Interesting read, but I still think that people spend faaaaaaaar too much time thinking about typefaces. I just don't think they make as much of an impact on the page as people think they do.<p>At first glance, I thought the "elite" and "subtle" were both the same face, and likewise with the "informal"/"playful". It's only because they were blown up to a large size that I actually started noticing a tiny difference. Maybe it's just me?<p>To me, the overall layout of the page is far more important. eg. margins, font-size, line-height, paragraph width, etc.<p>The exception to my rule, that I might spend more time on, is for big newspaper style headlines. Those I treat more like images/artwork than like text, so they get commensurately more attention devoted to them.
Very interesting read ! Thanks a lot.<p>Right now, I'm trying to learn a few things about webdesign, and I have spent some time on typography yet. However, I know a few basics now, a few things about typography history, but I have never been able to find tutorials about the "why should I use this typeface or this other one there". It's like everybody is able to speak about typography theory but not about practice and thinking.<p>Someone knows where I can find other articles about practice ? Thanks !
I really wish I could learn to analyze typefaces better, like the author. When evaluating a typeface for my projects, I usually just eyeball it, never spending more than a few minutes. I hadn't really thought of thinking about the target audience instead of just a font that simply matches the design.<p>There are some great tips in there that I imagine would help one pick a fitting typeface for most projects.
All that time, thought and work and they ended up choosing Freight Micro?<p><a href="http://www.cucumbertown.com/craft/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/freigh.png" rel="nofollow">http://www.cucumbertown.com/craft/wp-content/uploads/2013/10...</a><p>Look at that 'a' and the 's' (among other assorted ugliness)... ugh!
Nice read, but I'm left with some questions. Thisis a website where one can find recepies and read those with the instructions <i>while you're cooking</i> if I'm correct. If so, I'd love to hear if the author actually studied some users in their kitchen while cooking a new recipe and using these new fonts.
Typefaces are meaningless.<p>Now that I have your attention I'll blow your mind: A good typeface on a bad site does nothing but polish the turd. Designers that obsess over typefaces also generally give equal care to spacing and layout that when all put together makes for a great site.<p>Flipboard would never have chosen Comic Sans as a font and people that pushed Helvetica Neue would never use dancing chipmunk gifs in their layout.
Why can't you just A/B test 50 different typefaces and measure which one best produces the user behavior that you're after?<p>Take the subjectivity out of it.