The main advantage of excellent typography lies in its ability to be both attractive and functional at the same time. Although images communicate more vividly, text presentation can impress visitors with its sharpness and precise geometrical forms and curves. Consequently, chosen wisely and used carefully, it can be very effective - and there are dozens of outstanding examples of how the latter can be achieved. Read the rest of this entry »

Once there was a typeface called Helvetica. It was extremely popular. Later came a software company called Microsoft. They “borrowed” Helvetica for their operating system and called it Arial. This inferior typeface is now on millions of desktops all over the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and then designers stumble upon the very same problem: the choice of a unique and beautiful typeface which manages to fulfill three basic tasks. Support the corporate identity, enrich the visual appearance and is compatible with the overall design. However, usually there are simply too many options you can consider, which is why you need time to find the option you are most comfortable with. Although the choice usually depends on clients’ requirements, it is necessary to have some pretty starting points for your font decision. Read the rest of this entry »

I have spent the last month searching, stumbling, noting, bookmarking and analysing in a quest to find 15 Excellent examples of Web Typography. I’ve chosen them because they make excellent use of type. Some of the examples mimic the typography of print, while others actually leverage web technology, smart CSS and delicious HTML to make their pages not only aesthetically pleasing, but legible, user-friendly and easily navigable. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Gotham typeface, inspired by signs on buildings, celebrates the workmanlike “draftsman’s alphabet” at a monumental scale. Similarly unadorned, but at a more intimate size, is the lettering of engineering: the marks on precision instruments, blueprints, stencils and templates. Drawn, stamped, engraved and routed, these forms are sensitively captured by our new Gotham Rounded family, available in four weights (with italics!) that go from friendly to high-tech to cheeky with ease. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently tested a great new utility called Genopal PRO - it’s an easy and intuitive software that helps you pick up complementary colors for your projects in a snap. The software is loaded with great features, such as an easy to use color picker, preset palettes, drag and drop swatches and much more. Read the rest of this entry »

By my best estimation, at least 1,800 new commercial typefaces were released in 2006 alone. This count does not include freebies, custom and proprietary commissions, or even individual weights. It is a rough tally of the number of new font families released by the major resellers and exclusive foundries last year. If we take this fresh meat and trim the inevitable 90% that is unusable fat, we are still left with hundreds of quality new typefaces, most of which will never get ink from a design magazine or a blurb on a blog. Read the rest of this entry »