Typography Personality & Purpose

Typography is all about visual expression that compliments the verbal language. In simple terms the fonts we use. When it comes to content, we can use the same words but applying a different fonts or type, we can actually change the meaning. Typography itself changes emotions and expresses individuality. It can say a lot about a brand, help you to better understand a product characteristic or frame a design. A rather simple straight and thin font may compliment a design that is modern and sophisticated, whilst a wider bolder type may show strength, urgency or convey a serious statement. Used in smart combination with colours, typography can make a world of difference to a simple piece. If you’re looking for a good type face or just “font finding”, here are some good starters: 1) http://www.fontsquirrel.com – collection of free commercial fonts that you can use. 2) http://www.myfonts.com – can’t find what you’re looking for and need to buy a new font? My Font has a huge collection and list of fonts to choose from. Use the internal too 3) http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont – seen a font and you want to find out what it is? Use What the Font by simply loading a design, highlight the area with the typo and let the website do the rest for you. It is a hit and miss thing so don’t hold your breath. 4) http://www.google.com/webfonts – when you’re working in the digital space, you want creativity beyond that of Arial, Times New Roman and Helvetica. Try using Google web fonts. The list has definitely grown since it first came out which gives web designers more flexibility in creating stunning looking websites But at the end of the day, there are certain fonts that should just be banned (alongside the IE6, web developers know what we mean) – time to ban Comic Sans (http://www.comicsanscriminal.com)