Need Some Typography Help

[MajorRajor]

Disclaimer: I am a high school senior, taking an iT independent study class where I do requests for people. Usually I don't have much trouble doing them, but with this one I am.
I have to design an image to be presented to my principal for his nomination of Principal of the Year. It must be 16x20 and include the following text:

"Expect Excellence"

and

The Forest Park High School staff wishes to thank Principal Eric Brent for his vision, leadership, and collaborative spirit.

I have already made an image to include with the text (the attached crest). But I'm stuck with the typography aspect of this design. Which font face should I use? (This is very formal -- should I use a script font face for "Expect Excellence"? What about for the other text?) What color font should I use? How should I organize it: should I place the text below, beside, above, the image?

[garricks]

Welcome to GDF, Major. I deleted your duplicate post. Everyone's first couple of posts are moderated. It helps keep the spam down.


Please read these important threads posted here. They will explain a lot about how the forum runs, from the rules and regulations to frequently discussed topics to the background on some of our lingo and inside jokes.

I hope you enjoy yourself!

[Shawj]

What kind of access do you have to fonts? Will you be using the standard fonts that come with programs, or do you have access to additional fonts?

If you chose a script font, these might be good to use if you have the access (at least better than the ones that come with the software).

Balmoral Script
Cezanne
Edwardian Script
Nuptial Script
Poppl-Residenz Script

[MajorRajor]

Hey, thanks for the quick feedback.

I have the fonts that came with the programs and a few free font packs. Out of the fonts you mentioned, I just have Edwardian Script. But I dunno -- it just doesn't look right with the crest. Maybe it's how I arranged it, or the font's color (I'm using black right now)?

[MajorRajor]

Okay, so here's what I did with it. I don't like it, but I don't know why. There's a lot of white space and it just looks incomplete I guess. Right now this something that I wouldn't be happy with putting my name on -- and I usually am.

Should I add some sort of border? Change the typeface(s)? Make them bigger? Change the organization of the image/text?

[shmoo]

Ditch the script font on the sentence at the bottom at least. It's very hard to read.
Have you tried putting all the text on the right hand side?

Do all those elements need to be included in the crest? It's very detailed which could cause a problem depending on what it needs to be printed on (can't see this emblem being embroidered effectively. )

[MajorRajor]

Updated again.

I think it looks better like this, but I'm still not sure if I'm digging the typography. I think it looks way better next to the crest, but I'm still not sure about the typefaces. And the background looks so plain... is that good or bad?

[garricks]

The line breaks in the copy are funky. Try it this way:

The Forest Park High School
staff wishes to thank
Principal Eric Brent
for his vision, leadership
and collaborative spirit.

I would leave the quotes off of Expect Excellence. They aren't necessary. And try any other serifed typeface besides Times (New) Roman. Caslon, Century Schoolbook, any of the Garamonds, Berkeley Oldstyle, Goudy...all are better choices.

In the crest, bump the globe down and to the right, away from the book. Is the torch really necessary? Four items on the left and three on the right is unbalanced, and the torch is burning "Tragedy" in the butt, as it were...

[pinksta]

Try 'Plantin' if you have it, its quite a nice serif font (in my opinion).

[MajorRajor]

Thanks so much for the suggestions guys, what I have now is so much better than what I started with. It's not perfect, but I like it, and hopefully my client will too.