Fonts. There are thousands. And thousands. So as a designer it makes it that much more important to select a font that best represents and differentiates each client. Whether it is an advertising campaign or a typeface for an identity, its important to choose a font that relates to the company, is consistent with the overall marketing efforts of the company, and appeals to the audience.

A font has the ability to instantly evoke an emotion or idea in a reader. This is what makes certain fonts easy to dismiss when faced with a theme. For example, when you hear or see the words bridal or wedding, a script font with lavish flourishes probably comes to mind. On the other side of the spectrum, the words bulldozer and construction bring bold, squared typestyles to the forefront. Using the right font can do a lot to legitimize a brand in the eyes of a potential customer. If it doesn’t seem to match what that person feels a product should be, then chances are it won’t sell to them.

Granted, no two people think exactly alike, but you can at least level the field by using a font that works on several levels and encompasses a range of ideas or thoughts that you are intending to achieve. The process of font selection can become an intensive one and it’s often a process that is overlooked or taken for granted. And there are many font uses that do not make sense. Typically this is because the person who chose the font thought it was cool. They probably didn’t think about the recipient and/or how the font would be interpreted.

So, that’s a little food for thought the next time you’re reading a billboard or browsing over a menu. How does that typeface make you feel?

Typography. Typefaces. Fonts. Type styles. These days, we practically take our countless choices for granted. It wasn’t long ago when creating a typeface (especially one completely original) involved thousands of hours of pencil to paper research and concepting, followed by more time spent creating the actual letterforms in metal.

As a traditional type designer, it seems to me you had to be part artist, part blacksmith, and part mad for wanting to even set out on such a grueling & creative journey. It’s hard to imagine the work that went into making a font that was unique, unlike any others at the time. But the payoff for such an achievement can be huge. There are several great fonts that have been around for a long time and that has to be a truly satisfying feeling for a typographer.

For a non-designer, it’s probably easy to write off the importance of a typographer’s work, but when you think about how many fonts you have at your disposal in a mouse click, it’s hard to deny. Sure, many of them are merely subtle makeovers of existing typefaces, but everything needs an update eventually. Perhaps one of the signs of absolute greatness in a font is its lack of mutations. It’s hard to improve on perfection, as the saying goes. Of course it’s easier to find fast, cheap makeovers which do little to improve the core design of the typeface and its appeal.

One of the more recent examples of this (50ish years ago) is Helvetica. Its simple, almost generic personality is brilliant. It’s everywhere and yet goes nearly unnoticed, even to some of us designers. It’s even the subject of an eponymous feature-length documentary. Many would argue Helvetica is the end of the line in typographic evolution.

I’m not sure I’m buying it, however. As long as there are creative minds out there, always thinking, always wondering, always experimenting with type, it will always evolve. We wouldn’t be so fortunate to have as many typefaces as we do now if everyone believed in a perfect font. And we’d probably still be molding our letters & words from lead.

Image by tonystl

The recent weather got me thinking about how, sometimes, too much of a good thing can turn very, very bad.

For example, the latest round of flooding throughout Washington reminded me of one form of bad advertising etiquette. Similar to the way too much water in a short period of time can be devastating a region, too much information can have the same effect. While flood waters overflow riverbanks and cover or destroy the path beneath it, a lack of focus can have the same overload effect on advertising.

Any given advertisement has size restraints which in turn limit the amount of information that is effective.  It is important to manage what goes in and what stays out. Granted, details are important and it is generally a good idea to provide as much information as you can when marketing a product; the problem comes when too many details are included. It becomes too much to absorb and leads to overflow with the defining point being buried among the least important details.

Revealing the message in a simple, effective and elegant manner is the road best taken. There is no need to clutter up an advertisement or smother a campaign when it can be pared down to a few valuable truths.

To give your message a clear voice and make it appealing to your audience, think about the core elements of your brand - those key items that differentiate it from the competition.  Stay focused and keep your audience safe from an overabundance of information.

Here’s an interesting video that demonstrates the drastic differences in the way two very well-known companies approach this issue - Microsoft and Apple.