Learn how to work with fonts, lay out typography, pair different typefaces, and find collections of inspiring fonts to use in your next project.
Is your design project lacking that special pop? It’s likely what you are missing is enough contrast. Contrast provides differentiation between elements, making each one look more individual, prominent and special.
Design contrast is created in a number of ways, and using all different types of elements. From typography to color to space, creating contrast can take a design from bleh to wow. Here are five ways to do it.
Every project requires a system and hierarchy for text elements. Just think about all the small pieces of text that are used throughout a design – headlines, body copy, navigation elements, legal information, captions and so on.
But how do you create that hierarchy so that every text element flows smoothly to the next? Today, we’ll take you step-by-step through building a system of typography hierarchy that can be used for almost any design project. (And we are pairing the tips with beautiful examples of great typography to help you gather a bit of inspiration.)
There’s long been a theory that serif typefaces are for printed projects and sans serifs are for website design. But with more high definition screens and great type options available, that rule just isn’t so much a rule anymore.
Whether you prefer serifs or sans serifs (or a combination of the two), the main objectives when choosing typefaces for digital design projects should be readability and legibility. Simple, you need to pick fonts that are sharp and easy to read on the screen. Part of this is related to usage, such as size and placement of text, and then to the style of typeface you choose.
Kinetic typography seems to be everywhere these days. From television commercials to website landing pages, movable type is a popular visual tool. This popularity could come from a number of reasons but one obvious factor is that it catches your attention. People tend to be drawn to words and want to read them.
Kinetic typography puts this together with some simple animations to create words that move on the screen, grabbing your attention and engaging the senses. So let’s take a look at kinetic typography and how you can integrate it into some of your design projects. (Note: The examples in this article include animation; click the images for links to the original sources to see them in action.)
Choosing the right font is an important aspect of any web design project. There are hundreds, even thousands, of great options out there and many can be used with free licenses thanks to tools such as Adobe Typekit and Google Fonts.
But is one service better than the other? Is there a benefit to Google Fonts or Typekit over the other? And just how can you get started with these tools if you have not used them yet. You are in luck, because today we’ll answer those questions.
It’s an hour before deadline and your boss just handed you a design project to finish up. And it’s bad. Very bad. It has problems ranging from poor images to crazy color, typography choices to general sloppiness. What should you do? Can it be fixed?
There are a few things you can do to help salvage a bad design with the understanding that it won’t be perfect. But making it passable as a design project for your company might well still be an option. Here’s how!
Kerning is a subjective art. Every designer may feel differently about how combinations of letters look together. Most though can agree that almost every bit of type needs a little kerning.
Kerning – the adjustment of space between two letters – is something the untrained eye can rarely see. Good, or poor, kerning is more of a feeling as to whether type works or not. Here we have eight tips to keep you from falling into the auto-kerning trap so that you can kern type like a pro. (This post is filled with letter combinations; use them as a springboard to thinking about kerning. Do you like the way the letters or numbers work together? How would you kern them differently?)
There’s no way to quantify all of the font options available for website designers. Almost every day a new typeface shows up in my inbox or Twitter feed. But not every one one of these typefaces – no matter how beautiful – is right for designing a website.
When it comes to selecting the perfect font, you have think about a variety of things including compatibility, load time and design purpose. Today, we have seven tips to help you select and use the best web font for your design project.
Not everything is as easy as ABC or 123. Sometimes your copy might require a character outside of the basic alphabet. That’s where special characters and glyphs come in. (Look around, they are more common than you might think at first.)
Depending on your workflow, inserting a glyph can be as simple as a keystroke or a multi-step process. Much of it depends on the software you are using, typography palette and how the final product will be published. Here, we are going to take a look at special characters, examples of use and tips for success.
Mobile is big right now. But often the typography is small. When it comes to creating great type on small screens, there are plenty of challenges.
So how can you make the most of responsiveness, mobile design and typography? The first step is really understanding type and the second is by thinking about how people read. Put the two together and you will get a handle on creating great mobile type in no time. It’s a skill that every designer needs to master in the digital age.
Visual hierarchy is an important element in any design project. It tells people where to look and what things on the screen or printed page are most important. Hierarchy gives readers a sense of how to actually read material from start to finish with visual cues and flow.
While you can create visual hierarchy using a number of different tools, today we are going to look at ways to create structure with just typography. (And take a look at the images used throughout this post; they are all examples of great type hierarchy in action.)
Without a doubt, the most beautiful character in the English language is the ampersand. The single character comes in so many fashions – from the simple & to the casual E- to t-style representations.
But where did this character come from? What does it mean? And most importantly how can you take advantage of using it in your design projects? Here we will take a look at my favorite character from its history to uses and a gallery of great ampersands to inspire you.