Web Typography
In this lesson Paul introduced us to web fonts, including google fonts and adobe fonts.
Font task
As a group we each had to pick a few of these web type faces, I choose fonts that I thought would suit the two different versions of text that we were given. I have included screenshots of my chosen typefaces below.
Tim Brown talk- Universal Typography
I decided to watch Tim Brown’s talk titled Universal Typography because I wanted to gain more knowledge on the subject and I felt like this video was the perfect opportunity and I wanted to share my thoughts on this talk. Tim brown is a designer, author, speaker, and maker of tools. He works as the head of typography at Adobe and his interests lies with all things type.
He began this talk with information about where type began and how it has evolved through the years from Roman types to the De Stijl movement. I took a few screenshots of the talk which I have included in this post.
”The web is the best place for text.- Time Brown”
I liked how passionate he is about typography and how important it is in design, he explained that type can prove authenticity but it is about balance and web designers need to keep that balance. He made an interesting point that as designers we don’t know what the future holds, we aren’t aware of what’s out there. The web is only going to continue to grow and change and evolve but as designers we have to keep thinkings abstractedly and work practically.
I learned that within web type, the typefaces have different jobs, with titles and paragraphs and widths and sizes, and as designers they have to make multiple decisions. I learned that web designers need to think both like a typography designers and graphics designers to complete the job that is asked of them, this is a fact I never knew or thought of before, that these two important jobs work hand in hand.
Brown talked about css and the importance of the ’em’ box, at this stage in the talk it became very advanced and detailed. He talked about font metrics and I was interested in this section of the talk and it is something that I think I will research further as he placed a lot of importance on the idea of all designers using ‘font metrics’.
”Tools should use font metrics to help us make design decisions.”
Brown also gave a lot of useful websites and links which I could use in the future:
What have I learned?
I have learned a lot about web typography and the effect it has on viewers and users of the web. I enjoyed the group exercise and it was a great way to get me started on using google fonts. The talk was very detailed and I have to admit some parts did go over my head, as I am very new to typography and web typography. However I did learn a lot from Tim Brown, I learned that typography is so important on the web and I will be designing for the web some day. A point he made that stuck with me is that web designers have to think like both a graphic designer and typographer designer, I was not aware of this previously and I think that line opened my eyes to how important type is on the web and to its design! The web is continuing to grow and as a designer I need to work practically and abstractedly.