movie would suggest you do. Arial versus Helvetica. How to tell them apart. Is Arial just a poor copy? Seconds Out, Round One Every typeface, like every one of us, has its distinguishing features. You might be forgiven for thinking that some fonts are clones, or identical twins. However, closer inspection reveals subtle differences and nuances that simply escape casual perusal. Something that can really help heighten our sensitivity to those differences is getting out our magnifying glasses and really taking a closer look.
If you’ve forgotten to bring your magnifying glass, then don’t fear for the Fontometer is here (we’ll get to that in a moment). Today we’re going to de-robe two popular typefaces, namely Arial and Helvetica — faces that are often confused, and often the subjects of mistaken identity. But first let me re-introduce you to these two popular faces: HelveticaDesigned in 1957 by Max Miedinger, Helvetica’s design is based on that of Akzidenz Grotesk (1896), and classified as a Grotesque or Transitional san serif face. Further reading:The Face of Uniformity. Lessons From Swiss Style Graphic Design - Smashing Magazine.
Advertisement Also known as International Style, the Swiss Style does not simply describe a style of graphic design made in Switzerland. It became famous through the art of very talented Swiss graphic designers, but it emerged in Russia, Germany and Netherlands in the 1920’s. This style in art, architecture and culture became an ‘international’ style after 1950’s and it was produced by artists all around the globe. Despite that, people still refer to it as the Swiss Style or the Swiss Legacy. This progressive, radical movement in graphic design is not concerned with the graphic design in Switzerland, but rather with the new style that had been proposed, attacked and defended in the 1920s in Switzerland. Emerging from the modernist and constructivist ideals, the Swiss Style can be defined as an authentic pursue for simplicity – the beauty in the underlines of a purpose, not beauty as a purpose in itself.
How the Swiss Style Relates to the Web Uniformity and geometry Grid Systems Elementary. Download fonts from classic to cool. 30 Best Fonts, Downloadable Fonts, Free Fonts, Cool Fonts for Designers. Posted on 02'08 Mar Posted on March 2, 2008 along with 414 JUST™ Creative Comments – Here are 30 of the Best Fonts / Typefaces that every designer must / should own sorted by alphabetical order. There are 15 serif fonts and 15 sans-serif fonts. These fonts will last you your whole career! A brief description of what each font is best suited for is provided however are not limited to this. There are some top free cool fonts that are downloadable in this collection and some that come with your operating system… the others are not so free but they sure will help you improve your typography! You may also be interested in How To Choose A Font or the Top 5 Typography Resources of all time. What does serif mean?
1. Magazines, journals, text books, corporate communication. 2. Textbooks and magazines 3. Posters, packaging, textbooks. 4. Headlines, text, logos. 5. Dictionaries and headlines. 6. Tabular materials, technical documentation, word processing. 7. Newsletters, Reports, Proposals. 8. 9. 10. 11. Serif. In typography, a serif /ˈsɛrɪf/ is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol,[1] such as when handwriting is separated into distinct units for a typewriter or typesetter. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without". Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "Grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic",[2] and serif typefaces as "Roman".
Origins and etymology[edit] Serifs originated in the Latin alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The origin of the word serif is obscure, but apparently almost as recent as the type style. In 1827, a Greek scholar, Julian Hibbert, printed with his own experimental uncial Greek types, remarking that the types of Bodoni's Callimachus were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what I believe type-founders call syrifs or cerefs. " The 8 Worst Fonts In The World | Co.Design. We’d need another book, of course, to do this justice. And where would one start? Fonts are like cars on the street--we notice only the most beautiful or ugly, the funniest or the flashiest.
The vast majority roll on regardless. There may be many reasons why we dislike or distrust certain fonts, and overuse and misuse are only starting points. Fonts may trigger memory as pungently as perfume: Gill Sans can summon up exam papers. Trajan may remind us of lousy choices at the cinema (you’ll see it on the posters of more bad films than any other font) and grueling evenings with Russell Crowe.
Most of the time we only notice typeface mistakes, or things before or behind their times. The Top Tens were: Used Regularly: Frutiger (23 respondents) Helvetica/Helvetica Neue (21) Futura (15) Gill Sans (13) Univers (11) Garamond (10) Bembo Franklin Gothic (8) 9. Highly Visible: Least Favorite: The Least Favorite survey contained brief explanations. This was not the first such survey to be conducted. Monologue: I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.
[Originally published June 15, 2010.] Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg. You don’t like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? People love me. When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. It doesn’t even matter what you think. Enough of this bullshit. Available in our store:The “I’m Comic Sans, Asshole” Mug. 50 Stunning Typography Wallpapers For Inspiration. Mar 25 2010 By János Rácz Typography is said to be the backbone of web design, but it’s also considered art all by itself.
And, let’s face it, most designers are obsessed with it. No surprise then that in the right hands it can be very powerful. Whether it’s to improve the looks of a website or as a way to express ideas, typography is always there to help you out. To fully embrace its beauty we brought you some amazing wallpapers from the web about design, ideas, emotions, typefaces and typography itself. We hope they’ll serve you both as a vast source of inspiration and a nice decoration on your desktop as well. Typography love I love Typography by Chatan Vekariya Designers love Typography by tom2strobl I LOVE TYPO by dzn-citizen Typography I LOVE U by askdzigner A bit too much typography Tired Of Typo Wallpaper by BK1LL3R blah blah blah in black by lurino Helvetica wallpapers Helvetica, how I love thee by lauardelean Helvetica Wallpaper by Antonio Carusone Helvetica with Love by allonlim Homepage.