Typography Tips, History of Typography

Typography Tips, History of Typography

1. Book: Non Designers Type Book by Robin Williams
   This book is full of the bare essentials of typography. It is very easy to read and a must read for anyone starting out in typography.
2. Font Downloads: 40+ Excellent Free Fonts For Professional Design
   A tip that is very often not told, there are free quality fonts out there. If you are a student graphic designer, you may not be able to afford to buy fonts just yet so this may be a good alternative. If you have a bit of cash to burn, check out these top commercial fonts.
3. Font Identification: Identifont or What The Font.
   Want to know the font that is used on your milk carton or on a particular website? These two great websites can tell you exactly what font is used just by uploading an image of the font.
4. Link Database: Web Developers Handbook
   A massive link database to a variety of subjects, including typography.
5. Typography Resources: Typography Resources Every Designer Should know.
   Many more resources for typography. A must book mark link.

30 Best Font, Downloadable Fonts, Free Fonts, Cool Fonts for Designers

30 Best Fonts, Downloadable Fonts, Free Fonts, Cool Fonts for Designers

Source: From the book “30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime” by Imin Pao and Joshya Berger. A history of typography is also found in this book as well as more information on each font and the designer.

1. Adobe Caslon

Magazines, journals, text books, corporate communication.

2. Adobe Garamond

Textbooks and magazines

3. Bembo

Posters, packaging, textbooks.

4. Bodoni

Headlines, text, logos. (I couldn’t get big preview for this font.)

5. Clarendon

Dictionaries and headlines.

6. Courier

Tabular materials, technical documentation, word processing.

7. Excelsior

Newsletters, Reports, Proposals.

8. Lucida

Low resolution printing, small point sizes, reversed out half tones.

9. Minion

Limited edition books, newsletters, packaging.

10. Perpetua

For displays with fine lettering, long pages of text, chiseled text.

11. Sabon

Books and corporate communication.

12. Stempel Schneidler

For displays and fine publications that need a legible text type.

13. Times New Roman

Newspapers, magazines, corporate communication.

14. Trajan

Books, magazines, posters, billboards, anything to do with the ages or religion.

15. Walbaum

Magazines, journals, text books, corporate communication.

15 Sans-Serif Fonts

What does sans-serif mean?

1. Akzidenz Grotesk

Large Signage, all purpose for print media.

2. Avenir

For books with large amounts of text

3. Bell Centennial

For listings and very poor printing conditions.

4. Bell Gothic

For very small amounts of text that contains large amounts of information.

5. DIN

For signage, posters and displays.

6. Franklin Gothic

Newspapers and where available space is limited.

7. Frutiger

Large signage, all purpose font for print media.

8. Futura

Large displays, small text in books.

9. Gill Sans

Signage, all purpose font for print media.

10. Helvetica

Large or small text, all purpose type figure.

11. Meta

Text, number, especially corporate communication.

12. Myriad

Large displays, all purpose media.

13. Trade Gothic

Newspapers and classified ads, advertising, multimedia.

14. Univers

Packaging, signage, text books.

15. Vag Rounded

Instruction manuals and print advertising.