Typography: Stuck for Suitable Typefaces?

How to choose suitable typography for web and print based projects

[caption id="attachment_8987" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Image by Frazer (via Shutterstock).[/caption]

It takes a bit of nous to choose a different typeface to the first one you see. By default, we set our standard body text to Times New Roman, Calibri or (gulp!) Comic Sans MS. After a bit of soul searching, you find there’s a world of typographical options on your computer or cloud computing account: Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Verdana, and so on. Sometimes you can never have enough typefaces. For typography options, you might need to look elsewhere.



On the internet, there are oodles of typography sources. Not only websites advertising free fonts, but also those of type foundries. Plus you’ve also got Google Fonts, which offers a wealth of open source typography options.

If you’re looking for free typefaces...

There may be some limitations. Some typefaces may be licensed for non-commercial use, which is fine for coursework, though not corporate brochures. In some cases, you might see ‘pirated’ versions of paid-for typefaces. Any typography could be suitable for web projects; with desktop publishing software, the transition from web fonts to print could be fussy and lost in translation.

If you’re on a strict budget and looking for a free typeface, go to the Google Fonts website. As well as being able to download each font family onto your PC, embedding Google Fonts into web based projects are straightforward.

If quality matters...

Go to the websites of well known font foundries such as ITC Linotype. MyFonts.com has a wide variety of paid-for typefaces. Depending on whether you download one typeface or the entire font family, you can use them on any project. The typeface is yours for keeps. For commercial projects, this by far is the best option. Moreover, they will work well on print projects as well as online.

If you wish to follow the trends...

Typography addicts should go to Typewolf. This website has several Top 10s of typographical leanings. It also features alternative typefaces to, for example, Helvetica, Arial, and Gotham. It is well worth a read for catching up on the latest font fashions.

Dreamkatcha, 26 April 2017.