History can provide a bevy of great excuses to use a font.įor instance, some fonts just plain old IMPLY a certain time period. We’re getting into territory where it does help to have a bit more knowledge about how fonts have been used. In the last section, I said you don’t need to know a ton about a font to start labelling it with brand adjectives. Its History or Inspiration Match Your Brand I want to keep moving along, so let’s call it.
#60s fonts on typekit software#
If you have a tough and authoritative brand, like, say, Palantir, the security-focused software company, then DIN makes a lot of sense.ĭesign Facts has a bit more of a bookish vibe going on. They’re all pretty staid and normal, yet they say wildly different things. Now what I love about these examples is NONE of them are crazy overdone fonts. It should be the first thing that pops into your head when you start playing with them. You don’t need to know a ton about fonts to come up with these adjectives. Even the rounded corners of the “D” look juuuuuust curved enough to make a “D” distinguishable from a rectangle.
![60s fonts on typekit 60s fonts on typekit](https://i1.wp.com/hipfonts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1950s-Fonts.jpg)
Compare to DIN, which has everything squared-off. Why does Omnes feel soft? It’s because the corners are literally all rounded. Crimson Text, available on Google Fonts Abril Fatface, available on Google Fonts Omnes, available at Typekit DIN 2014, available on Typekit Let’s check out a few fonts and see what adjectives come to mind. …but you will need to get in touch with the side of your brain that uses words to describe things.
![60s fonts on typekit 60s fonts on typekit](https://hipfonts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Dynatype.jpg)
What do you want the user to feel? What do you want them to think of your company or your project? If you think this is a sappy exercise that won’t be worth your while…. It’s ALWAYS worth writing down the adjectives that describe your brand at the beginning of a project. One nifty designer-trick I used above was to describe the brand I wanted with adjectives. With this example in mind, and more to come, let’s talk about other ways to justify your font choice. Available for a the low, low price of totally free!
#60s fonts on typekit download#
When you download a new font, categorize it in FontBook or whatever the Windows equivalent is.īy the way, that font above is Espa from the wonderful Wild Type foundry. To those ends, download the WhatFont Chrome extension, and use it to start identifying every font you like on any website you visit. The idea is to make a better decision, often using exactly the same – or a better-_defined_ – rationale. Bad design decisions can be made with the best rationale.I want to point out three things about this little turnaround: Fortunately, I’ve been categorizing screenshots/links/font files of every nice hand-drawn font I’ve seen in the last decade, so let me just run through these 50 and see if any might fit the brand of a tea shop.” Hmmm… That gives me a bunch of ideas of fonts. I know how this crap goes.Ī responsible designer might think something like this. Listen, far be it from a designer to make assumptions, but come on. WHY did this tea shop go with Comic Sans? Is it because they wanted a hand-drawn, casual, personal feel? Warm and comforting, but hip and understated? Like tea?!?!
![60s fonts on typekit 60s fonts on typekit](https://see.fontimg.com/api/renderfont4/axVxE/eyJyIjoiZnMiLCJoIjoxNzEsInciOjI2MjUsImZzIjo2NSwiZmdjIjoiIzAwMDAwMCIsImJnYyI6IiNGRkZGRkYiLCJ0IjoxfQ/7oCUcmnugLho7oGC/bright-demo.png)
There’s a sliver of brand here we can salvage. So here’s a barely mythical tea shop with its Comic Sans logo:Īs it’s a tea shop, not a comic book, we have a problem. I doubt I’d even notice it the font were used in a comic book!) So it’s NOT because the letterforms are aesthetically subpar.
![60s fonts on typekit 60s fonts on typekit](https://img.haikudeck.com/mg/kMS8q0QkWr_1432473852039.jpg)
(Sorry, easy example, but this raises the question: why do designers hate Comic Sans so? It is precisely because it is used so frequently as the blunt mallet of THIS-IS-A-FUN-FONT-ARE-YOU-HAVING-FUN-YET, and no one enjoys being hit over the head. A non-subtle font decision is: “My website is fun, so I will use a fun font for the logo – like Comic Sans!” It’s a Better Version of the Current Design (My point is not that you can construct airtight proofs of certain fonts being best, but that there’s FAR MORE rationale behind font choices than meets the eye). If you still think it’s subjective after that, read it again. If you think typography is subjective, read this article. These are things that are not necessarily obvious to non-designers. Today I want to talk about subtle ways to justify your font decisions.