Thursday, February 15, 2018

What are the best fonts for wedding programs?

What are the best fonts for wedding programs?

This choice depends and is contingent on the many factors of the wedding program project as a part of the entire occasion. Some factors include; who are the people being married and what they want their wedding occasion to be.
Questions about wedding theme, social position, size, formality, budget, is their a need for a cohesive look, all these answers and more will influence type choice, paper choice, print method, binding, folding, finishing. These choices all need to work together as well.

One of the many reasons you work with a professional graphic designer is that this is where the typographic, material, printing knowledge and design esthetic you seek resides. A graphic design professional will guide you and expertly design and produce; invitations, save the dates, ceremony programs & reception programs, shower & party cards, matching envelopes, even wedding websites.

What are the best typefaces for cartography?

What are the best typefaces for cartography?

I originally posted the answer on Quora which is where this question came to me.
 
A hard question to answer quickly.
In part it depends on the map. Road map, site map, area map, USGS Topography maps, Green Trails maps or on screen navigation map display are just a few map forms. Each map is similar but each can have a unique use.
Typography and graphic design of books, magazines, pamphlet, poster, ad, billboard, flyer you try to accomplish legibility and readability with the type. The balance may shift, poster headline that is highly legible set in unique or unusual typeface that type choice may not work for lines of copy in that poster design.
Cartography has many differences then typography in publishing print or on internet.
Typography on a map as a general guideline your selecting especially clear sans serifs typefaces, those typefaces engineered for cramped conditions, that work at small point size, and collections of symbols and markers are all useful when designing maps. But serif fonts are used too, look at a USGS topo map and you can see this.
The typography applied in cartography design the text and graphics compete. The text itself can represent a feature on a map. The typography on a map also needs to accomplish legibility and readability. The text is small, the text has a style hierarchy, text has a different kind of interplay with textured backgrounds and colors.
A popular typeface in use on printed maps is Cisalpin
A handy typeface of symbols is Carta Regular
Partial character set follows 








A list of some typefaces used on maps;
Frutiger.
Myriad Pro.
Gill Sans.
Futura.
Optima.
Meridien
Rotis
Univers
Myriad
Kepler
Jensen
Nueva
Teton
The typography on a map has some unique demanding specifications. Mapmaking designs can have many purpose, type choice can reflect that.

Maps that follow are good illustrations of purpose.

The first example has two kinds of maps shown as part of a page of a brochure. The smaller map a location map, the other larger map a site map. These two maps work together intentionally. They share many of the same typefaces, but not all the same symbols and each has a own unique presentation of information style. Each map is unique in its purpose.
The next example is a bus route map that is the main purpose. It is also a stop location and street map. It is quite different from its parent the weekday route map. This map was to be fun and inviting to the weekend user. The look reflects posters, adds, billboards, and bus sideboards as part of a campaign to attract more weekend bus ridership. The map itself uses condensed san serif fonts, The surrounding typefaces unique, bold and colors are a bright, loud spectrum. A specialized purpose map.



Thursday, February 8, 2018

What is a good font type and size for subtitles on a video to be used on a portal?

A question asked, my answer.

Not all typefaces are crafted and designed to be used when setting captions, text, subheads, and display headlines. Even though current technology makes it possible to set any typeface at any size regardless of the intended use of the original font design. It is not appropriate and the novice, apprentice, junior designer doing so often has odd looking results.

Knowing the demographics of your intended audience in addition to understanding the design brief are imperative steps to take in selecting a type design that performs well in the medium you intend to use.

Without at least that basic audience and design brief knowledge or my understanding what background you have or lack in graphic design and typography all I can comfortably steer you towards is to look at “Display” type.

Display or headline typeface is type that can forgo the extreme legibility and readability needed for long blocks of text at small sizes in favor of a stronger voice, more elaborate and expressive shapes, and a more distinctive look. Good quality display type are designed with subtle detailing, elegant proportions, and increased stroke contrast to have enhanced visual appeal at sizes above 24 point.

In what ever medium utilized, type and typography are visual media that are very much affected by size. It is important to select appropriate typeface font for the intended size range. This problem is one graphic designers are trained to solve. Typographic expertise is one of the reasons you hire and forge a business relationship with a professional graphic designer.

The Web Has Changed (is changing) However The Web Design Process Still Holds True.

The Web Has Changed (is changing) However The Web Design Process Still Holds True.
By: Theodore Baker
Last couple of years the web site buzz was the “Box Model” coded with HTML 5 styled with CSS, at the same time you were surrounded with social media, today is the “Responsive Design Philosophy” or mobil design. We see “FREE” 5-minute web design templates ads pop up everywhere, and every business web guru is telling you it is just a matter of having good content. 
Like any visual communication a web site to be successful takes elaborate planning and conceptualization. The first steps in web design project are the most challenging phases. Defining a web sites main purpose, what message to convey and how this message will be conveyed is hard time consuming work. The best web sites the ones you find to be useful all went through a Web Design Process. These best sites have a common feature; sharp and focused communication. This is not a new idea it is 101 business and marketing, and it is a hard thing to accomplish in any medium.
A Web Design will use six phases in the web site design process. These phases are:
• Discovery
• Definition, Information Architecture and Usability
• Creative Design
• Development
• Deployment
• Documentation
The heading points may have slight difference between designers and developers, however the design process has been around for ever and it works across all media.
A relevant web site design will not happen in five minutes.
Great design is accomplished with superlative collaborative work. The web design process takes a lot of hard work. Yes your paying a lot for web design team but your going to have to work too, and hard. You're going to invest a great deal of time to enable the web design team to do their part of the work.
Template design and point and click site building tools are just like paying for SEO services. In the long run it is not going to be sustainable and work well for your business web site.

In just a few clicks… , You just add content… It’s not that these template site services are bad, the design are solid the coding proven (well mostly). The problem is you are short and skinny and your buying off the rack at the big and tall. When you use these services you cut the corners of the web design process. So even though you picked the design from the proper business category, the solution the template provides is not going to result in a web site design that gives you sharp and focused communication about your unique business. To create good content you have to go through all of the web site design phases, it‘s a process.