Friday, February 1

Type

You should care about type. Whatever your job, if you are working in a field where you are sharing content with others, you should care about type.

Why? Type can be one of the most unobtrusive design choices you make on a project, or one of the most distinctive. Either way, it will define your work whether you and your audience are thinking about it or not.  In fact there is a whole psychology to it all.

If you don't already have a love affair with type, this can be a fairly intimidating proposition. I know it has been difficult for me. Type has a very steep learning curve and those who are already deeply involved with it can speak of it with a passion that can be overwhelming.

But not to fear! This is the internet and easy resources are available.

KernType - This kerning game is not only fun, its educational and lets you have practice in playing with letter spacing is a supportive environment.

GoogleFonts - offers a number of free fonts that you can use not only in your documents (watch out some don't print well) but on your web pages as well.

Lynda.com - While there is a small monthly fee for access to these tutorials it reflects their quality and I highly recommend them.

For additional resources check out 1stWebDesigners article on learning type.

If you are more the book type I would recommend starting with The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books, Deluxe Edition

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