#29, Typography
"You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work." -Massimo Vignelli
Do the "I love you's" feel different when you read them? Do the light, regular, and bold weights sound different in your head? Typefaces create mood and give text atmosphere. They make text more imaginative and meaningful. Just as the perfect song can compliment a movie, so can the right typeface a document.
An international group of design experts voted on the world's best typefaces. Take a look at the samples below and guess which was voted #1. Hover the mouse cursor over the image to see the winner. The names of all the typefaces can be found in the comments.
#3, Helvetica, was named the world's best typeface.
Typography is all around us, but we hardly take notice of it. Look around yourself and observe all of the different typefaces that surround you. For each of them, someone made a conscious decision to use that particular typeface over the thousands and thousands of others. We are drawn to some typefaces while others disgust us (side note: I loathe Comic Sans). It may be tricky to describe exactly why, but this week we'll try.
To complete this week's Journal response,
- Describe how one or more of the typefaces in the list above make you feel. Describe things (e.g., objects, emotions, phrases, movies, books, imagery, people, food, etc.) it reminds you of.
- Describe a typeface that you like to use.
- Comment on one of your peer’s responses.
-Brenden Lee Teacher
run your fingers across it