- Dec 2016
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designschool.canva.com designschool.canva.com
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The Basics
Now, we begin the guide parts.
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Consider context and audience.
Fonts are one of the most important visual elements of rhetoric; of course, it's going to be audience driven. My general basis to choose fonts is kind of like universal design criteria. Meaning, "which font is going to grant me the best accessibility to a broad audience demographic?" Afterwards, I narrow it down to fit the context. For example, I am more likely to use Arial for a blog, but Verdana on a resume. Both have about the same accessibility elements in terms of readability, but Verdana's slightly narrower design gives it a more polished feeling.
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Do the elements of your font “outfit” clash, or do they complement each other? Are they effectively communicating the qualities you want to project? These considerations are part of what makes choosing fonts such an important part of the design process, one that should be approached thoughtfully.
They're also one of my biggest headaches when designing anything with written content. I'm always having the hardest times matching Header fonts to Paragraph fonts, even if they're the same typeface.
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All that to say, that for most graphic design purposes today, the terms are more or less interchangeable; fonts are the digital representations of typefaces, and we can change either with a simple click on our computer screens… So unless you’re talking to a typography expert who you want to impress with your superior knowledge, no need to worry about the differences.
Ah, I got it. So the font "family" would all be the same typeface, but the specific format of it (appearances, like size and boldness) would be the font.
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You may have heard the text you use in design projects referred to as both fonts and typefaces and wondered if the two terms mean the same thing. Technically and historically (in terms of typesetting) they’re different, but today, they’re often used interchangeably. If you’re interested in understanding the difference, a few snappy definitions might help:
I wasn't aware that there was a difference either. I guess typeface would be a category of font, wouldn't it?
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rpose.
The below image is a nice example to people who may need it.
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3) Script: Scripts are what we might think of as cursive- or handwriting-style fonts. They generally have connecting letters. You’ll find that script fonts come in many different styles, from elegant, to fun and casual, to hand-drawn.
I mostly see these in logos, rather than regular type. They're very hard to read and limit accessibility to people with good sight.
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classifications, each with their own historical and technical definitions
I wasn't aware that there were more classifications beyond serif and sans serif. Huh, this is pretty new to me.
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1) Serif: Serif fonts have little “feet” or lines attached the ends of their letters. They’re generally thought to look more serious or traditional.
A while back, this was the usual for any "serious" document, such as a research paper. Nowadays, sans-serif tends to be the usual- such as verdana and arial due to their readability.
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Short answer: there are many, including some crazy ones that defy categorization.
A lot of these are pictographic, too.
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This guide is designed to offer a comprehensive overview of fonts: their different categories, how to choose them, how to use them, and even where to find free font downloads.
This is our genre- a guide. That means it's 2nd person perspective, right?
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- Nov 2016
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designschool.canva.com designschool.canva.com
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Where to Find Free Fonts
I like how the author included ways in which we can find free fonts because sometimes the software you use doesn't have the font you're looking for. Kilever is very helpful.
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Your first concern in choosing a font for a project should be that it matches the message or purpose of your design.
I agree that you need to have a purpose or mission to your site, otherwise you may not know what exactly you're trying to say and your site won't flow. It is important to brainstorm and figure out your purpose before anything.
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Think about what your clothes might say about you: based on what you wear, people might rightly or wrongly make assumptions about your style, your personality, your socio-economic background, your age (or the age you wish you were), or the kind of impression you want to make.
First impressions are everything these days and what you wear is important when you want to give off a certain look or personality. The same goes for fonts. People are ging to judge your site based on the color scheme, fonts, etc. and each aspect are important to your site's look. It's interesting to think about it that way because some people may not see the importance of font selection.
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That seems a world away from our point-and-click, instant world of digital design. But it really wasn’t too many years ago that a font would have been known as a specific set of movable metal type — rather than a funny name in software program’s drop-down menu.
It's hard to believe how recent the internet was developed. I've always had access to the internet growing up, it's hard to imagine life without it. Carrying around movable metal type seems insane, but it's interesting to learn that so much can change so quickly.
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Combining Fonts
The comparison of Goldilocks and the 3 bears with finding the right fonts is very accurate because testing the way the fonts look together is very important.
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• Spacing: Adjusting the spacing of your text
I like how the author uses visual modes to help readers understand which fonts Kilever is referring to. Before I saw the fonts, I was going to look them up because I didn't fully understand the worded definition. This shows how important graphics are.
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Although our design methods have come a long way, sometimes navigating the modern process of choosing and using fonts can seem almost as difficult and complicated as the good old days of metal typesetting and printing presses.
It can be very difficult to choose a font because there are so many to choose from. Often we have too much information (too many fonts) that we can't sort (decide) which (font) to use. In the previous article by Williams (“Guidelines for Designing and Evaluating the Display of Information on the Web.”), I noticed that as technical writers you should not put too much information on a site. However, if you do need that information, the author suggests to direct the reader's attention to the most important. Like Williams, Kilever wants to make the font decision easier by guiding designers to choose the most important fonts without much difficulty. Kilever helps designers sort through the information to get to the most important.
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ypography often provides that at-a-glance first impression that people gauge and judge the rest of the design by — so your font choices need to be purposeful and appropriate
Graphic Design can be difficult when choosing a font. It can be too fun. It can be too serious. It all depends on what you're trying to do with the design.Find the most appropriate font and go from there.
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Technically and historically (in terms of typesetting) they’re different,
Difference between typeface and font Typeface: is the design of the alphabet--the shape of the letters that make up the typestyle. The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. So when you say “Arial” or “Goudy” you're talking about a set of letters in a specific style.
Font: is the digital file that contains/describes the typeface.
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Though this point is often debated, it’s commonly said that serifs make long passages (in print) easier to navigate visually, helping move your eyes along the lines of text. However, because serifs are usually small and thin, they often don’t display as well on pixel-based screens (looking distorted and “noisy” rather than clear and crisp), so many designers favor sans-serif fonts for web use, especially at small sizes.
It's interesting to learn that there are different fonts that look better on the web. It makes sense after reading, but I didn't realize so much thought was put into it.
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