There comes a time in the life of a website, when the ‘under construction’ sign takes center stage. That’s when dirty fonts get special attention. But they are not exclusively the only fonts used in such situations. As always, designers like to play with colors and graphics, but there’s no hiding from the ubiquitous yellow, or fonts that create a connection with the normal style of the website they replace for a while. Distorted, casual, geometric, funny or downright boring, the ‘under construction’ fonts tell many stories, although they aim to convey one simple message. Let’s take a look: Hard Working Dirty Fonts The Countdown Funny Gang Polite Blue Road sign Builders Funky Cartoons The Penguin The Patch The Snail Old Sign Dirty Fonts 2        

This Friday we look at those 9 typography mistakes you should avoid, although we’re sure if there are more, you’ll let us know. But we’ll also keep you smiling with a nostalgic tribute to typography in films, an analysis of bad fonts (and why they are not that bad after all), a bit of typography for beginners, interviews, ‘string’ typography and… wallpapers. 9 Typography Mistakes to Avoid   For those who want to avoid typographic mistakes in the future, here are nine examples of what you did in one form or another, and solemnly vow never to do again. From ‘illegible typeface choice’, ‘poor readability’ and ‘bad font choice’ to ‘no typography contrast’, ‘bad typeface combinations’, it’s all in there. Let us know if they missed something. By the way, what mistakes will you never again do? Documentary Pays Visual Tribute To Typography In Film Opening Sequences Check out this documentary made by Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule. It explores the evolution of title design in film, the gatekeeping function of the opening sequence, tone-setting for the film, and the later use of advanced computer graphics and technology to produce opening sequences that were mini films in themselves. What’s in it for you? Great typography, of course. Simplicity of Typography in Windows Wallpapers What do you know about the new trend of decorating the desktop of electronic devices? Because in this round up you’ll find brand new wallpapers based on the theme of attractive fonts for the furnishing of your hand set and devices. The typescript used in these eye-catching typography wallpapers can be a slogan, a written quote or whatever you want. See for yourself and check out the details. A Brief Introduction to Typography - Infographic We came across another infographic intend to explain the basics of typography and disseminate the ones that always work. The ideas is that any computer contains hundreds of pre-installed fonts to choose from and there are dozens of websites with thousands of free fonts, so, some minimal knowledge and aesthetic taste are an asset. Take a look! Don’t worry, it’s a short walk. Use Photoshop and Illustrator to Create Guitar String Typography For those who want to do some work or learn something new this weekend, here’s a tutorial. It helps you create words out of intertwining guitar strings. A bit like ‘fun with typography’. Get started! Bad Fonts What if some of the most hated fonts aren’t bad at all, and they’re just used inappropriately? That’s what this article tries to explain. Of course, for the most part, "worst of" lists are good-humored, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, but some are quite angry, bordering on vitriolic as if their authors have been personally affronted by the ill-considered type choices of amateur designers. If you want to give fonts a second chance, this is for you. You’ll also find out who’s public enemy number one. Interview with Michael Bierut — Typography, Modern Applications, and Timeless Communication Challenges Michael Bierut was the president of the American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA), is a senior critic in graphic design at Yale, a partner at Pentagram Design in New York City, a founding writer for the Design Observer blog, and a driving force behind the film "Helvetica." In this interview the topics cover typographic design, how page design and venue interact with type choices, how type influences perceptions, whether we’ll ever "break the page," and why the Higgs Boson was announced via a PowerPoint that relied on Comic Sans. Sounds intriguing, right? Have a fab weekend!  

We all have our favorite fonts, types and books. Because the list of favourite books continually grows, today we’ll share the third part of our series of posts on books about typography. Type takes centre stage this time, as it becomes the star and the main focus. And we’re not talking only about titles. If thinking with type is just your type, this new list of books will come in handy. Let’s browse: Thinking with Type, Second Revised and Expanded Edition: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students This revised edition of Thinking with Type includes forty-eight pages of new content, including the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering. The visual examples show how to be inventive within systems of typographic form. No worry, they’ll tell you what the rules are, but also how to break them. All in all, this is a great guide to using typography in visual communication, from print to screen. A book for everyone. A Type Primer Are you looking for a book to analyse the basic principles and applications of type? Because this practical introduction to typography and top fonts could be the answer. From measuring type and classifying typefaces to organising text on a page and understanding grid systems, this book covers everything that the beginning student of graphic design needs to know. But there’s more. Like that brief history of typography, numerous examples to illustrate the points raised and a series of useful exercises to help readers put basic principles into practice. Type Matters This is a book of tips for everyday use, for all users of typography, from students and professionals to anyone who does any layout design on a computer. All that confusing terminology about letter spacing and visual centring, but also the rules for good typography, are discussed. There are three chapters, and within each chapter there are sections devoted to particular principles or problems, such as selecting the right typeface, leading, and the treatment of numbers. Full of examples, authoritatively written and designed by a practitioner and teacher of typography. By the way, the beautifully clear layout reinforces the principles discussed throughout. Just My Type: A Book About Fonts Just My Type is not just about fonts, this is a proper book of stories. A Sunday Times review mentioned that it is ‘a kind of Eats, Shoots and Leaves for letters, revealing the extent to which fonts are not only shaped by but also define the world in which we live.’ You’l find out how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world, why Barack Obama opted for Gotham, while Amy Winehouse found her soul in 30s Art Deco. It tells stories about the great originators of type, from Baskerville to Zapf, or people like Neville Brody who threw out the rulebook, or Margaret Calvert, who invented the motorway signs that are used from Watford Gap to Abu Dhabi. But enough with the spoilers, these are stories any typography lover will enjoy. Exciting and inspiring.

Newspapers. They can be free, paid, old, new, boring, interesting, trustworthy, irresponsible, or, well, you name it. And they are still our daily addiction when it comes to news. Sometimes they are so embedded in our consciousness that we might not even need to see the title to know what publication we’re talking about. Only the fonts will do. Take The New York Times, for instance. The fonts are just as famous as the publication itself. They are part of the history of the newspaper and most likely will be a big part of its future too. Below you have 15 famous American and British newspapers. Surely, some are on your favorite fonts list already. Here they are, in no particular order, but with very different histories: The New York Times The Guardian The Telegraph The Washington Post The Independent The Times LA Times USA Today Daily Mail San Francisco Chronicle The Sunday Telegraph The Herald The Evening Standard The Boston Globe Metro

Typography fascinates artists. That’s a fact. This week we came across many examples of art that uses typography as their main tool. It must be spring. But it’s not all butterflies, spring, LEGO fonts and inspiring kinetic typography, as we get serious about typography abominations and website readability too. Unique Butterfly Species Created with Typography These are not animals dingbats, these are very rare species of typography butterflies. The project is a series in which each winged bug is formed out of select typefaces including Bodoni, Times New Roman, and Univers. Using real species as the inspiration for the basic forms, designer Guusan mimics the bodies of many Japanese butterflies. Beautiful. Enjoy! Typography for all: Demystifying Text for High-impact Messages This article covers the basics of everyday typography, font pairings that are pleasing to the eye, practical formatting tips that work with a variety of software, and common mistakes to avoid. It’s a good start for beginners. Unforgivable Typography Abominations If you agree that there is bad typography out there, on the internet, then this text is for you. It starts from the premise that people actually cared about typography back when newspapers had to set each letter manually and run their printing press overnight, just to get a single publication out the door. Now, any halfwit can go on dafont.com and download a quarter million fonts. So, here you have some common typography abominations that are sure to raise any designer’s blood pressure. Ira Glass on the Secret of Success in Creative Work, Animated in Kinetic Typography It has been done before, we know, but there’s something charming and true about the message in this wonderful short motion graphics piece capturing Ira Glass’s now-legendary interview on the art of storytelling. Beautifully minimalist and elegant kinetic typography plus a text any creative person can relate to. Take a look! Improve Website Readability By Using Better Typography Yes, content is by far the most important aspect of a blog, as it is this that will attract the traffic to your site. But, on the other hand, if people can’t read your content properly due to poor site typography, then they won’t stick around for long. Agree? If yes, here are some design tips that you can use to help improve your website readability. LEGO Letterpress Creates Dotted Typography This proves that playing with LEGO is not just for kids. After experimenting with letterpress and wood block printing, Scottish designer Levi decided to start branching out until he came up with the LEGO letterpress. The result: a playful dotted font. Now you have an excuse to break out your old bricks and create… a new typeface. Adobe Busts Myths with Stylised Typography And last, but not least, check out Adobe’s latest social campaign that seeks to bury common myths about marketing. These stylish designs by typographer and illustrator Jordan Metcalf help get the message across. How do you like them? And don’t forget to have a great weekend!        

This is the last part of our series on books about typography. In today’s medley selection we put together books published in different decades, and some that are not directly related to typography. However, rest assured that we’ll keep an eye on new books too. You’ll be the first to know about them. Typographie: A Manual of Design Here it is, the timeless textbook from which generations of typographers and graphic designers have learned their fundamentals. For those new to the trade, Emil Ruder, one of the great twentieth-century typographers, was a pioneer who abandoned the conventional rules of his discipline and replaced them with new rules that satisfied the requirements of his new typography. Ruder explains his philosophy in 19 chapters, showing a multitude of ways to evolve in typography. This is the sixth edition. You’ll find over 500 examples. You can even choose the language to read it: English, German or French. Enjoy! Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type This is a book for designers of every medium in which type plays a major role. It’s a practical, hands-on resource to distill, organize, and compartmentalize the many complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. The book is divided into four easy-to-use sections: The Letter, The Word, The Paragraph, and The Page. Each of the 100 principles has an explanation and examples representing the principle in action. Organized and designed to make the design process enjoyable and entertaining, this is also highly instructional. Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice This revised book was first published in… 1965, and it’s a classic guide for motion media students/teachers and graphic designers alike.  Elements of image and form are analyzed and examined with regard to their inherent laws. The lessons of methodical design are used today in computer monitor design as well. The desktop publishing technique requires very clear conceptual and methodical working processes. This book, which is divided into computer-system-friendly sections, will thus serve this new circle of users as a valuable introduction, but not necessarily for beginners. It’s also not for those who are 100% focused on fonts only. Detail In Typography  In less than 100 pages, Detail in Typography manages to cover the basics of in-paragraph formatting by answering a couple of important questions such as: How is it that text can be set perfectly and yet look insufferably dull? How do you achieve perfect congruence between the type itself and its meaning? In this book, Jost Hochuli, master book designer and author of the seminal Designing Books, addresses the finer points of setting text. He begins with a consideration of how human beings read, moving on incrementally to considerations of letter, word, and line as well as word-space and line-space. He examines whole paragraphs and how they carry meaning, thus creating a book that embodies critical thinking and articulate design in its own physical form. Great material!  

Magazines can take that special place on your bookshelf, next to the dictionaries, the art albums and the classics. But to become a… collection, a magazine needs to publish those stories that win Pulitzers and turn readers into fans. Esquire magazine is such an example. National Geographic is another. However, when it comes to typography, which types make you browse through before seeing the cover and reading the contents? Below you’ll find 12 magazines. For a couple of magazines we added several versions to show how color plays an essential role in keeping every cover fresh, topical and exciting. The story goes that famous fonts open doors and find their way to a comfy place in readers’ collections. Which one do you think will end up in yours? Esquire Esquire Esquire GQ GQ GQ The Atlantic National Geographic Time Out Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Time Mojo Vanity Fair Empire Q The New Yorker

Great experimental fonts, light and shadows as tools for creating typography, nostalgic hand drawn typography, smart quotes, a short animated history of typography and more. Yes, just another week in the wonderful world of types. Now make some coffee and let’s browse together: Typecast: How New Technology Is Reinventing Typography This is an interesting text about the rare craft of designing typefaces. For hundreds of years, designers had to master wood carving and metal casting to practice their art. However, with the rise of computers they learned to conquer bitmaps and vectors using tools like Glyphs, FontLab, or RoboFont. New technology and standards continue to put a new face on type, and the use cases are extending off our computer screens and into the physical realm too. As programming becomes a common part of the designer’s skill set, innovation is continuing along these lines and this article will guide you through. Read on! Light and Shadows Create Striking Typography Perfect (happy!) collision of art and typography. This shadow font experiment from Fred Eerdekens is an absolute delight. Sculpted from copper wire, cotton and various other materials, he plays on the art of light and shadow to create words on the walls. A beautiful art installation that proves typography is still one of the most creative outlets around. And that distorted fonts have many…. faces. Nostalgic Hand-Drawn Typography Of Quotes, Posted On Instagram By combining an image with hand-drawn type, Florida-based designer Zachary Smith has created some beautiful pieces of work based on quotes of sage advice. With beautiful graphics and famous quotes, his lovely nostalgia-themed work is highly popular on social networks such as Instagram, where he already has up to 7,500 followers. Are you gonna follow too? The History of Typography - Animated Short This video published on YouTube at the end of April this year is a paper-letter animation about the history of fonts and typography. It took 291 Paper Letters, 2,454 Photographs, and 140 hours of work. If this video sparks any ideas, don’t forget to let the creators know. Until then, enjoy! Pencil to Pixel typography exhibition, New York Here you have a comprehensive exhibition offering typography fanatics a chance to get up close to rare implements, artworks and artifacts relating to type history, charting the development of typography up to its present technology-infused state. The exhibition will run from 3-9 May. Tickets are required, but admission is free. Don’t miss it if you’re in the hood! 47 Top Typography Tools and Resources To help you improve and learn more about typography, Mashable have compiled 25 useful tools and resources, from fundamentals to modular scales. Have they left out your favorite typography tool or resource? No worry, share your recommendations! By the way, do you know why typography works? "It creeps into you and before you know it, you’ve received the message" Erik Spiekermann Have a fab weekend!  

Typography is quite often part of design exhibitions, but typography (almost) only exhibitions are less common. That’s why today we talk about 3 special exhibitions that you can visit these days in Europe and USA. Chris Bracey - I’ve Looked Up To Heaven and Been Down to Hell This is London-based light artist Chris Bracey’s first major UK solo exhibition celebrating his lightning designs. We’re talking neon lights, so you’ll discover plenty of intriguing typography. Bracey has worked with neon and lights for over thirty years and the title of this exhibition alludes to his remarkable journey and career. His personal life story is just as interesting as his career. His father was a neon sign-maker and Chris learnt to manufacture and design the neon signs at an early age. When it comes to his career, his fan base resembles a wing of Madame Tussauds, with names like David LaChapelle, Stella McCartney, Martin Creed, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood. He also created installations for films like Stanley Kubrick’s "Eyes Wide Shut", Tim Burton’s "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the Batman films. You’ll discover iconic imagery from tattoo culture, Las Vegas and the streets of Soho too. But there’s so much more in this dense exhibition filled with wonder, nostalgia and glamour, while raising questions about morality, spirituality and the role neons play in society. The London exhibition runs until 1 June. And remember, "Neon is only happy when it’s on, when it’s alive". Pencil to Pixel typography exhibition, New York From London we move to New York for the ultimate showcase for the font fiends in all of us. Guilty for this treat is the British typography firm Monotype. Their exhibition offers typography fanatics a chance to get up close to rare implements, artwork and artifacts relating to type history charting the development of typography up to its present technology-infused state. The exhibition opened last week and is actually a reprise of a first installment that was staged in London last November. The American leg will feature examples with special relevance to the United States, such as a copy of the 1931 Linotype magazine ‘Typographic Sanity,’ published in Brooklyn, as well as original Monotype Centaur typeface drawings by American typographer and type designer Bruce Rogers. Six Things: Sagmeister & Walsh Stefan Sagmeister (b. Bregenz, Austria, 1962) and Jessica Walsh (b. New York, 1986) are two designers known for their experimental typography and striking visual imagery. Six Things marks the first exhibition of their newly founded design firm. Sagmeister is the recipient of numerous design awards, including two Grammy awards for his packaging designs, while Walsh is a multidisciplinary designer, previously worked at Pentagram Design and Print magazine. The New York Times, AIGA, and EDP are among her clients. Their work is by turns playful and unsettling, humanist and existential, and often expands the definition of design, embracing film, sculpture, poetry, and performance. Six Things is a continuation of a project on happiness. In five compelling short videos and a sound-activated sculpture, they examine six things culled from Sagmeister’s diary that he believes have increased his personal happiness: If I Don’t Ask I Won’t Get Keeping a Diary Supports Personal Development Be More Flexible It Is Pretty Much Impossible to Please Everybody Now Is Better Feel Others Feel Enjoy the exhibitions and their famous or less famous fonts. And don’t forget to let us know if you’ve seen any of these exhibitions or any new ones.  

You’re into radio, but you still need some fonts to make people aware of your existence on the air waves. What do you choose? Would you go for more graphics or more typography? How do you combine them? Who’s listening to your radio station? Are you going for the funky fonts or the retro ones? There are lots of questions, but maybe this collection of underground and mainstream radio stations typography will provide some answers too. So, which radio would you listen to according to their taste in typography? Kut   Hype HD Late Night   Graffiti Mixlor Hard Radio Kiss Two Valleys Absolute Z 100 Z 103.5 BBC 20 on 20 A List