ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 3 2 4 / C&RL News Designing with type, part 2 B y S usan Ju r i s t Just because you shouldn’t, doesn’t mean you ca n ’t T he first part o f this article, w hich appeared in the March issue, discussed traditional standards for using fonts in both print and ele c­ tronic situations— standards unknow n to, or ignored by, a large proportion o f our profes­ sion. The rules in Part 1 are most applicable w hen preparing reports, writing articles for publication, or creating W eb pages for official purposes. This second part expands your use o f font choices, both for traditional publications (if you are brave) and for less formal situations like newsletters, flyers, and handouts. F ig u re 1. A s e le c tio n o f fo n ts in c lu d in g p ic tu r e fo n ts fr o m A dob e, A gfa, F o n t H aus, a n d o th e r s . Figure 1 is an illustration o f all the fonts mentioned in the article that I own. If I ow n a font, its name will be in italics in the text and illustrated in Figure 1, follow ed by the source where I obtained the font— not the sole source in most cases. If I d on’t ow n a font, I will indi cate a source for that font following its name. For ease o f finding, and becau se som e fonts are referred to m ore than once, they are in al­ phabetical order. If you are not familiar with type catalogs, you should know that w hen the type house is part o f the font name, it is ig­ nored in the alphabetizations. For exam ple, Letraset Papyrus will appear with the “Ps” not the “Ls.” Picture fonts mentioned in the article are in Figure 5. N a m e d ro p p in g continued The fonts described in Part 1, the ubiquitous Times and Helvetica and their alternatives, all are safe, traditional choices. There are times, however, w hen you want a different look— especially w hen trying to attract the attention o f an un dergrad u ate p o p u latio n raised on “zines” and Wired magazine. If familiarity is a precursor to readability, w e need to examine the styles these students are reading. While fonts are as trendy as fashion and can becom e clichéd quicker than faculty returning a b o o k for re­ serve the day b efore midterms, these trendy fonts are fun to use and are not inappropriate for library use. Though I describe som e spe­ cific fonts I use, the stylistic reasons can be applied to any number o f other w ell- designed fonts. A g oo d exam p le is the versatile Bodega w hich is used by M cDonald’s, the U.S. Post Office, two national pizza chains, many record and b o o k publishers, and even the brand of cat fo od my cats prefer (California Chicken Supreme anyone?). Bodega com es in both serif and sans-serif as well as serif old-style and sans- serif old-style. I love Bodega becau se its letter Susan Jurist is visual arts librarian at the University o f California, San Diego; e-mail: sjurist@ucsd.edu mailto:sjurist@ucsd.edu May 1 9 9 7 / 3 2 5 forms are elegant and attractive (with a full but impertinent bouquet). B od ega also has com ­ pressed letter forms w hich are invaluable for putting a lot o f information in a horizontally small space, without losing readability. Figure 2 is an exam p le o f the m ood a font gives to a sim ple phrase. T h e first tw o, the dreaded Times and Helvetica, say “w e are a traditional library— com e to our orientation and be bored to tears.” The tw o B od ega exam ples are lighter and imply that the orientation is less formal and may b e an OK thing to do (the serif old style, just a bit m ore formal). Even though all the fonts in this figure are the sam e type size (vertical height), only B od ega can fit the information o n o n e line. Tekton is another font that has b ee n used in every conceivab le location (and also appears in M cDonald’s print and TV ads). Its handwrit­ ten style is perfect for an informal look but can be dressed up with an appropriate layout. B e ­ cause o f its architectural connotations, Tekton is the font w e use for our Art & Architecture Library newsletter, setting both the type and the headings in varying weights and sizes for differentiation. Its simple shapes m ake it per­ fect for small, legible text, even with the poor­ est reproductions. Figure 3 is an excerpt from the latest newsletter. Highly stylized fonts from font houses like Emigre give an extra sen se o f place to your work. Em igre’s Mason and E xocet are featured heavily on the covers o f mystery and scien ce fiction b ook s and CD covers. They are familiar to those audiences but are still readable for the uninitiated. T he use o f Mason in figure 2 says, “co m e to the mysterious library w here you will b e introduced to strange and wonderful things.” A few other fonts you will also see every­ w here are Berthold City, Font Bureau’s SamSans and Armada, Letraset Papyrus, Russel Square, Officina Sans, and Officina Serif. W hat these fonts have in com m on is that they are all slightly quirky but can b e used in (som ew hat) tradi­ tional settings. I’ve used Officina for library pro­ motional flyers as w ell as a class syllabus (fig­ F ig u re 2 . A p h r a s e b y a n y o t h e r f o n t … ure 4)— the best fonts are adaptable to a vari­ ety o f situations— and it’s the font used to indi cate font nam es in figure 2 . G r u n g e is m o re th a n a sta te o f m ind Grunge is also a font. As grunge music was a reaction to slickly produced rock, grunge fonts (also called “dirty” or even “ugly”) are type de­ signers’ adverse reactions to the perfectly slick fonts com p u ters are ca p a b le o f g enerating. Analog fonts have variances inherent in m e­ chanical reproduction, so type designers rein­ troduced the “dirt” as it w ere. If you really want to go over the edge, invest in a couple o f grunge fonts. While som e traditional type designers are breathlessly waiting for the trend to end, these fonts give a very “n o w ” lo o k to your pu blica­ tions. Som e, like Amnesia, are just a bit irregu­ lar in form. Next are funkier fonts like Hard Tack, going all the way to the com pletely un­ readable. Som e o f the classiest (and therefore most useful) grunge fonts co m e from font houses like [T-26] and GarageFonts. I’ve also used Tema Cantante in a class syllabus (se e figure 4) and have used Monkey Caught Stealing in class F ig u re 3 . A s a m p le o f th e f o n t T e k to n . 3 2 6 / C&RL News handouts. Amnesia was used as the text for a grant request, and as you can see in figure 2, it might say to an undergraduate, “Hey, this is cool. I might want to do this.” I use a shareware font, Vintage Typewriter, instead o f Courier ox American Typewriter w hen I want to indicate som ething to type on screen — it m akes the document look a lot less like a technical manual. You have to b e m ore careful w hen design­ ing with these fonts b ecau se you can easily cross the edge into illegibility. But used in the right places, they can b e very effective. Though Tema Cantante com es in serif and sans-serif families, for the most part grunge fonts com e in varying degrees o f dirt. For exam ple, Image Club sells a font that com es as Schmutz Cleaned, Schmutz Clogged, and Schmutz Corroded. A pictu re is w o rth a th o u sa n d la y o u t trick s O ne last type o f font, often overlooked but w hich can really add a lot to your work, is picture fonts (fonts that show a symbol or an image w hen you type a “letter”). The simple addition o f a border (se e figure 5) can liven up a page. Bullets d on’t have to b e plain circles or those drop shadow b oxes that w ere so popu­ lar for years— the ch oice o f “dingbat” fonts are m ore numerous and more varied than those o f you w ho only have Z a p f Dingbats can imagine (th o u g h Z a p f Dingbats are w o n d erfu l and should be a standard part o f everyone’s type library). Picture fonts are also extrem ely useful when you need a symbol. T he first time I needed the symbol o f a person in a wheelchair, I had to find a symbol dictionary, scan the image, clean it up, and then import it into PageMaker. Now I can just type “H” in International and the image is there in a cleaner form and in about an hour’s less time. While clip-art serves a simi­ lar purpose, I find picture fonts more useful becau se they can b e “typed” in instead o f im­ ported or “placed .” F ig u re 4 . T e m a C a n ta n te f o r th e h e a d s a n d O fficin Font w a r s Font wars are like platform wars (PCs vs. Macs)— there may or may not b e a right answer, but a true believer w ill a rg u e w ith y o u fo r hours over their preference. M ost fo n ts a re e ith e r “Type 1,” a standard created a f o r th e te x t. by Adobe for printing with P o s t s c r i p t p r i n t e r s , o r “TrueType,” a com peting standard created by Apple and used in W indows in a Microsoft- modified form. Y ou will find proponents for both. Type 1 fonts require both an “outline” and “bitm apped” version o f the file and require A dobe Type Manager (ATM) to display and print clearly. They generally add m ore files to your com ­ puter, though the files them selves are smaller. TrueType fonts do not need ATM or outline files and only require on e file for all bitm apped sizes. It sounds like there’s n o contest, go with TrueType, but if you are using programs such as PageMaker or FreeHand and printing to Post­ script printers, Type 1 fonts are best. If you d on’t use those programs, you might b e better off with TrueType fonts, though not all designer fonts com e in TrueType versions. 1 + 1 m a y not = 2 W hen you start to increase your font library, it is very tempting to go with the sets that offer 1,00 0 fonts for the price o f one Adobe or Emi­ gre set. There is a good reason the fonts in those sets are so cheap— they are not as well designed. Designing takes two flavors: one is the shape o f the letters them selves (w hich may not be as critical in grunge fonts but is essen­ tial in more traditional b o o k faces); and the other is how the letters fit together. Notice the capital “T ”s in this article. See how the overlap o f Ty is slightly m ore than the overlap o f Tr and how there is no overlap for Th— these are called kerning pairs, and how individual let­ ters fit together is almost as important for ease o f reading as the shape o f the letters them ­ selves. Many o f the cheaper fonts are cheaper b ecau se the designer did not take the extra time need ed to m ake sure the font spacing works. You get what you pay for. The other reason these font sets might be cheaper is that there are som e font vendors w ho are taking designer fonts and m erely re­ May 199 7 / 3 2 7 naming them without making any changes to the design. It’s up in the air as to w hether or not this is an illegal practice, but it is surely unethical and deprives the font designer o f rev­ enue. S h o p till y o u d ro p , le g a lly T here are four ways to acquire fonts, and the first is illegal and shouldn’t b e considered. Do not take fonts from friends. It m akes fonts m ore expensive for the rest o f us w ho do. The legal ways follow. Purchasing fonts Font prices are com ing dow n, so there is no excu se for “borrow ing.” Even the “I ’ll only use it o n ce e x cu s e ” is lame. Y ou d on ’t know that. I bought Eurostile for a freelance project I was w orking on, and it has proved to b e useful in many other unpredicted (at time o f purchase) projects. • H ig h -en d (m ore than $75). Som etim es you w ant a font b ecau se you like the way it looks and buying that font p ackage is the only way to get it. O nly four o f the fonts used in this article fit this category, Eurostile, Optima, Mason, and Tema Cantante, but I liked them so m uch, and use them so m uch, it w as worth the purchase. If you want to acquire a com plete font fam­ ily that com es in a variety o f weights (light, b ook, bold, ultra) and may have a cond ensed version and an expert collection (th ese usually include small caps, fractions, special charac­ ters), you will also have to pay for it. But then you will have an all-purpose font that you can use for most o f your textual needs. • M id -ran g e ($40– $75). Font prices really are dropping. Fonts that used to b e high-end are now mid-range, and som e font houses, like FontBureau, sell differ­ ent styles or w eights in fo n t fa m ilie s ( b o l d , italic, serif/sans-serif, etc.) separately so you only have to purchase the ones you want and d on ’t have to pay for a com plete set. Som e o f the stylish [T-26] and Emigre fonts are in this price range to o . Y ou can m ake a great state­ m ent with just a little in v e stm e n t. F o n ts in F ig u r e 5 . B o r d e r s c a n b e fu n . th is c a te g o r y in c lu d e R ubino, Sundance, Eucaliptus, and Serpentine. • L o w -en d (b elo w $40). There are lots and lots and lots o f low -end fonts out right now. Som e o f them aren’t worth the bits they take on your hard drive and others are m ore than worth the price. O n e o f my favorite fonts in this category is Letraset Papyrus, w hich costs only $29. Also in this category: Russell Square, Intention, and Isadora. T he Im age Club cata­ log is o n e o f the b est sources fo r low -priced fonts, and the funky GarageFont fonts are in this category too. Most picture fonts are also in this price range. • Sets. Y ou can also buy fonts in sets. Font hou ses like Adobe, Emigre and Font Haus sell font packages that include a num ber o f differ­ ent fonts for prices less than buying e ach font separately. User groups and discount houses also sell font sets, though in my exp erien ce the sharew are and cheaper-priced sets are not the sam e quality (s e e ab ove). B u t if you are just getting started, it is a g ood way to get a variety without having to take a seco n d mortgage on your house. T h e benefit o f these cheap er fonts is that they often have differently nam ed knock­ offs o f designer fonts for a fraction o f the cost. An exam p le is the font called not-Peignot in figure one, a cop y o f A d o be’s Peignot. T he dow nside is that they are not as g ood (notice the u neven spacing o f not-Peignot ’s letters) and should b e used only in very small doses. • CD. Adobe and Agfa are just tw o o f the com panies that sell fonts o n CD. You pay a small price for the CD (o r receive it free with softw are), and then you “u n lo ck ” the fonts for a price that is ch eap er than buying them indi­ vidually. Y ou usually also get free fonts for just registering the disk— this is how I got Benguiat Gothic and Grimalkin Borders. Also, there are 3 2 8 / C&RL News often specials, as in a recent o n e w h ere Agfa w as selling all fonts for $7 e a ch (som e b ein g as m uch as $40 e ach regularly). This w ay I was ab le to pick up many fonts I ’ve w anted for a long time but cou ld n’t afford otherw ise. From this category com e Bodega, Bureau Empire, and Bodoni Ornaments. Purchasing software T h e latest versions o f A d obe Illustrator and M acrom edia Freehand com e with enou gh good fonts to justify the softw are pu rchase (e s p e ­ cially at acad em ic prices). Always ch e ck the “g o o d ie s” or “extras” folders o n softw are CDs for th ese hidden treasures. E xcept for Eurostile and Optim a, all the Adobe fonts illustrated in th is a rtic le c a m e w ith s o ftw a re , in clu d in g Rubino and Whassis. URW Bodoni cam e with M acrom edia’s X-Res. Downloading T h ere are an am azing nu m ber o f free fonts on the W eb, all you n eed to know is w here to look. Also, by going to these sites, you can get an idea o f w hat oth er fonts are available from the vendors, how m uch they cost, and if you like them enou gh you can order them right there. Many vendors will also send you the fonts on e-mail. T w o o f m y fa v o r ite s it e s a r e L e tra s e t (w w w .esselin.com /letraset) and the “D irectory to T y p e F o u n d rie s” from Publish m agazine ( w w w .p u b lis h .c o m / tr e a s u r y / d ir e c t o r ie s / foundry/) b ecau se you can dow nload quality fonts fo r free. T he D irectory page is also o n e o f the best sources for information about found­ ries in general, with addresses, p h o n e num ­ bers, and W eb sites w h en available. ImageClub (w w w .im ageclu b.com ) is a g oo d site b ecau se it h as s o m any re a s o n a b ly p rice d fo n ts to b ro w s e . Glastonbury an d th e w o n d e rfu lly nam ed Monkey Caught Stealing w ere dow n­ loaded from the W eb. O n e warning: free fonts often d o not have the range o f styles and sizes you w ould get if you purchased the font. T h ere are also a large num ber o f freew are and sharew are fonts out there. T he quality var­ ies from font to font, but som e o f them are quite n ice, like International, Vintage Type­ writer, and Lower West Side. O th e r s o u rc e s W hile not all sites give you free fonts, they are still fun to b row se and purchase from. Often, as with the Emigre (w w w .em igre.com ), Font B u r e a u ( w w w .f o n t b u r e a u .c o m ) , a n d G arageFonts (W W W .G arageFonts.C om) sites, they are also very good exam p les o f w ell-d e signed W eb sites. T h o se com panies, and many m ore also have printed catalogs. T h e Emigre catalog has lots o f great exam p les o f creative uses o f fonts. The Font Bureau catalog d o e sn ’t resort to the tradi­ tional fo x and lazy dog to show o ff its letters but has phrases like “the iguana in the toll- b o o th w as h e lp fu l and p o lit e .” T h e [T-26] (w w w .t26fo n t.co m ) catalog is p ackaged like an artists’ b o o k , com ing in a burlap bag with postcards and other font sam ples as w ell as the traditional (for them ) catalog. T he TypeArt (w w w .typeart.com ) font catalog offers a 100- p ie c e set o f Fon t Sold iers (it’s a jo k e ) and the GarageFonts catalog is so m uch fun that its “swimsuit edition” is included in a current exhibit at the C ooper Hewitt National Design Museum. T h e standard type catalog s, like A dobe ( w w w .ad ob e.com ), Agfa (w w w .agfa.com ), ITC ( http://www.esselte.com/itc), and Im age Club ( w w w .im ageclu b.com ) are also not to b e ig­ nored b ecau se they show the w ide variety o f type available. And for the truly ob sessed , Agfa and Emigre are tw o o f the hou ses that also send you font posters and, yes, the posters are hanging up in my office. F u rth e r re a d in g T w o o f the b est b o o k s around (and in spite o f their titles are applicable to all com puters), are. Robin W illiam s’s The M ac Is Not a Typewriter and Beyond the M ac Is Not a Typewriter, both from Peachpit Press and generally available in the com puter sectio n o f any b ooksto re. T he first d oes co m e in a P C Is Not a Typewriter ver­ sion. W illiam s’s Blip in the Continuum (M ac and PC versions available) includes a floppy disk with m ore than 20 “ugly” fonts, including Filet and Hard Tack. A ls o re c o m m e n d e d Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements o f Typographic Style. Hartley & Marks, 1992. Any issue o f Emigre m agazine, Sacram ento, California. Spiekerm ann, Erik. Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works. Adobe Press, 1993. Tschichold, Ja n . The New Typography: A Hand­ book f o r Modern Designers. University o f California Press, 1995 (originally published in G erm an in 1928). ■ http://www.esselin.com/letraset http://www.publish.com/treasury/directories/ http://www.imageclub.com http://www.emigre.com http://www.fontbureau.com http://WWW.GarageFonts.Corn http://www.t26font.com http://www.typeart.com http://www.adobe.com http://www.agfa.com http://www.esselte.com/itc http://www.imageclub.com May 1 9 9 7 / 3 2 9