Font Addict

Hi, I’m Dayle and I’m a Font Addict

To date, I have over 7,000 fonts in my collection and I’m constantly sourcing more because honestly, how can you have too many fonts?? Oh my, I can spend hours playing with my fonts. Hahaha that actually sounds kinda dirty.

Admittedly, sometimes InDesign and Illustrator tend to take minutes to load my font library alone but it’s totally worth it to see all those pretty variations of the words ‘Sample Text’ in such an array of styles. I’m even getting goosebumps just thinking about which fonts I could use for what project next.

I actually came across THIS blog on Creative Market a while ago and now I know that Kevin Whipps is my spirit animal. He totally gets me and my addiction! I’ve checked, I tick almost all of the boxes:

• I do have a Pinterest board just for my love of fonts (here)
• I AM What the Font/Identifont (I can name almost ANY font when quizzed by peers or at least an almost identical substitute)
• I have my fonts folder arranged by ‘Date Modified’ because I tend to go through phases when researching and buying fonts (this week might be calligraphic, next might be macabre gothic and who knows, maybe the week after that it’ll be cutesy bubble things!)
• I constantly critique peoples’ choice/s of fonts and font combinations (yes, I know I’m guilty of using some of the “designer-hated” fonts but only in moderation. I can be in control. Sometimes. When I really want to. I think).
• I always get all the fonts. New ones, old ones, trending ones, popular ones, etc.
• I trawl blogs for any articles on or about fonts or have the word ‘font’ in the title …

Which font is right for you?

Do you see yourself as a crafty creature? Wanting to put together your own invitations, perhaps contemporising your resume, maybe even a more personal project like labels for a scrapbook page?

Freebies fonts are great if you’re trialling for a specific project before confirming a final purchase on your selected font but you’re definitely limited with demo versions – it might not come with numbers, or uppercase/lowercase, swashes, glyphs, sometimes you don’t even get spaces! – and you could end up with an incomplete version of your vision.

If you’re more of a pro, you’ll only want the full font family (preferably as OTF (Open Type Format) so you don’t have dozens of files in your font library all for the same typeface with slight variations), complete with ligatures, italics, bold weights, glyphs &/or swashes. This can be quite a costly practice if you stray from your original intention and end up with five billion font families in your shopping cart. Maybe I exaggerate a little but you get the idea – small amounts here and there end up tallying more than your weekly take-home.

How do you play with fonts?

Really, you’re only limited by your imagination. The general rule is not to use more than 3 fonts/typefaces per project. This includes italics and heavier weights of the same font. I say pffft! If you pick the right font combinations, you can create such a unique piece that breaks all the rules of Typesetting 101. Play around with different colour combinations on a range of backgrounds – whether they’re a solid colour, vignette or photographs. You’d be amazed at how different the exact same text can look on an entirely different background.

Try layering words with different weights & sizes. Just please, please, PLEASE DON’T STRETCH YOUR FONTS! This is an absolute no-no and makes you look like kindergartner hijacked your computer for a laugh.

My true font passion is playing with glyphs. I don’t know about you but the number of times I think I’ve finished a project and I’m looking at the end result and it’s still missing something. Sometimes all it may need is a little swash here or an ornamental element strategically placed elsewhere for a more balanced feel. Usually I only do this for invitations, some kinds of business cards or fancy marketing materials though.

Kerning

What is kerning? Basically it’s the spacing between your letters or words. This is crucial! Check out THIS little treasure of an article emphasizing the importance of appropriate font selection and kerning, I promise you’ll laugh, even if you’re not as obsessed with fonts as I am.

On that note, I’ll love you and leave you. Until next time! xox

Original post date 21st July 2016