Comments on: 60 Brilliant Typefaces (and 40 free ones)

60 Brilliant Typefaces (and 40 free ones)

criticalbill — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:05:11 -0800

60 Brilliant Typefaces (for corporate design) plus 40 free ones. From Smashing Magazine (prev), which last year presented 80 Beautiful Typefaces for Professional Design Well I like them

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:08:42 -0800

*dies*

By: pyrex

pyrex — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:09:48 -0800

*nom nom nom*

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:12:30 -0800

man, sometimes I don't get typefaces. I mean, I can't help but imagine that the creative process for any given typeface is "What if I made [Helvetica/Arial/Impact] have a slightly wonky lower case e?" and then BAM! someone blogs about it. I'd frankly love to see a list of what people believe are terrible fonts BESIDES ms comic sans. I have no reference point because all of these fonts look alike except that perhaps one has marginally thicker lines, or one has a slantier bridge in the capital A, and I'll be damned if I know what makes one better than another.

By: monkeymike

monkeymike — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:31:49 -0800

Thank you!

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:32:48 -0800

Awesome! Thanks for the links. I'm going to download a few of those free fonts when I get off work.

By: misha

misha — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:33:25 -0800

Scriptina is so absolutely elegantly lovely that I downloaded it onto my mac, and now I have no idea what to do with it or how to use it! Good Old Fashion bugs me not end, not least because I think it should be "Old FashionED." It seems so random and arbitrary rather than themed.

By: misha

misha — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:33:50 -0800

not end=no end

By: imperium

imperium — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:35:37 -0800

I'd frankly love to see a list of what people believe are terrible fonts BESIDES ms comic sans. Times New Roman Arial Also, great post. But zipfile plz.

By: imperium

imperium — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:36:41 -0800

I hereby petition mathowie to allow the font face html through. Just for this post. It tantalisingly worked on preview..

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:39:46 -0800

isn't that just because they're defaults and everyone has used them to death, though? I honestly don't get what makes one good and another bad.

By: criticalbill

criticalbill — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:53:54 -0800

shmegegge indeed... Man, if you want to see shoddy fonts, there are literally thousands out there for you to download, install and then regret at your leisure, as I have done on many occasions. What makes a font good? If its beautiful and makes you feel happy to look at, thats when its good. Like all art really.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:04:24 -0800

Helvetica vs Arial

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:10:59 -0800

Arial or Helvetica? (Yes, Arial is my Comic Sans).

By: Pyry

Pyry — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:16:53 -0800

Some of the sample texts are quite funny. From Whitman: RED-EYED VIREO Incessant chattering That bird has been at it for at least 164 hours straight Exaggeration Question of semantics My definition of a word may differ from yours DICTIONARY Always comes in handy when board games are involved Convenient pocket size Tiny, unreadable text leaves ample room for interpretation From Agency FB: MOLECULAR STRUCTURE BITS OF STUFF SO SMALL YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT Carbon ’n Hydrogen Flavored Soda REARRANGEMENT OF ATOMIC ELEMENTS MAKES SILK PURSE OF SOW’S EAR WHICH LEAVES THE SOW MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT CONFUSED BUT SOON LEARNS TO ENJOY FAME, FORTUNE, & ENDORSEMENT CONTRACTS Late-Night Talk Shows Interrputed for press conference Gold, platinum, & semi-precious stones are discovered in the local landfills Residents from local communities stake claims Neighbors clash over pile of trash National Guard tries to restore order COMPETING FACTIONS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:18:08 -0800

A few of these (Moderna, Delicious, Liberation, Mank, Colaborate, Steiner) are abominable, which is what I've come to expect of free fonts, but I'll be darned if the majority of the 40 aren't excellent. Nice find, criticalbill!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:43:14 -0800

or one has a slantier bridge in the capital A, and I'll be damned if I know what makes one better than another. There would probably be a huge difference if you looked at paragraphs of text in them.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:47:50 -0800

Very nice. For some reason looking at all of these reminded me of dooce. Or dooce ® (pronounced "deuce ARRRRR" or "doo-chay ARRRRR"). Whichever.

By: junesix

junesix — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:02:54 -0800

Some nice typefaces but I can't see a professional corporation using many of them, especially the hardwritten script typefaces. Presidencia is quite lovely and of course, everything by H&FJ is best-in-class. shmegegge: I think this topic came up in another thread. I think typography/typesetting is one of those things that people appreciate when it's done well but most people can't say why. It's a nuanced feeling that's hard to describe unless you deal with it frequently. As for designing type, it's a combination of the objectives of the designer plus some rough rules. A great many typefaces are also just digitized versions or interpretations of old typefaces in metal type blocks. Nevertheless, I can understand how many of the heavily corporate looking typefaces (like those seen here) might all look like slight variations on the same. I'd frankly love to see a list of what people believe are terrible fonts BESIDES ms comic sans. The entire set of fonts installed with those page layout programs in the $1 software bin. Some of the sample texts are quite funny. I write down lines of text that I find cool, amusing, odd, nonsensical, etc in a moleskine. These get added to my lorem ipsum collection. When it comes time to do a page layout, rand() gives me a fresh batch. Clients who notice seem to like that they get custom lorem ipsum with every project.

By: junesix

junesix — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:12:23 -0800

Oh, and I agree that at some level, the devotion to picking the right typeface for a project is masturbatory. It's rare to come across a client that cares even 5% of what the graphic designer cares in selecting type. But I think that's a general rule for every aspect of any professional services business. It's our job to internally make a fuss about it because that's what we're being paid to do - clients just want the best end product. Sausage factory - ya know?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:15:56 -0800

SMALL CAPS AWESOME POST

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:26:48 -0800

I'll be damned if I know what makes one better than another. posted by shmegegge at 3:12 PM on March 20 Set type or do layout for a living; you'll figure it out pretty quickly. You have to understand that a lot of typography is invisible to the end user. You may think that Arial is just fine for everything, and that Comic Sans hatred is irrational or dumb, but if you had to read an issue of Harper's or today's New York Times or your favorite novel laid out or typeset by an amateur, you would immediately see a huge difference in the quality of the reading experience.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:47:36 -0800

You might not even notice the difference consciously, but it would probably feel off. Think of film editing--most people don't see a movie and then say, "Goddamn that was well-edited!" You will definitely notice if it's done wrong, but if it's done right it just looks right and everything flows together. A lot of work goes into making the experience easy for you (which is how it should be).

By: ceiriog

ceiriog — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:00:21 -0800

Mmm, Gentium is a real find, thanks. A decent looking free font that includes circumflexed ŵ's and ŷ's. I'm a happy lil' Welshman.

By: Richard Daly

Richard Daly — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:43:06 -0800

Type is a bit like wine tasting, actually. There's a lot of wankery, but there is a lot of detail and specificity possible, if you're interested. And a crash introductory course can get you up to speed pretty quick. 1) Legibility. Are the letters significantly different from one another, to promote quick readability? Are they different enough? 2) Cohesiveness. Do the letters seem to belong together? Are they similar enough? 3) History. Does this typeface represent something from the past? Does it evoke a technique or a period? 4) Originality. Does this typeface do something new? Does it at least improve on the type it references. Much like wine tasting, some people are poorly served by learning about type. They can never again enjoy $10 wine, when previously they could. It works both ways, though. A connoisseur can get much greater pleasure from something done perfectly than a layman ever could.

By: equalpants

equalpants — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:26:28 -0800

Oh, man, beautiful stuff. Many thanks.

By: jay2boat

jay2boat — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:52:19 -0800

Great stuff. (I live to kern.)

By: blue shadows

blue shadows — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:40:45 -0800

Thank you. Seconding Gentium and Scriptina as particularly fine examples.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:18:35 -0800

For the lazy, here are a few direct-downloads to some I liked. Pigiarniq [354KB] (sample) All the MG Open Stuff... [891KB] (sample)

Canonica [451KB] (sample)
Cosmetica [137KB](sample)
Modata [175KB](sample)
Moderna [127KB](sample)

Fontin Sans [87KB] (sample) - not hotlinking by request Yanone Kaffeesatz [84KB] (sample) Nadia Serif [18KB - Win | 24KB - Mac] (sample) Scriptina [70KB - Win | 165KB Mac] (sample) Qlassik [44KB] (sample) Greyscale Basic [144KB] (sample) Lacuna [62KB - Win | 89KB - Mac] (sample)

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:32:16 -0800

C_D, just to let you know, but the sample links for Nadia Serif to Lacuna don't work.

By: djfiander

djfiander — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:47:19 -0800

The whole point of Pigiarniq is to provide a consistent font for the non-latin characters, so why do all the examples give simple latin examples (well, aside from the fact that the rest of us can't just what a good inuktitut font might look like)? So, here's an example, from the territorial government's Inuktitut home page. Unfortunately, Mac OS Firefox doesn't seem to cope well with symbolic unicode fonts. The site is best viewed, on a Mac, with Safari. My favourite part of the font is the inukshuk glyph: '᐀' (which character, at least, does look right on Mac OS Firefox).

By: Standeck

Standeck — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:29:30 -0800

I always felt if it was called Apple Comic Sans it wouldn't get near the amount of hatin'.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:02:13 -0800

Following some of the links provided in the comments here, i came across a remarkable essay on the history of helvetica and arial. and in there was this gem of a line: But there was a problem. There were two kinds of PostScript fonts: Type 1 and Type 3. ... ? Oh Adobe, I love you AND I want to strangle you, at all times. Also, thanks to everyone for the explanations of typography. it cleared things up quite a bit for me. Think of film editing--most people don't see a movie and then say, "Goddamn that was well-edited!" Funny thing in this particular instance is that I would, but I'm an editor by trade, so... but yeah, thanks for the explanation.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:39:39 -0800

just to let you know, but the sample links for Nadia Serif to Lacuna don't work. Ah, thanks for the head's up. Nadia Serif sample Scriptina sample Qlassik sample Lacuna sample (2, 3) ...and a couple more that didn't make the official cut... ATF Antique [230KB - Win | 265KB Mac] (sample, 2) Vollkorn [29KB - Win | Mac] (sample, 2) Actually, I might as well link to the whole site (free font category), 'cause that dude is awesome.

By: e_nehpets

e_nehpets — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:01:33 -0800

Great stuff