Pretty open ended type question here

[chia]

I am trying to get a feel for placing type in ads that I have been asked to do for the gym I work at and other endeavours also.

I look at magazine covers and other ads for placements and the fonts they use and I just can't seem to get a feel for it.

For the people designing here professionally and nonprofessionally (if that's a word) how do you go about choosing your fonts/type? Do you stick to a small small pool of fonts or search them out based on similarities to other fonts that you remember seeing?

I know it is a pretty open ended question but I am just trying to get a better feel for it heh. Graphic Arts and playing Basketball are two things that I have always had the most passion for and ended up sucking worst at lol. I even went to school for 2 years for Graphic Arts and had to drop out when I just couldn't cut it. I have been "diddling" in graphics for a solid 12-13 years now and I have really never gotten a good grasp on it, so it has been frustrating to say the least. My latest frustrations being typography.

Any help/advice would be appreciated :)

[Bladez]

The fonts you use depends greatly on what they're being used in. For body copy, a nice, simple, easy to read serif or sans serif font is best. The most common being Arial *shudder* Helvetica, Times New Roman, etc. but realistically, if you can find one as easy to read as them, but not so common, you're more likely to get people attention. People notice that there's something different about it and want to see what it is...this leads them into reading.

If it's headers that you're doing type for, I always try to find something that captures what the ad is for. Something that just meshes and flows well but keeps the feel of the ad.

Not sure if I helped much, but hopefully I did something useful....

[mojoprime]

i've seen people start their designs for some ads in times and helvetica, and once they got the balance right, then it was off to find fonts to give the ad some soul. don't use standard system fonts like times or arial, in the final version of ads. if you're a designer, part of what we do is find the right font to emphasize the tone of the ad. type can say a lot.

as for how to get here, i would say get as many magazines as you can, and flip through them. see which ones work for you, and which ones don't, and then ask why they don't. when you start to see fonts you like, try to find them. often, the journey for one font will lead to the discovery of a better one.

[chia]

You both helped me some, basically I am going about it like mojoprime described but it is kind of strange because I find a font and I think it works but then after looking at it for an extended period of time it slowly degrades from great to good to decent to crap right before my eyes.

http://a369.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/13/l_3c7d86e9e4fc0739270235cabd7d8ed0.jpg

that is an example of what I did for this local fitness and health magazine, it's hard to read at this resized size but that's all I have right now. Also please don't rip the ad lol I know it is hodge podge, I had very little time to work on it (it was like a surprise job) and even if I had more time I doubt it would have been too much better.

I spent most of the time looking for a font that would work on there and ended up with that :rolleyes:

Lol I should probably give up like I did on my basketball dreams but I guess I am too stubborn

[Blazer]

Hey Chia,

I'm an in-house designer - a bimonthly magazine is my largest project. I work with a small number of fonts and normally have an idea of what we will use obviously for consistency - however there are always a few fonts on reserve that act as plan B. When it comes to other projects, my 'pool' is a slow revolving door with some favs that never go.

I know what you mean about the struggle...sometimes I think too much and worry myself that it doesn't come as easily as it should. I just try to keep my eyes open and look for inspiration all around me! I try to never forget that my main goal is readability and legibility - if my target audience can't read it, there's no reason for the work.

As for your ad, I thought it was quite nice. I think the font down along the bottom actually looked quite good. The problem you ran into with the smaller text was that it was kind of lost within the background which made it difficult to read.

Don't get so down on yourself...do as the others told you and keep working for it!

[chia]

Hey Chia,

I'm an in-house designer - a bimonthly magazine is my largest project. I work with a small number of fonts and normally have an idea of what we will use obviously for consistency - however there are always a few fonts on reserve that act as plan B. When it comes to other projects, my 'pool' is a slow revolving door with some favs that never go.

I know what you mean about the struggle...sometimes I think too much and worry myself that it doesn't come as easily as it should. I just try to keep my eyes open and look for inspiration all around me! I try to never forget that my main goal is readability and legibility - if my target audience can't read it, there's no reason for the work.

As for your ad, I thought it was quite nice. I think the font down along the bottom actually looked quite good. The problem you ran into with the smaller text was that it was kind of lost within the background which made it difficult to read.

Don't get so down on yourself...do as the others told you and keep working for it!

Thanks for the reply too... I have very little experience getting things printed. Typically I have done tshirt designs and other stuff kind of like that but no real ads that would reach people until now. I am pretty sure the door to designing more for the gym will be open seeing how I didn't charge him lol. So I will get to practice more.

It sucks that right as I was getting into University and computers the classes offered were very very primitive on Photoshop, Corel, and such. I ended up using Photoshop (I know this is not the right thing to do heh) primarily with very very little experience in other programs. I am still trying to learn and read up on techniques and programs when I can but with all the information available it is almost too overwhelming.

As for the ad the type that looks nearly unreadable isn't as bad on the actual ad itself because it is 9x12ish BUT it isn't nearly as clear as I wanted it to be. I have been wanting to work with a smaller collection of fonts but I am worried that I will end up going back to ones that I really like (such as the one used for Memphis Judo and Jiujitsu)... If I didn't stop myself I would have only used that font and nothing else lol.

If I had extra $$$ and time I would take some classes at a community college to learn more and refresh on design fundamentals that I believe I have missed out on. I'm worse with color schemes than fonts. Maybe I'll win the lottery and I can free up some money and time :)

[Callendale]

Maybe this might give you some inspiration:

http://www.amazon.com/Type-Style-Finder-Designers-Guide/dp/1592531903

Lots of type choices sorted by style (techno, wild west, etc...) along with color schemes for each style to help you get the right look/feel for your project. And if you're braver than I am, you can post your work in the Showcase and get some helpful feedback/suggestions.

[chia]

Maybe this might give you some inspiration:

http://www.amazon.com/Type-Style-Finder-Designers-Guide/dp/1592531903

Lots of type choices sorted by style (techno, wild west, etc...) along with color schemes for each style to help you get the right look/feel for your project. And if you're braver than I am, you can post your work in the Showcase and get some helpful feedback/suggestions.

thanks and I'm not that brave lol, getting ripped to shreds is no fun, especially when I know it :)