Calgary Web Designer Jenn Armour | Info Architecture + User Centric Web Design + Online Marketing + Social Media + Ideas

Choosing Typefaces

// September 16th, 2007 // Design

Choosing which typefaces to use for certain projects is one of the designer’s biggest challenges. Early in my career I went to see a very successful creative director for an informational interview. The thing she stressed the most was the importance of learning the logistics of type as it separates great design from average. Although I had some fundamentals down and taken some theory I still struggled with practical application – what goes with what?

I found that experience and experimentation helped to train my eye. Utilizing universal design principals in different contexts increased my exposure to different design problems. Reading and studying books and articles on type treatment moved my understanding from unconscious to conscious. Deconstructing the “whys” of type. While making design decisions based on intuition was good so far as it went a deeper understanding was needed.

Articles and Resources

What typeface goes with that?
Authors: bamagazine.com [2005]

15 tips to choose a good text type [2006]

Vitaly Friedman put together a list of what he termed the 25 BEST FREE QUALITY FONTS.

The Anatomy of Web Fonts [2005] is great article about web typography.

How to size text using ems [2004] is a practicle article about using ems.

Screenfont.ca is a site devoted to captions, subtitles and web typography.

List of Good Books on Type

ABC’s of Type: A Guide to Contemporary Typefaces 
Author: Allan Haley
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications [1990]

Elements of Typographic Style, The* (2nd Ed.) 
Author: Robert Bringhurst
Publisher: Hartley & Marks [1997]

Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works 
Authors: Erik Spiekermann & E.M. Ginger
Publisher: Adobe Press/Hayden Books [1993]

Form of the Book, The: Essays on the Morality of Good Design. 
Authors: Jan Tschichold & Hajo Hadeler
Publisher: Hartley & Marks [1995]

Accessible Web Typography – an introduction for web designers (Html text is free)
Author: Jim Byrne [2005]

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students 
Author: Ellen Lupton
[2004]