Ad$ense: What's Your TYPE?

No, I am not referring to your soul mate somewhere out there who's just right for you. Nor am I talking about your haemoglobin group identification which by the way you should be carrying in your wallet at all times.

I am talking to you about an element in design that cannot be discounted if you want it to communicate meaningfully. It's called typeface or fonts. And the discipline in using them is typography.

Typeface

In typography, a typeface (also known as font family) is a set of one or more fonts each composed of glyphs that share common design features. Each font of a typeface has a specific weight, style, condensation, width, slant, italicization, ornamentation, and designer or foundry (and formerly size, in metal fonts). (e.g. "ITC Garamond Bold Condensed Italic" is a different font from "ITC Garamond Condensed Italic" and "ITC Garamond Bold Condensed," but all are fonts within the same typeface, "ITC Garamond." However, ITC Garamond is a different typeface than "Adobe Garamond" or "Monotype Garamond.") There are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly.

You can tell quite a bit about a designer from the fonts they most commonly use. If you are mostly using Helvetica or Avant Garde, you probably saw quite a lot of the seventies and early eighties. If you are the Gill Sans or Garamond type, again, it's not hard to tell which generation you are probably in. This is of course not rocket science or a precise indicator, but it's a good barometer.

So why is typography so important to design? In simple terms, it is because it is carrying a message. All words needs to be set in type, so employing the correct font helps communicate the message accurately with the right emotion, tone, expression and even volume. The right font actually helps dress the words. Sometimes it can give it a period look and often, combined with the right colours complete the intent of the designer in establishing where in history they belong. Every decade has its own look. The Fifties and the Sixties are very distinct as an example, both in type and colours.

A typical '50s type and colour by Alex Fowkes

And here is one that screams '60s with its psychedelic colours.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are some samples of how the right type can make a whole lot of difference to the look of a piece of design.