Design : Exploring Typography, Type Design, and Fonts
Exploring Typography, Type Design, and Fonts
Typography is the style, arrangement, or appearance of matter printed from type. The following Web sites will teach you the difference between typefaces and fonts, PostScript and TrueType fonts, and other important type information you need to know before designing for print or Web, or for designing your own fonts.
Creative Type & Typography Activities
TypARTgraphy: Fontastic Compositions
Learn how to create works of art out of individual bits of type.
Word Type: Nonverbal Meaning of Type Design
This technique is often used in advertising, as a graphic designer reinforces a message through the choice of typeface, arrangement of letters, and coloring effect.
Typography & Font Design Websources
Fontifier: Design Your Own Font
Fontifier lets you create a typeface based on your handwriting simply by filling in a template and submitting it to the site.
Identifont Identify a Font
Looking for a specific font style or a font name by its description? Identifont helps you identify fonts by appearance and find them by name.
Open Font Library
An "open source" resource for learning about font design and sharing fonts. It allows you to download typefaces, share fonts, and remix (branch and merge) typefaces.
Font Design Techniques
If you're looking to make your own fonts, this section at about.com is a great place to begin. "Explore digital type design techniques. Find font software for making fonts. Study font design standards, copyright issues, famous typographers and font designers in your quest to become a font designer or improve your current font design skills."
Adobe Type Topics
A comprehensive type and font resource from Adobe. "Type Topics is your source of information for important issues in typography today: everything from ampersands to OpenType® technology." Includes an introduction to the new cross-platform font file OpenType, a type reference guide, font formats, and type tips for measuring type, spacing, kerning, leading, characters, and obliques.
Typophile
An educational Flash-based site featuring typography design, theory, articles, courses, history, classification, and interviews. Covers many type, typeface, and font topics including classifying type, font development, and ethical type design. Free courses include Typestyles 101 and Intro to Typeface Design 110. Free download tools for lettering grids, pixel grids, kerning pairs, and ruder spacing.
Updated 12/18/13