 10 Font Facts
A Designer's Guide to Text Treatments
by Michael P. Hill
With so many options for stock images and backgrounds, it is easy to overlook one of the most important tools designers have for getting a message across: text. Fortunately, there are some fast and easy ways to find fonts and formatting that go beyond simply typing text. Understanding a few font factors will allow you to create professional text treatments with the best of them.
FINDING YOUR FONT
There are thousands of fonts available, ranging in price from free, to a few dollars, to hundreds of dollars. Whatever your budget, there are some important points to remember when selecting a font:
Serif or Sans Serif?: In typography, serifs are the little "hooks" or "feet" on the end of letters. Times New Roman is an example of a common serif font. Sans serif fonts, on the other hand, lack the hooks on the ends of the letters ("sans" is Latin for "without"): a good example is Arial (Figure 1).
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| Serifs, indicated by the red circles, are the little "feet" or "hooks" on the edges of the letters. Fonts with serifs are typically used for large blocks of body text. Sans serif fonts do not have these hooks, and are often used for titles and headlines. Times on top and Arial on bottom. |
| Figure 1 |
It's usually best to set large blocks of text, such as articles or descriptions, in a serif font. Studies have shown that people can read and comprehend serif typefaces better. On the other hand, headline and display text can be set in either serif or sans serif fonts. It's quite common, however, to use a heavier, sans serif font for headlines and a serif font in body copy.
Match the font to the message: Font's have their own "feel" or "personality." The style of a given font may make it better suited for certain uses. Let's say you're producing a logo for a day spa, you'll want a font that matches the personality of the spa. In this case, you might select a script font for a clean, smooth typeface. Most likely you'll want to avoid anything too heavy.
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| It's important to match your font to your subject matter.The script typeface and light, airy font (top, Script is Shelley Allegro; lighter font is Helios Light) make a great logo for a day spa. However, the heavy, bold font (middle) doesn't seem appropriate for a relaxing spa. The blocky font is more at home for a body shop logo (bottom, font Letterman solid). |
| Figure 2 |
On the other hand, a heavier typeface would work better for more industrial applications, such as an auto shop (Figure 2).
Avoid too much of a good thing: As a rule of thumb, it's generally best to avoid using more than two or three fonts in a single project to maintain consistency. If you're looking for more variety, however, look for a font that has multiple weights or styles, such as condensed or extended. You can get a good mix using variations while still maintaining the same basic look.
Readability first: It can be hard to resist using the cool font you just discovered, but don't let that get in the way of the legibility. After all, your project won't do any good if the text is too hard to read.
Branch out: Avoid overused fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica or Comic Sans. There are plenty of great alternates that have a similar look, but are different enough to add some uniqueness to your project. For Times-like fonts, try Minion, Garamond or Century Schoolbook. Arial look-alikes include Helios and Franklin Gothic.
TREATING YOUR TEXT
Once you've selected your fonts, you need to format your type to create eye catching design elements.
Text as a design element: Instead of overdoing it with art, try turning a few key words into an eye-catching, stylized typographical component that becomes a dominant artistic element of your project (Figure 3).
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| The typographical design of this poster uses the interesting and elegant font, Trajan, to emphasize the word "Shine." The text is the dominant element of the project. Font Trajan (with Juice Drop 4240) |
| Figure 3 |
This works great for budgets that don't allow for photography or when you're looking for something a little different. You can blow the text up fairly large and use fonts that have interesting serifs or flairs. This type of technique works very well with a subtle background, such as those in the Juice Drops library.
Picture perfect: If your design includes photographs or illustrations, try layering text directly over the image in the negative spaces of the photos (Figure 4).
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| Negative spaces in photos make great places to place text, especially when combined with a drop shadow or glow effect. Headline and body copy in Minion. |
| Figure 4 |
It's usually best to avoid covering the main subject in the photo, but areas such as grass, sky or water often make great places to place text, especially when combined with the next tip.
Add some glow: When placing text over photos, add a drop shadow or outer glow effect to the text to make it stand out (Figure 4).
If the photo you are using is light, black shadows and glows usually work best. Over darker photos, you can use white or gray instead. To add a shadow or outer glow in Photoshop, create a text layer and right-click on the layer. Select Blending Options, then select either Drop Shadow or Outer Glow and then experiment with adjusting the various settings.
Tuck your text: When writing headlines for ads or other layouts, trying breaking the words into two or three lines and tuck the words into the spaces created naturally by some letters (Figure 5).
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| Tucking your text creates a professional look and feel.The words 'the seas' are tucked nicely into the space next to the descender of the letter 'g'. |
| Figure 5 |
You can also try varying type sizes or running some text in all capital letters. Maybe take a key word or phrase from your headline and make it bold, change the color or increase the size. Another tip that works well in multi-line layouts is to let a shadow or glow overlap other text elements. This gives the layout a unique sense of depth.
Hand style it: Try adjusting the letter spacing of your text to crunch the characters closer together or spread them out for interesting artistic effects. You can also adjust the space between the lines (leading) to create different effects. Instead of using your layout or design program's built-in small caps feature, try adjusting the smaller capital letters yourself: preformatted small caps effect often don't have the optimal proportion between the large and small capitals.
Michael P. Hill is a marketing assistant and Web specialist at FX Group, a broadcast news set design, fabrication and installation firm in Orlando. He also runs a small graphic design agency, Clearhill Creative. |
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