Typography

I was thrilled to play games for our assignment this lesson. Granted these are not your typical video game, but learning through gaming is always a lot more fun. The first game I started out with was ‘Kern Type’.

This game was really good at helping you visualize the spacing between letters. As we design our layout and place words, we need to realize how spacing and positioning can change the effect we have on our audience. In order to have a clear message we need to have an eye for detail and this game was great at letting you physically change the appearance.

After leveling-up my spacing skills, I played the ‘Type War’ game.

Now I did not play Type War just to get the extra credit but having the incentive made me push harder to reach level 10. This game was perfect in helping you learn the various font styles that we normally use. I did look up some of the letters as I went along but what was nice is you begin to learn how each font is expressed. For example, I was having trouble with the Optima font but after a few rounds I instantly knew if it was a Optima font by judging the width of the letters. The game is hard at times but once you get a groove going the fonts become second hand at recognizing.

To wrap up my typography gaming experience I decided to try my hand at ‘Type Connection’

I had know idea what to do when I first started playing this and I still am a little confused on the objective. In the end, this game did a great job at giving you background of fonts. The game tells you how the font came to be and certain characteristics of how it is expressed. For example, I had know idea Martha Stewart had her own font but through this game I learned that they made the ‘Archer’ font for her magazine. Learning about the history of fonts and trying to find ones that are similar or different was a very unique way to learn about the origins of our writing.

Overall, this assignment was very eye opening about all the different way we can express ourselves through letters. Choosing the right font can go a long way in creating a message that is meant to entertain or one that is meant to instruct. Learning about the history of fonts in particular helps you understand when a certain font should be used. Likewise practicing spacing is important, so we can make sure even the smallest details are accounted for when crafting our message as a PR professional.