Don't tread on my fonts!

I've always had a deep interest for fonts and typography. I am by no means an expert, but I like to know the differences between the fonts. Some designers overlook fonts, but they are usually a very important part of any designing process. I think that any designing course should always be taken with a side of typography. What's most important is that people should know the differences between serif, sans-serif and when to use them. I have close to 500 fonts installed on my computer, and I don't use most of them by any means. I have my favorites which I find myself using over and over again. There are also a few fonts on my shit list. These are fonts that people have over used, or that are just horrible. But before I get into that, I want to talk about some common mistakes people do when using different fonts.

(1) Do not use multiple fonts in the same project.
Some people think that using many kinds of fonts on the same thing will actually make it look good. They will throw in Arial, mixed in with Times and some typewriter fonts for good measure. News flash. It doesn't look good. If you are stubborn enough to want to use several fonts in the same project, have them be the same family. Eg, you can use Times New Roman, Garamond and Trajan in one project. But never combine a sans-serif with geometric, with gothic.

(2) Do not use busy fonts for extended reading.
Some fonts are good for design, some are good for reading. People make the mistake that because they like a font like Trajan, it should be plastered in paragraphs of text. This is terrible. Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman, Antique Olive, Garamond, Georgia and all the other popular fonts, are popular for a reason—they have shown to be easy to read for extended periods.

(3) Do not use Gothic fonts when it is not appropriate
Thanks to the logo of Corona, we have people believing that this is a Latino font. No, it is not. These type of fonts are called Gothic (the most famous is called "Old English"). They are supposed to make reference to the Gothic style letter of the Saxon language. The fonts are usually very busy, and pretty. But they prove to be very useless.

(4) Do not use geometric fonts
Geometric fonts are just ugly. The easiest way to spot them is because they look like a collection of circles and sticks. This is the kind of font you were probably taught when you first started writing. If in doubt, just stick to this rule of thumb: If the letter "a" is single storey, do not use this font. Exception: books for children who are learning how to read.




(5) Use caps properly
If you use Studly caps or Caps Lock, there is a chance I might murder you in your sleep.
tHIs iS StuDleY CaPS
THIS IS CAPS LOCK

That'll do for the common mistakes people make when selecting and using their fonts. Now, on to my list. I have seven fonts that I use over and over. They have proven to be great fonts. They look good on almost everything, and they are comfortable to read.

(1) American Typewriter
This is my default font. I use it everytime I'm writing a script. Maybe it doesn't look to great when printed, but I like the feeling I get of using an old typewriter. The font usually renders very well and looks quite sharp.

(2) Garamond
When you print something, it is suggested that you use a serif font. Most people use Times New Roman, which I don't like very much. I prefer the Linotype version "Times". No, it is not the same thing. Garamond is in this family too, except that Garamond is owned by Adobe instead of Rupert Murdoch and it is so much nicer than TNR.

(3) Helvetica
Helvetica won the number one prize in the "best fonts of all times" contest. I am not kidding you. Here is the link. Helvetica is the best font when writing something that will be read off a screen. It is simple, and elegant, and versatile. Much better than Microsoft's rip off "Arial".

(4) Anime Ace
Believe it or not, this is a free font. I only use it for comic strip designs and speech bubbles. It is one of those "handwriting" fonts. Except this one is actually worth downloading and using. By the way, has anyone noticed how overused Bada-boom is nowadays?

(5) Antique Olive
Just a nice font I use when I am in the mood. That's it.

(6) Verdana
Only when I get sick of Helvetica. (Yes, it does happen). Verdana looks really great when there is no anti-aliasing, and you can read it perfectly when it has to be displayed small. If you don't believe me, try it. Photoshop text tool, no anti-alias, and small type.

(7) OCR
This font was designed for... Optical Character Recognition. Hence the name (duh!) But OCR looks great when you are trying to give it a nerdy-tech look.

That's it for the fonts I love. Now on to the fonts I think should die a slow and painful death.

(1) Comic Sans
It looks stupid. It makes you look stupid. The spacing is terrible, and it looks like a child designed it. Kill it, delete it, burn it. I don't want to see it ANYWHERE.

(2) Arial
Why use Arial when you have Helvetica?

(3) Futura
This is probably the most famous geometric font. It is bad. It is really bad. It looks terrible on anything that's printed. The worse part, is that sometimes people used the condensed-thin version of this font.

(4) Script
People that use script (anything in the script family) should not be designing—anything. It doesn't look good. Not even on your wedding invitation. For formal invitations use a classy serif font like Garamond.

(5) Block letters (IMPACT)
Block letters are a bit difficult to find. Impact is the only one that comes bundled with Windows. Please, don't use impact, especially for prolongued reading. Rule of thumb, if your text has more than six words DO NOT USE BLOCK FONTS!

So that's it for my font analysis. Unless you are a graphic designer or a complete geek like me, you will probably not read up to this point, and if you have, odds are you won't know half of what I am saying? What is condensed? What is anti-alias? What is a "storey"? Don't worry. Most people will never use this information in their lives.