Tag: Typography

On Wednesday’s class, Karl Stolley Skyped in to discuss various fonts. This was an interesting conversation as the topic of fonts isn’t one commonly talked about. In fact, I realized just how little I actually know. For example, the terms “serif” and “sans-serif” are relatively new. Although I have certainly heard these words before, I never knew that serifs referred to the little tail lines on the ends of  the strokes of each letter. Another bit of information I wasn’t entirely aware of what the history behind some fonts. I, like most people, assumed fonts were just created by calligraphers or artists to get add an additional bit of aesthetic to the page. But Stolley showed how some fonts are actually based of historical inscriptions in monuments, which are formulated that way for particular reasons such as preventing the cracking of stone. All in all, I found that the topic of fonts is far wider that I ever realized, and that there is still much to learn behind each font on my laptop.

Karl Stolley skyped with our class and discussed different types of fonts. For most fonts we discussed and that he told us about were fonts that I didn’t really know. Some of the fonts I was common with for example Helvetica and Calbri. Then he told us that for most brands use fonts that I wasn’t common with but, that is how they became so popular. He discussed there are more to just a font, for example, its more than what the words are saying with the font. The use of various fonts can be aesthetically pleasing as well. We use certain fonts because they are skinner and easier to read and they flow in a manner that allows readers to flow with the information. While we use bolder and bigger fonts to say something important or give meaning to something. When Dr. Licastro also included in the visit that uses Helvetica for her emails for people with learning disabilities to help them better read the information was really interesting to hear. Which made we wonder why don’t we use Helvetica in academic papers if there were studies on this font that aided in the understanding and helped with learning disabilities

Karl Stolley’s visit to our class really opened my eyes to the world of fonts and the different kind of emotions that each font might bring to the writer that is using it. There were many realization moments where Karl brought up a certain font and then typed what movie/TV show title that it was used for and then everyone in the class was like “OH”. For example when he brought up the font that was used in Star Wars, we all nodded our heads in agreement that we knew where it was from. Also, to see that so many big-name brands use Helvetica for their titles, such as North Face or Crate and Barrel, is kind of incredible. I guess Helvetica is just clean-looking to all these companies and is legible enough for all of their customers.
I feel like whoever is in charge of picking a font for a company’s brand name has a super difficult task has ahead of them because there are so many fonts out there and I am sure that company’s who want to evoke a certain emotion have to find the perfect font for their brand. But some companies and individuals choose their fonts based on convenience, like I remember during our discussion that Amanda uses a certain font for all of her emails because it is the most accessible for people with reading disabilities, which is a very concious and inclusive choice, so that just about everyone can receive and read all the emails from her.

I enjoyed Karl’s visit because he found a fun and entertaining way to talk about fonts, which on any other day, would not be interesting to me, but he kept me into the discussion through all of his knowledge of the fonts and which movies/stores/TV shows that use that specific type of font.

Today in class, Karl Stolley skyped us and took the time to speak to us about the different typefaces (fonts) used. Some fonts that we discussed included Sans/Sans Serif, Helvetica, Caslon, Times New Roman, Bodoni, Acumin, Linotype, and Fututra. One thing I learned is that for the most part, these fonts are definitely considered easy and readable. I also see fonts in a different way because I now know that specific fonts are used for different reasons and not just because of the aesthetics. Italics for example are used for emphasis. I would consider these to be some of the more popular ones especially since you see these kinds of fonts on the titles of different stores. You could even see it on the Stevenson University logo. All in all, these fonts are still used to this day and probably will be around for a long time.