What a weak post. I'm going to spend a career alternating between Helvetica and Akzidenz? Clarendon (really?) and Rockwell? Why? Why would a designer ever use "Avant Garde"? What's the last major thing to ever use Optima?<p>Some of these faces seem terribly out of fashion (Optima, Rotis, Clarendon). Some of them seem useful only if you're going to set printed books (Bembo, Garamond). Some of them are so closely related (Akzidenz and Helvetica, Univers Avenir and Frutiger) that it's hard to see why all of them are here.<p>But what really bugs me about this post is that it contains no content. Choose whatever faces you want; you're supposedly the expert, blog writer! Just tell us something about them when you do.
I wonder if I'm the only one here who is completely font-blind? I never notice what font something is unless someone points it out, let alone being able to pick out 25 specific ones. I guess that makes me a poor candidate for being a designer, doesn't it!
As a designer I'm tired of seeing this post(10th time now?) Which is always directly "borrowed" from this book...
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Typefaces-Lifetime-Joshua-Berger/dp/1592532780" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Typefaces-Lifetime-Joshua-Be...</a><p>Which I have owned for, god I dont even remember how long. Dont defend these typefaces to deeply. They come with almost every computer today, so they are accessible to almost everyone (maybe mircosoft decided to catch up?). Which is why they are good for a lifetime.<p>Right now there are many contemporary type foundries putting out some really beautiful typefaces. Like these guys. <a href="http://processtypefoundry.com/" rel="nofollow">http://processtypefoundry.com/</a><p>Thats all. peace.
I recommend Bringhurst's Elements of Typographical Style as a crash course in typography.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Bringhurst/dp/0881791326" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...</a><p>It contains wonderful guidelines for typesetting and also gives a sense of history and culture behind common fonts.<p>Also useful is this site that outlines how to apply Bringhurst's principles to the web:<p><a href="http://webtypography.net/" rel="nofollow">http://webtypography.net/</a>
There is no justification for any of these fonts. He could've simply spun the wheel'o fonts and picked 25 of these. Most fonts have a real designer behind them that designed the font for a reason. The font depicts a mood and should be used for specific situations. This just makes it seem like you should pick any font of your choosing and run wild with it.<p>Since there are 25 I surely can't run out right?
How could you make a list like that and omit HFJ's Gotham in favor of FF Dax or Myriad?<p>Many of these are roughly equivalent. Terrible list.<p>A few seconds of searching turns up an infinitely more interesting piece from Smashing Magazine: <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/20/60-brilliant-typefaces-for-corporate-design/" rel="nofollow">http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/20/60-brilliant-type...</a>
I generally agree a lot with professional designers about typography (well, apart from the rabid Helvetica lovers among them), but sometimes I wonder whether compromising for the tastes of the general public wouldn't be worth it in monetary terms. The proliferation of Comic Sans and Papyrus doesn't come out of nowhere, and if you walk around in a random city in this world (with Latin signage), you're bound to see lots of those signs. I have a friend who works in a print shop, and apparently a lot of customers prefer to have that.<p>So depending on your desired projected image, you might want to go with the typographically "bad" choice, for psychological reasons. I wonder whether real designers regard this with the same distaste as I would about copy & paste programming…
I've been trying to get into design more, but I apparently don't have any innate talent and I'm going to have to actually work hard at it.<p>Anyone got any tips/articles/etc on how to pick a typeface?<p>Yeah, that's a pretty broad question... I've tried going by my feelings, and that only goes so far with no innate ability. I can recognize some as looking 'classy' or 'fun', but anything more fine-tuned than that eludes me so far.
These are all fine faces with (mostly) very rigid licenses around them. If your design career was online - the chances of you able to easily use any of them in a meaningful way is nil. There are some great faces released under the OFL, GPL, and CC licenses.
Remember, most of these won't look so good as body copy on the web: <a href="http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/design-for-hackers-why-you-dont-use-garamond-on-the-web/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/design-for-hackers-why-you-...</a>
The complete lack of any mention of printer's ornaments (pi fonts) or specialty fonts (chess anyone?) suggests that 'Career' doesn't even begin to cover edge cases. Which of course leaves the land of hum-drum in the middle--- no thanks!