Research - Typography

Typography is the arrangement of text in an interesting, engaging and most importantly, legible way that communicates the message across to the audience. It also involves the layout, spacing, sizes and hierarchy as well as the colour and integration of type across a variety of mediums.

Why is typography important?

Typography is everywhere we look from posters, books and magazines to airports, billboards and adshels. Anything which includes text has some degree of typography involved, this can sometimes be good or bad. Everything in a brand from website, logo, posters, signage, packaging, emails, documents, apps, and social media to anything containing words is typographic. Typography can make up a large part of a visuals in brand identity, making it important and something to be well considered.

The way how people experience a brand is partly through the use of typography. People could see the brand typography on an ad on social media, viewing the website, or just looking at the logo in general is an experience.

Small font sizes and low contrast fonts are a number one complaint for web users. I also think the layout of the text is greatly important as the reader does not want to see large masses of text which could dissuade them from reading. I think for websites and flyers the overall layout and placement of text is very important, more so websites in my case as my client potentially wants me to design a website for their company.

Typography is like colour and it creates meaning for the brand. It is equally powerful in representing the values and tone of the brand. Every font has a different set of connotations which will create a different representation of who the company is and what it stands for.

There are many different typefaces and different classifications for them which can all create different moods. For example, sans-serif typefaces are usually modern looking, clean, simple and easy to read, especially on a large scale. A most notable example of this would be Britain’s roads signs which were created by jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert.  An example of a sans serif font being used for advertisement of a big brand is Apple, where they use Helvetica.

Serif font faces are often considered old fashioned; they look older and can create an older feel, but they are typically known to be easier to read for content in books and blogs.  Script fonts generally feel more handwritten and quite personal. Script fonts can vary from romantic, modern brush lettering to more ornate fancy calligraphy.

Some examples of a serif and sans serif font is below. The first letter is in Georgia, a lovely serif font. The second letter is in Verdana, an easy-to-read sans-serif font.

Times New Roman is a commonly used serif font. Arial is a commonly used sans-serif font as well as Helvetica.

Serif Fonts for Printed Work

Serif fonts are usually considered easier to read on printed works than sans-serif fonts. This is because the serifs make the individual letters more distinctive and easier for our brains to recognise quickly. Without the serifs in fonts, the brain must spend longer identifying the letter because shapes are less distinctive.

Serif for online work

Lower resolution on some computer screens can make small serif characters harder to read than the equivalent sans-serif characters because of their complex shapes. Small on-screen text is usually seen as a better option for on screen text such as Arial, Helvetica or verdana.

Helvetica is probably one of the most famous typefaces. This font was designed by Max Miedinger in 1957, who was a Swiss designer. This is a classic typeface that has been used everywhere since 1950s up to this day. Its popularity can be credited to the fact that it still looks very modern.

I will need to create various mood boards for my clients when it comes to the design stage of this project. I will consider different fonts and suggest how they could be used on various mediums like web, flyers and other forms of advertisement the company has suggested. 

I really like the potential of using the 'gobold' font at this point but this could change when I talk to my clients. Gobold is quite industrial looking and it could be a fit for the logo when I come to design it. 

Another typeface I am considering recommending to my client is the font 'Exo 2'. I feel like this font could really fit the branding of the company. The font density is not as much as the gobold font. headings and subheadings of text could be made thicker but still be easy to read and distinguish.