I Has a Font

Design Police

Several months ago, a higher-up at work kept going on and on about "Word Art" and why wouldn't I use it? I'd worked with Photoshop, Illustrator, and either QuarkXPress or InDesign on a daily basis for nearly six years by that point, without ever having learned of the existence of "Word Art."

I wish I had the Design Police's Visual Enforcement Kit with me on the day I found out what "Word Art" is.

What I'm Not Doing Tonight

Tonight I am not going to the showing of Helvetica at U-M, though I wrote it in my calendar and had planned to attend. I am simply too wiped out after the past two days (today alone delivered 10 hours at the office, with staff meetings and too much cake and brownies and sugary punch and massive internal organizational upheaval) and really just want to lie down with cucumbers on my eyelids. So I think I shall. With a fan pointed at me. Why did it get so $*%&(@ hot again?

Brand Manager of Faith

Notice that Jesus Brand® spirituality makes no claim of compassion. It only "leans toward" it.

I lean toward not using ITC Eras and Lithos on the same postcard. Actually, I lean toward not using ITC Eras at all.

Frankly, My Dear

I Don't GIVE a Damn About Capitalization (Or My Backward Apostrophe)

Type and Shape

One class finished.
One to go.

Paean to Akzidenz Grotesk

The forerunner of Helvetica and Univers.

What? You don't remember the first time you saw Garamond set really large? Didn't the R make you want to sing?

Univers Bold 14 pt

Set of metal letterpress type that recently came into my possession.

Q

Type designers like the capital Q, especially in the old style and modern serif faces. Enlarge a Q to about 500 points and take a look at the artistry of the thick and thin strokes:


Goudy

the long tails:


Trajan

the forms and flourishes:


Baskerville


Didot

the geometry:


Futura

or maybe at text size of 10-12 points you didn't notice that the strokes don't connect:


Cochin

Is that not gorgeous?

Have I bored you enough with Typography Week? Very well. Tomorrow we shall return to our usually scheduled programming of squirrels, snowy trees, and burritos. :)

Type Antonyms

I'm tired tonight, so you get to look at my homework from three weeks ago.

Helvetica

Helvetica is arguably the most popular typeface in the world. As far I know, Helvetica is the only font to star in its own movie.

Clean-lined and versatile, Helvetica appears all over the place. Right here on the desk is a magazine.



The logo isn't actually Helvetica, but I wanted to show the different weights of type in the logo because this contrast gets repeated throughout the magazine.

Helvetica shows up in the headlines and subheads. The contrast between thick and thin letterforms performs the grammatical function "here is a word," and it works so well that spaces are eliminated without causing confusion:



Note that this doesn't work so well if the stroke weights are not radically different: ABirdintheHand. Bold contrasted with semi-bold is not going to do it. If you're going to use contrast, don't be a wimp! And if you're going to use contrast, Helvetica gives you lots of options, with 34 weights.

Typography Week at Hawk in the Rain!

Last weekend I picked up a brochure at one of the rest stops on the oHIo Turnpike, entitled "Guide to Quality Ohio Wineries." (I looked for a corresponding "Guide to Shite Ohio Wineries," but did not find one.) Ohio Grape Industries shelled out nearly $14,000 for 39,000 of these full-color, 56-glossy-paged brochures. So I'm wondering why they didn't hire a quality designer to promote their quality wineries.

This is in no way intended to rip on the designer of the piece. It's evident that she/he made a good effort, and there are some really nice touches to the brochure. The color palette is pleasing, the images are inviting and match the Web site, and the maps are clear, concise, and consistent. However, there are indications that perhaps this person has not designed many brochures.



1) I'd like more space between the headline and the copy, but the contrast between typefaces clearly shows the hierarchy of information. Good.

2) Font choice. In the designer's favor, it's not Papyrus, Comic Sans, or Times New Roman. Unfortunately, it is Avant Garde, and it looks like a condensed style to boot. It's not the most readable typeface for long blocks of text, and it's a little out of fashion, but it's not offensive. One note: the "1" needs to be kerned closer to the other digits for the years.

3) Only one space is needed after a period. The computer is not a typewriter. Type isn't monospaced any more. The first thing I do when I get copy from my boss is to run a "Find-and-Replace" to change all the double spaces to single spaces. She's never noticed.

4) Left-aligned text creates a ragged edge on the right; it's just a fact of typography that needs to be dealt with. An inconsistent line length can make distracting shapes and draw attention to the rag. Balanced line lengths render the rag nearly invisible to the reader and smoothes the way to the next line of text. Anything that helps the reader get to the information more easily is good.

5) Odd-numbered pages are never, ever on the left.

That last one makes my eyelid twitch.

Bring it on, typography hatahs!

Geechi Who?

Papyrus is the new Comic Sans.