Choosing fonts

This is without a doubt one critical step in the design process. All the look and feel of the work, may change with one font or another. Although we do not analyze consciously what typography has been used, subconsciously we relate what we see with previous experiences. And thus, simply looking at the design, the font used communicates a cold or friendly,formal or informal, pleasant or unpleasant sensation to us.

At firt glance, typography and colour say more than the text itself...

Along with colour, the typography can alter the meaning that we associate to a design completely. The text can say a thing; but the letters, something else. If we have to carefully select a font, we will not have problems with the immense supply of typographies available (literally, there are thousands of digital fonts where to choose.) Even a very basic home computer may easily have at least dozens, or even hundreds of fonts, like those that accompany many programs, like Office or CorelDraw.

On the other hand, the task of selecting the more appropriate font between a so extensive range can be intimidating, or make you think that it is a job for experts. In fact, it is enough to pay attention to the common sense, and of course read some basic information so you’re able to go on on solid ground.

Association of typography to times and places

The typography has an unsuspected power: it influences the way in which we perceive a message. As it happens with the artistic trends, musical styles, the fashion... each typography can be associated unequivocally to a certain place and a concrete time. This means that, normally, the typefaces that bear a clear association of this kind are used for specific uses, but seldom in other situations. This means that it even turns out to be strange seeing them in another context, different from the expected. For example, why many beers are advertised or branded with the typical gothic letters, the fraktur fonts?

Some styles of fonts are associated to specific moments in the time or to a given geographic area or place: this is an excellent resource for the designer, to reinforce the communication. Simply with a suitable selection of the typefaces we can already achieve a good part of the objectives of the project.

Custom-made font sets

When we have a great number of fonts, it’s almost necessary to use some kind of font management program, to deal with the handling and organisation of fonts in our system. Some of these programs are free, others are shareware, so if you still aren’t using one of these applications, it’s time you try one to simplify and enhance your type management. An ideal benefit of the font managers is the capacity to create groups (or sets ). A group or Set is just a list of fonts, grouped according to a certain criterion: for example, serif fonts, sans, handwritting fonts... The group normally does not contain the fonts themselves, only one reference to access them ; thus you can safely add, delete and move fonts in the sets, since the file proper is safely kept in its original folders and will not be affected by Set management operations.

Once you begin to use this possibility, it quickly becomes something addictive and essential: the fastest and most comfortable way to access all the necessary fonts for each project.

If you have a collection of several hundreds of fonts, you really need to create some basic groups (for example, we use calligraphic, decorative fonts, serif, sans, dingbats...) But it is also a good idea to prepare special groups, such as sets that gather all the necessary fonts for a project, and the palette of fonts that we used.

Examples of special font sets

Slabserif or Egyptian fonts have flat serifs. In these fonts, we find simple, elegant and functional type forms, and in addition they’re easy to read. Effective both for text and for titles. Typical examples: Lubalin Graph, Geometric Slabserif, Stymie, Serif, Square Slabserif...
Fonts in the style of the architects’ lettering: they look like the handwritting or stencil letering used in drafts and blueprints; a diverse group, which includes both somewhat irregular fonts and others more refined.
Stencil fonts like the ones used in signage, packaging or, in a smaller scale, in technical, Rotring-written stencil lettering; some are very popular (in the style of Dymo — do you remember these devices?), others not as much. Plantiya is an original creation by Typephases Design that was digitised because we did not find something similar elsewhere. Later we were able to spot other similar fonts like the freeware Mars or Holstein.
Typewriter-style fonts. Who would say it? After years wishing something more regular and perfect for home and office printing, with the arrival of the DTP and the laser printers, the designers return to use digital imitations of the old letters of mechanical typewriters. The effect, has been abused, frankly, but still it’s a unique solution for many works, especially when you have to recreate a vintage look for documents.

Font palettes

The same way we prepare a palette of colours to use in a design or painting,we can also select a group of fonts that suits a certain work. A typical palette contains:

A font for the body text, accompanied by:
A font for the titles and subtitles (or headings); its size can be increased typically to about a 120 - 130% of the text base font.
A font for the captions, summaries, quotes and notes. In many cases, it can be the same font already used in the headings or the text, in different sizes and weight; for example, use captions at a 70 - 80% of the body text size in the same font as the headings, bold; or the same font as the body, in italics.

The font you choose for the text can include, naturally, the cursive (italics) and bold variations. Both must be used only to emphasize parts of the document, but not in extensive fragments. Try to choose a easily legible and readable font, be it sans or serif, and accompany it by other complementary fonts, but not from the same kind: for example, if we have chosen Garamond or Caslon for the text, we accompany them with Franklin Gothic or Univers for the captions or headings. That is: a serif font combined with a sans-serif. This is the combination that works in most cases, and it admits a infinity of variations. Mixing two sans or two serif fonts usually doesn’t work, although you can always try and experiment it. To choose the specific pairs or trios of fonts is a very personal question and, in any case, it depends on the project in which we’re working. Some fonts work very well together, others not at all. Some typefaces have a sans version and a serif version,and usually these form a perfect combination. With different fonts, it is question to try out; or to pay attention to the recommendations of experts. You can visit Daniel Will-Harris’s website , where you find priceless information on the election and combination of typographies (sections Typophile and Esperfonto .)

In each document, besides the basic palette, you can also use some special font, with greater impact, for the general title, or to separate main sections. This font can be selected with greater freedom: here legibility isn’t the main concern, always makign sure it’s appropriate for the contents and the intention of the work.

Colour, applied discreetly to some parts of the text, can improve its understandign and retention by the user. It even can create the impression of a greater variety of fonts. But it’s also true that colour, used inadequately, can have a negative impact, and act like a nuisance, a distraction and make the design worst looking. Therefore, it must be handled wisely. A slight touch of colour in the subtitles, or highlighting some parts, is a very useful and elegant way to use it, but making a collage of colours in a text page that means to be serious or informative is tasteless and unprofessional.

But, which font do we choose?

Just as the clothes we put on, choosing a font is a very personal question, and it reflects our taste and personality, and our intentions when preparing the document: this is at least what gets across to the reader. Everybody has his own taste, but there is a series of conventions and we must pay attention to if we want that our documents do not lend themselves to biased or wrong interpretations. You wouldn’t come to a job interview dressed in multicolour clothes, would you? Unless if you were applying to a position in a circus, it might be astonishing. It would be difficult to understand that a supposedly formal document was printed in letters that look like a children party invitation!

To make a good font choice, we can be guided by the impression the font makes: does it go well with the content, or not? Is is similar to the ideas and references we’re using or is it far from them? We have to choose with good sense. We musn’t forget that the fonts that we use will project a good part of our image and must enhance our message, not get in its way.

We should try to avoid overused fonts. A font that everybody is using will mean our own projects or documents may be indistinguishable, ordinary stuff. Some of the fonts that include the PCs, like Arial (or its lookalike Helvetica), Courier and Times New Roman are the most repeatedly used fonts in history. It’s true that the alternatives for screen-based work are few, but for printed texts, there are dozens of alternatives that, being basically from the same type, will move apart from the anonymity and boredom.

Even if these fonts are overused, you should keep them in your computer, because many programs use in their menus and diverse functions, and they’re necessary for surfing the net. But try not to use them beyond the strictly necessary. Due to excessive use, fonts that intrinsically are pretty and with refined design, end up being tiresome. In recent years, for example, some humanist style fonts like Officina Sans or Meta have become old-hats. They are used everywhere; many companies have incorporated them in their corporative identity, in advertising, brochures... Such a repeated exposure causes boredom. Years ago it happened with Helvetica. Most professional designers tend to avoid using Helvetica; they use some other sans fonts (there is no shortage of these, fortunately.) With the fonts happens something similar to the trends, the fashions: what now is cool, the present, fresh, dynamic, in just a few months or years becomes boring, heavy, tiresome. If you like a font, but it’s already being used by many people, take advantage of it while the good things last... try to make it personal, though, because it could end up resembling a million other designs. You could as well look for an alternative and be more original —and the work could stay fresh longer.