I’m a man of minor obsessions. Sometimes they’re short-lived (World of Warcraft) sometimes, not-so-much (comic books). Usually my obsessions just help me waste time and give my friends a reason to make fun of me. Occasionally, however, they can be useful.
Like many of you, my work in youth ministry frequently requires that I do some graphic design. When they design, most youth workers use horrendous fonts. Some never change the default (Times New Roman? Blech.), some use whatever they can find in Microsoft Word (remember: friends don’t let friends use Papyrus) and others just go to dafont.com and download whatever’s popular (I’ve been there. Don’t do it.)
Good fonts, real fonts can make any graphic look like it was designed by a professional. Stick to these and you’ll do OK.
The gold standard. It’s everywhere, in every logo (Target, FedEx, Texaco, American Apparel). While this font can be oddly polarizing, its versatility is undeniable. I find that it lends a sense of beauty and polish to any design. When in doubt, use Helvetica.
I recently used this in an all-text design promoting our upcoming leadership team launch. It really made the words pop. The great thing about fonts like Futura is that you almost don’t need any other imagery. You can see Futura implemented well on the beautiful Field Notes products.
I only recently started using Frutiger. Designed by Swiss typographer Adrian Frutiger, this family of typefaces is really, really nice. The sans-serifs are super-clean and can be used in just about any design.
This font is definitely my newest crush (and also the only serif font I really dig.) It evokes old books and newspapers, and gives a warm, literary feel to a design.
You probably recognize this font from…every youth ministry publication in the last 12 months (if you don’t believe me, dig through your trash can and grab one of the ten or twelve Student Life mail-outs you received today.) Even though it’s quickly becoming a cliche, this font (which can probably attribute its popularity to the film “Juno”) is a lot of fun and, at least to my eyes, really screams “teenager.”
And remember: NO PAPYRUS!
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thanks for posting and the tips. lisa and i have a little game where we try to spot papyrus. it’s amazing how many places you can find it.
you should try spotting helvetica. its everywhere!
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