Solving Problems with Fonts in Web Design
Frustrating to many web designers is the limited availability of font choices. There are only a handful of fonts supported by all web browsers, unlike the plethora of fonts available for designs such as business card or brochure printing. Happily, the Internet is changing. Beginning in 2009, Safari, Opera, and Firefox have allowed designers to embed fonts, including TrueType (ttf) and OpenType (otf) fonts. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is slower to change, unfortunately, and it may be 3 to 5 years before all web browsers can come up with a way to embed fonts across the board.
Copyright Issues Solved
While it is pretty easy to embed fonts with Safari, Opera, and Firefox, copyright laws are still an issue. To avoid licensing issues, you could rent fonts from a company such as Typekit. This company rent fonts on a monthly or yearly basis in compliance with copyright laws. Your other option is to stick to open source fonts.
Fonts that All Browsers Have
Helvetica was created half a century ago, and is widely used both by printing companies and online. It is a sans-serif font that was created by Swiss designers at Linotype.
Arial is another sans-serif font that is widely used. Some people say that Arial is a Helvetica knockoff, but the two fonts are not all that similar.
Verdana was created specifically for the Internet. Microsoft commissioned this font, requiring that it be easy to read on a computer screen at small sizes. It is also a sans-serif font.
Trebuchet was also commissioned by Microsoft for the Internet. It is a sans-serif font that works better as a header than as body text.
Lucinda Grande is a sans-serif font used in the Mac operating systems. It’s cousin, Lucinda Sans Unicode looks similar and is the Windows version. It has a more hand-written, organic feel than other sans-serif fonts. (more…)
Design for the Times: Legibility
Here’s a fact to face: the American population is aging and eyesight is one of the first things to go. It starts with squinting, moves to headaches, and finally the reality of the situation becomes apparent – it’s time for glasses, contacts, or even lasik surgery.
Top 10 Fonts for the Web
Legibility of fonts on Web sites are one of the most important aspects of Web design. No one will put forth effort just to read Web text. Fonts on Web sites must be legible and easy on the eyes to keep readers at the sites. Here are the top 10 fonts to use on the Web, mainly chosen for their easy readability.
Top Fonts for Print
When it comes to marketing brochures, posters, books, newspapers, magazines, what’s the first thing you notice? The stories and messages are all well and good, but subconsciously (and for designers, consciously) most people notice the font of these items. A font can make or break a design, and font has the power to make the reader feel however the designer intended.
Where To Go To Get Inspired To Design
Everyone has those days when you just can’t get creative. It’s like every creative bone in your body has been replaced with a boring bone. Well, I’ve got some sites here that will help stimulate your creative side.
Web Sites
101+ Places to Get Design Inspiration – The Aussie that runs this blog is only 20 or 21 and still in college, but he’s already a great designer. He’s been working since he was 16 for professional clients, designing logos, flyers and everything else a business needs.
Abduzeedo – Very interesting ideas, very unique. Not for the traditionalist.
Freelance Switch’s 60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration – Online and Off – Freelance Switch has a blog with advice for all kinds of freelancers, including this article with Web sites and books recommended to help you get your design on.
Books (all at Amazon.com)
New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design for the Next Century – This book shows top poster designers’ artwork of now, which has proven that the poster can still serve as a worthy communications tool. According to Amazon: “In doing so, they’ve brought the poster back to prominence. In this book, the author has compiled the world’s finest new work at the height of this rebirth. There is currently no book on the market that can claim it features a ‘definitive’ poster collection.”
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop – A “comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-based design, one must first understand those rules and see them applies to real-world projects.”
You get to find out about how top designers’ processes work and their rationale while designing. “Projects with similar characteristics are linked through a simple notational system that encourages exploration and comparison of structure ideas. Also included are historical overviews that summarize the development of layout concepts, both grid-based and non-grid based, in modern design practice.”
Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design – “[This book] is part of Rockport’s popular Workbook series of practical and inspirational workbooks that cover all the fundamental areas of the graphic design business.” It contains loads of info on type without a lot of extra fun facts you don’t need to know about so that designers can get the information they need quickly and easily.
Other books on typography are more technical or showcase oriented, but this book actually gives you ideas and inspiration through real-life examples that show successful uses of typography.
It also offers “a variety of other content, including choosing fonts, sizes, and colors; incorporating text and illustrations; avoiding common mistakes in text usage; and teaching rules by which to live (and work) by.”
Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design – This book doesn’t only have great examples for inspiration; it also helps you understand design. “The book illuminates the broad category of layout, communicating specifically what it takes to design with excellence. It also addresses the heart of design-the how and why of the creative process.”
