On Choosing Type

Brooding Cityscapes Painted with Oils by Jeremy Mann San Francisco-based artist Jeremy Mann executes these sublime, moody cityscapes using oil paints. To create each work he relies on a wide range of techniques including surface staining, the use of solvents to wipe away paint, and the application of broad, gritty marks with an ink brayer. The resulting paintings are dark and atmospheric, urban streets seemingly drenched in rain and mystery. Mann’s work is in no way limited to cityscapes, he also paints the human figure, still lifes, and landscapes.

Great New Typography Design Inspiration - 51 Examples The visual culture that surrounds you relies strongly on typography: movies, magazines, posters, packaging designs and websites. Designers treat this idea as a solid base for their whole work and are aware that typographic experience is as emotional as any pictorial masterpiece. What people, not only designers, should know is that type is not only movable, but it also has the power to move and that is really important when considering a typographic design because you’ll have more chances of sending a message than with a simple design that doesn’t focus on typography. In hopes that I will support this typographic movement, I am delivering to you today an article with 51 new examples of great typography to inspire you and understand how powerful typography can be. Big issue Grammar Insert coin to play 3D Ribbon Baron’s Ball 2012 Catalog Vampire weekend Geometry Oyster boy Hello again Pablo Picasso Polska Kuchnia Book of lions Damnfineprints With you Less is more Whatever you like Thinking of you Terms Values

“Cure for the Common Font” — A Web Designer’s Introduction to Typeface Selection | Typography Commentary Now that web designers suddenly face the challenge (and delight) of choosing fonts from an ever-growing selection, we thought it’s a good time to recommend some basic principles for making wise type choices. The slides from each of our four quick presentations are below, as well as audio generously provided by SXSW. If you’re short on time and feel like you know the fundamentals, skip ahead to the second half of the session — I think the Q&A is as useful as our prepared stuff. Of course, an hour is hardly enough time to deliver what one can get from the first day in a good Type 1 course, and as I listen to the audio I cringe at all the crap I missed or said poorly, but I think we did a decent job of introducing some concepts that will launch young designers more confidently into the new typographic web. Slides Audio Or view the slides at full screen to autoplay the audio. Related Links Recommended Books Webfont Providers Typefaces Used and Mentioned Our Favorite Typefaces of the Moment

The non-typographer’s guide to practical typeface selection Warning: This article contains nothing nearly as meaty and complex as my dissertation about chiasmi from a few weeks back. But I promised I’d follow up with a more detailed report of my five minutes of fame at SXSW 2005, so here she goes. Let’s be frank right off the bat: I don’t presume to be a typographer, or even anything close to an expert with a replete knowledge of typography and its history. Instead, I take a more practical approach to typeface selection, given the environment I’m generally in rarely requires that I need to complicate the process further. My apologies beforehand (have I prefaced this article with enough disclaimers already?) Make a list of those “familiar” typefaces that you trust and know will work well in a variety of projects Supplement that list with a list of “unfamiliar” typefaces that address any specific objectives for the project at hand Test each typeface at small and large sizes Test both caps and lowercase 1. Don’t reinvent the wheel here. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Stumblers Who Like Most Amazing Miniature Food Artworks by Shay Aaron Shay Aaron is a brilliant artist from Israel who makes the most astonishing miniature food jewelry. These foodstuffs look so beautiful that we would desire to eat them. Actually, there’s a whole market out there for miniature food. Not actual stuff you can eat, but beautifully hand made designs of steaks, burgers, pies, vegetables, eggs and pretty much food artworks you can think of. Comments comments Free Font Websites Type classifications are useful, but the common ones are not This is an article I wrote for the publication about the conference Research in Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts Kattowice where I gave a talk on the subject in January 2012. Please excuse the lack of illustrations. I will try to add some later, but usually those are empty promises as you can see in other posts on this site. Estimated reading time: 16 minutes It is a recurring phenomenon that we tend to sort what comes in large amounts to be able to grasp it, for quicker reference, and to find it back more easily. Any categorization covers three aspects: 1. sorting in (this is what scholars and historians do, also type manufacturers), 2. reference (educating) and 3. taking out or finding back (this is what the user usually does). What happened? Assigning names to typefaces and classifying them is a rather new occurrence in our 560 years of type. Then the industrial revolution happened. Still, the actual typefaces themselves were not given individual names like today. 1. 2.

Technical Web Typography: Guidelines and Techniques Advertisement The Web is 95% typography, or so they say. I think this is a pretty accurate statement: we visit websites largely with the intention of reading. That’s what you’re doing now — reading. With this in mind, does it not stand to reason that your typography should be one of the most considered aspects of your designs? Unfortunately, for every person who is obsessed with even the tiniest details of typography, a dozen or so people seem to be indifferent. Creative and Technical Typography I’m not sure these two categories are recognized in the industry but, in my mind, the two main types of typography are creative and technical. Creative typography involves making design decisions such as which face to use, what mood the type should create, how it should be set, what tone it should have — for example, should it be airy, spacious and open (light) or condensed, bold and tight, with less white space (dark)? We’ll focus on technical type in this article. We’ll learn about: <! Beware! <!

Mexout on Behance Mexout is a fresh-mex eatery in Singapore. We imagine Mexout to be a young eccentric Mexican food expert, or "Mex'pert" as we've coined it, who i… Read More Mexout is a fresh-mex eatery in Singapore. 10 rules for Better Typography Design Design Article One of the biggest things I have seen destroy a nice design is bad use of typography. A block of text should be inviting to read and not look like a chore. I'm going to provide a few principles and tips to help you avoid a lot of common typography mistakes. This isn't a comprehensive article on the art of typography, it's more of a "quick tips for better type design" kind of thing. Too many type faces One of the biggest mistakes that people make, is to use too many typefaces and styles. Consider keeping color, spacing etc, consistent or it looks like drunk flies walking all over the page. Spacing Be careful not to crowd the typography. Alignment Please don't just throw everything center aligned (unless that's a deliberate design decision). Decorative faces aren't always beautiful You've found a nice decorative font, wonderful! Size matters Really think about the size of the text. Readability Whatever you do, make sure that people can read your message. Color What color is best for type? Leading