Just Creative Design

FREE 27 Page Type Classification eBook

Just Creative Design has just released their first eBook and it is only available to Just Creative Design subscribers - ensured by a password hidden at the bottom of your RSS feed!

If you were following me on Twitter then you would have heard about this release three days ago and if you have had your eyes peeled you would have noticed a banner at the bottom of your RSS feed with a link to the official page but never fear, I have released it to all subscribers now.

For full information on what it’s all about and how to get the free type classification eBook go check out the official page Type Classification eBook Page. Enjoy.

What is a Font Flag? What is a Font Specimen Sheet?

Do you know what a font flag or font / type specimen sheet is? Here are the answers as well as an example made by myself for typography class at university.

What is a Font Flag?

A font flag is a poster – a visual ‘sell’ – presentation of the style, feel, mood and aesthetic sense of a particular font. It deals with the emotive, pictorial, poetic or pragmatic sense of the font. It may recall the sense of history, the classification group, notable or famous uses. It is about appeal – looking good.

What is a font specimen sheet?

A font specimen sheet is about measurement specifics, display of the font – all characters and expressions, at differing point sizes, paragraph setting, leaded or tracked. Upper Case and Lower Case, title box, formal identification of the font - its name, classification, designer/typographer, the foundry – and a demonstrated showing of ‘font family’ characteristics – weights/shade in print.

My take on making a font flag and specimen sheet

For typography class at University we could choose any typeface we wished and then we had to make up a font flag and a font specimen sheet, here is the result, as well as a title page.

I chose Bodoni because it is so unique and because I wanted the challenge of working in an Didone (Modern) font, something I have never done before.

I made the background in Photoshop from about 8 different layers, then merged them and imported into Illustrator. The rest was done in Illustrator. You may notice that the Fibonnaci Sequence or golden mean has been the inspiration for these designs.

The characteristics of a Didone (Modern) type face.

• Thick vertical strokes.
• Thin horizontal strokes.
• Fine hairlines.
• Straight serifs.
• Extreme contrast between the thick and thin stokes.
• Curved letters balanced and slightly compressed.
• The angle of stress is vertical.
• Prints best on a smooth matt finish, white paper with black ink.

A thing worth noting on most digital Bodini fonts is that they suffer from a particular kind of legibility degradation known as “dazzle” caused by the alternating thick and thin strokes, particularly from the thin strokes being very thin at small point sizes. For more info on this see Bodoni on Wikipedia.

Bodoni Font Flag

Bodoni Font Specimen Sheet

Typography Title Page (For a little typopgraphic pdf book we are creating.)

Need to brush up on your typography skills?

• Top 5 Typography Resources of all time
• 30 Fonts That ALL Designers Must Own
• How To Choose A Font
• ilovetypography - A typography blog
• 54 Typography Resources Every Designer Should Know

Feedback / Suggestions / Constructive Criticism is appreciated. I would love to hear your feedback.

30 Fonts That ALL Designers Must Own

Here are 30 of the Best Fonts / Typefaces that every designer must own sorted by alphabetical order. There are 15 serif fonts and 15 sans-serif fonts. These fonts will last you your whole career!

A brief description of what each font is best suited for is provided however are not limited to this.

There are some top free cool fonts that are downloadable in this collection and some that come with your operating system… the others are not so free but they sure will help you improve your typography! They include original PC, Mac and Truetype fonts.

You may also be interested in How To Choose A Font or the Top 5 Typography Resources of all time. Also don’t forget to subscribe! Read more »

15 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer

Yes, this is a controversial topic, however I hope to raise awareness of some mistakes you may be making in your graphic design pieces that are making you look amateurish, but please keep in mind that none of these are hard and fast rules, this is only a general guide of things you should be aware of.

Please forgive me for the graphic and bad grammar in the picture above as I’m sure you can see it is a joke (Rainbow gradients, Comic Sans, Bevel Emboss, Bad Grammar, Off centred type - Yuk)

Anyway, I have compiled 13 15 tell tale signs that you may still be considered a (don’t quote me) bad graphic designer. Some of these have been taken from Robin Williams great book “The Non-Designers Type Book” that I recommended in the top 5 typography resources of all time.

Give yourself a point for each that you still currently do. If you score above 3, sorry you lose.

Read more »

How To Choose A Font

Have you ever had the problem of not knowing what typeface to use? Well of course you have, everyone has. This is a guide on how to choose a font.

Here are just a few pointers that I have gathered from Robin Williams great book “The Non-Designers Type Book” that I recommended in the top 5 typography resources of all time.

Have a think about each of these before choosing your next font.

Choose a category of type:

• Choose a type face that you think will match your work. ie. Oldstyle, Modern, Slab Serif, Sans Serif, Script, Decorative. Unsure of your type categories?

Quality of Printer & Paper:

• Where are you getting your piece printed? If you are printing from a low resolution printer, your subtle font characteristics such as delicate serifs or fine lines will not get printed. (eg. fax machines, photo copier). Is the paper going to without the ink and quality? eg. Newspapers will absorb ink and lose finer details.

How much text is there to read? What is its purpose?

• Are you designing for a poster, a book, a report? What is more important - Readability or Aesthetics? What is the purpose of the text? A serious look, a casual look, a decorative look?

How much space do you need to fill? Or Leave Unfilled?

• Different typefaces take up different amounts of space, even at the same point size. Try comparing two fonts next to eachother and see how much difference they take up in room.

Is the project to be skimmed or be really read?

• Choose a typeface and layout that suits its purpose.

An exercise method for next time you choose a font…

• Know your output method and final reproduction process to narrow down your font choices.
• Decide on the look you want to convey
• If you use more than one font, make sure the fonts are very different from eachother. If they are not very different it looks like a mistake. eg. Use an oldstyle font for the body text and and a bold sans serif for the headline.
• Don’t be afraid to use wild fonts where they are appropriate and use it sparingly. Don’t be a wimp.

For Further Reading on how to choose a font check out About.com or for a more advanced ‘How To’ check out Typies, 15 tips to choose a good typeface.

How do you go about choosing a font or typeface?

In my next post, I will post on typography secrets.