I use to go crazy with decorative fonts. Why use a boring familiar font when there are so many more exciting options I figured. One of the first things I learned while studying graphic design however, was that decorative and crazy fonts need to be used sparingly. They have there place and can be effective at certain times but in general they are going make your design look less professional so it’s usually best to avoid them. Here are a few reasons why decorative fonts spell trouble for your designs:
1) They are hard to read – It’s just a fact that these fonts are more difficult for our eyes to recognize words and sentences. Since design is all about communication, you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you make it difficult for the words to be understood. You might be able to get away with this if you use the font sparingly but never use a crazy font for a large chunk of text.
2) They draw to much attention to themselves – Yes, you want your design to attract attention and stand out but a decorative font can distract from your message and what the words actually say. A good design will attract attention through other more subtle means.
3) They rarely are well designed – Fonts themselves are actually designed and it’s pretty safe to say that 99% of all the decorative fonts out there are poorly designed. Well designed fonts are built to be quietly pleasing to the eye and usually have similarities or patterns that can be seen throughout there characters which make the text seem well balanced.
4) They quickly tell people that you’re not a professional – Think about it. How many big time adds and marketing items have you seen with decorative fonts? Using crazy fonts is more or less just a cheap trick to try to make something look more exciting then it is and it usually screams out that the rest of the design can’t stand on its own.
As you can see it’s normally best to stick with fonts that are well established and time tested. Helvetica Neue, Baskerville, Futura, and Garamond are some great examples and there are plenty of others that I’ll cover in later entries. As a general rule just be sure your design doesn’t rely on the font to attract attention and you’re designs will look much more professional.
Showing posts with label Communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Communication. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Design is Communication
The Purpose of Design
Let’s begin this blog with a tip on how to think about graphic design. Design is really just a form of communication. Some people communicate with spoken words and others by writing a blog, but a graphic designer communicates visually through the careful use of shapes, colors, images and text. You can have a poster or website that is full of eye-catching flashy elements but if it fails to get across the intended idea(s) it is totally worthless as a piece of design. Similar to writing a speech, one must clearly understand what and to whom they are attempting to communicate before they ever formulate an outline or begin writing. If you were to begin with attempting to write the final draft, it is highly probable that the result would end up being confusing ramblings with no clear point. Then to go back and make sense of your ramblings would require more than twice the time then if you had planned it out from the beginning. Obviously it pays off in the long run to establish your goals/objectives and outline at the outset of any project.
Your Goal(s)
Think of your main goal as the thesis of the project. It’s the one thing you absolutely want your audience to take away from the experience of the design. The better you define this goal, the better you will be able to convey it to your audience. Most projects are more complicated then only having a single goal so it’s also good to establish any secondary goals. A very simple example is a business card design which probably has the main goal of clearly identifying an individual, but may have a secondary goal of promoting the company the person works for. Whatever your goals are, having them set up in a hierarchy like this will ensure that you keep the focus of the design project on what’s most important while allowing you to be sure to include everything your client wants to communicate.
Your Audience
A doctor may understand long medical terms but the same terminology that makes perfect sense to him will mean little to the general public. Similarly in design, people with different demographics will understand and view varying designs quite differently. Thus, the more you can narrow down your target audience, the more effectively the design can communicate.
Let’s begin this blog with a tip on how to think about graphic design. Design is really just a form of communication. Some people communicate with spoken words and others by writing a blog, but a graphic designer communicates visually through the careful use of shapes, colors, images and text. You can have a poster or website that is full of eye-catching flashy elements but if it fails to get across the intended idea(s) it is totally worthless as a piece of design. Similar to writing a speech, one must clearly understand what and to whom they are attempting to communicate before they ever formulate an outline or begin writing. If you were to begin with attempting to write the final draft, it is highly probable that the result would end up being confusing ramblings with no clear point. Then to go back and make sense of your ramblings would require more than twice the time then if you had planned it out from the beginning. Obviously it pays off in the long run to establish your goals/objectives and outline at the outset of any project.
Your Goal(s)
Think of your main goal as the thesis of the project. It’s the one thing you absolutely want your audience to take away from the experience of the design. The better you define this goal, the better you will be able to convey it to your audience. Most projects are more complicated then only having a single goal so it’s also good to establish any secondary goals. A very simple example is a business card design which probably has the main goal of clearly identifying an individual, but may have a secondary goal of promoting the company the person works for. Whatever your goals are, having them set up in a hierarchy like this will ensure that you keep the focus of the design project on what’s most important while allowing you to be sure to include everything your client wants to communicate.
Your Audience
A doctor may understand long medical terms but the same terminology that makes perfect sense to him will mean little to the general public. Similarly in design, people with different demographics will understand and view varying designs quite differently. Thus, the more you can narrow down your target audience, the more effectively the design can communicate.
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