Fonts and type and how they effect the product 8/3/12

This lecture was primarily on typography and how important it is to display a clear and readable text.It's essential that communication of both the wording and the characteristics of font match with the chosen image and tone of a particular scene or moment.

With the previous lecture,we approached this topic from the point of view from comics and childrens books.There are two main ways of implementing font, through word processors and hand lettering - both have differing sensibilities.By computer, lettering looks more professional and clean but with handlettering, it gives the piece a more personal or natural appeal.We were then introduced to many of the basic terms like serifs and formatting your word structure to have a display font in the header. Kerning is also vital when structuring text as bad kern is generally frowned upon and is instantly noticable when analysing a particular design.Without proper kerning,the image ends up looking unprofessional and poorly implemented which is commonly apparent in handwriting fonts.An easy way to combat this is by using a tool such as Ames lettering guides to better facilitate layout of fonts freehand.

Layout is one thing however if the chosen type doesn't marry the accompanying image, then the whole exersize is futile.Image and text must balance each other out whether it be bold or italics.As an example of how effective this can be,we were shown a slideshow of groups of fonts from different decades and how trends change the style of lettering.What was instantly noticeable was how in the twenties and thirties,most of the fonts displayed had timeless qualities and could easily be used today and from the 40's onwards,fonts almost became fashionable depending on what was in pop culture and society at the time.

Finally at the end of the lecture we had a bit of an interactive section were the audience had to work on making a font work with a particular image - computer graphic.We had a considerable amount of time as a group to play around with characteristics of fonts and made me realise how meticulous and impacting choosing the right font can be to just give the image that extra push.Despite being reluctant in typography in the past, it is perhaps something I really should take more into account and study.