FONTS
Recommendation #1: Use one font per project
Recommendation #2: Have a small number of “go-to” fonts
Fonts can make a big difference in what your project conveys, but you can get most of the effect you’re looking for by choosing your ONE font from just a few different fonts. Restrict your choices to just a few different fonts. You can consult the “all of the fonts you’ll ever need” cheat sheet I sent you when you enrolled in the course, or here’s a few other recommendations:
- Georgia for a sophisticated serif
- Helvetica for a clean and neutral design
- Lato for a friendly and “natural” look
- Raleway for a more modern geometric look
Recommendation #3: Start worrying about other things
Getting good at anything is all about breaking down the overwhelm, and reducing the factors. Once you only have a few factors you’re working with, you reduce your anxiety, and can start to make sense of the choices you’re making. Once you’ve decided that you’re only using one font, and you start using that font, you’ll start to notice things you didn’t notice before. You’ll have to start getting creative with how you use your typography. You’ll experiment with sizes (next lesson’s topic), you might try a little all-caps here and there (for very short pieces of text), and you’ll experiment with bolds and italics.
3:4 TYPOGRAPHIC SCALE
Font sizes based upon 3:4 scale: 5 7 9 12 16 21 28 37 50 67 89 111 148
COLORS
One color and couple of shades of gray.
12-COLUMN DESIGN
Reduce it to 3, 4 or 6 columns
NERD-EYE BLINDNESS
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward technology, not the other way around.” – Steve Jobs