An introduction to Typography for artists & designers

Hello & Welcome! This blog post is not just for designers, but I decided to brand it that way since it was the most relevant audience. This could be for anyone who wants to learn a little about typography & design. Circumstances are quite different now than when I attended school for graphic design 8 years ago! There are hundreds of beautiful free fonts available online & really lovely website templates. I personally am glad that I didn’t choose to design this website from scratch. I know how but I would rather spend my time creating illustrations. Time to get into the basics! All typefaces fall into one of 2 categories: Serif or Sans-serif, as shown below

I feel the difference between them is well defined, so I’ll move on. Pairing fonts: Serif fonts are typically categorized as more elegant, serious & formal. Sans-serif can often be more modern, fresh & energetic. The trick to pairing fonts, regardless of if you are mixing Serif with Sans-serif or not is: Always, always, vary the size of your text. Creating a visual hierarchy is essential to creating a successful design. The most important element, the title, logo, opening statement, needs to be larger than the rest of the text. Show the viewer the most important information first. Guide them by creating an element of flow. I intentionally am putting graphics in between the text on this blog post, to aid in visually processing the information. Imagine if all the text on this blog post was the same size & same font. It would be incredibly overwhelming & tedious to read. I’ll show an example of this below. As is shown, visual hierarchy makes a big difference, just this one tip is the easiest way to elevate a flyer, poster or personal branding.

Even though there are a lot of font options online I thought it would be fun to post my favorite typefaces— because I don’t gatekeep a goddamn thing! There is a time & a place for all caps, but typically it’s not for “body” text. Imagine the body as the font that is the smallest that you’re using the most, like the pages in the middle of a book. I’ll include my favorite all-caps fonts because I am an all-capital girlie at heart, I do have to force myself to get serious & use serif fonts sometimes.

Mastering visual hierarchy & kerning will take anyone really far as a designer. (Kerning is is the spacing in between letters. Also pay attention to the spacing in between separate lines of text vertically). Some typefaces are free to use & some are just for personal use. Keep this in mind especially if you’re looking into designing a logo. Buying fonts is always an option, which I would do if I really liked the font & was going to use it for a big job like wedding invitations.

I’m finally to the point where I can uncover what I HATE the most!! This is something I see constantly & it kills me inside. Many many people, even good designers sometimes, crop too tightly. We’ve all seen a meme or two where the top line is cut off or the sides, we’ve all seen facebook crop an image & ruin the vibe. Nothing makes me want to pass on reading a music poster more than non-existent visual hierarchy & bad typography cropping. As a general rule, I have borders on all my prints & online graphics. For square prints I center my images & have a consistent border the whole way around. If you’re printing art or throwing up a logo on the gram, take some extra time to make sure that mf image is centered, please! Take a look at the example below

The top poster has what I call “breathing room”. Let the design have space to breathe. Sometimes what I will do is design an illustration or a graphic, select all in photoshop or whatever program I’m using, and I will shrink the entire image & re-center it (if there is a background keep that going to the edge as shown). A little extra space on the sides makes a huge difference visually. Design is the perfect example of ying & yang. A good design has a harmonious relationship between positive & negative space. Big fonts balance out the smaller ones, dark colors balance the light colors, texture balances the blankness of large blocks of color. Thin fonts balance thicker fonts. Avoid 3 fonts that are all thick & heavy, or multiple fonts that are light & whimsical. A mix of both is (usually!) the key to success.

Find your community

I find I am the most productive & grounded when I surround myself with other artists. I love connecting with other makers & seeing what they have created. There are Reddit threads & Facebook groups to fit basically any spacial interest or passion. The best way to improve as a designer is to see what other designers are doing. Follow designers & artists on your social media. If you don’t know where to start, try using hashtags. On instagram any time I follow a tattoo artist several more come up & so I take that as an invitation to fill up my feed with art. I have 2 instagrams, one where I only follow artists & where I post my art & then my personal account where I follow friends. I spend my first few minutes awake looking at art & it’s really improved my mental health. It’s helpful to have an online place you can go to get inspired. Join groups & post in progress work. Ask for feedback from artists & designers, not your best friend or your dad (sorry Daddio!). Start getting curious & introspective about the design around you in your daily life.

We’ve come to the end of this post, I really hope you as a reader were able to find some of this information helpful. I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather, I am loving it. I live in Oregon & the rain I feel really washes away old thoughts I have outgrown or don’t want to move forward with. Be well & keep creating!