Typography

The typography assignment that I did for my pr publications class was fun. I didn’t expect that I would learn as much about letter placement or font as I did. It was interesting how different fonts have different connotations and it seems as if they were meant for different types of messages. I always thought that font was something that didn’t really matter and that you could use whatever font you wanted to get any message across. However, after playing a few of these games I realized that typography is nearly as important as the message of a story.

The first game that I played was “Shoot the serif.” This game gave you a grid of letters and it was my job to click on all of the serif fonts, or the fonts that have little feet. I enjoyed this game, because it introduced me to the most basic difference between fonts. I learned that serif fonts are normally a little more traditional or classic and sans serif fonts tend to be more modern or edgy. This first game was effective, because it taught me the differences between serif and sans serif.

The second game that I played was “Type War.” This game was extremely fun to play, because it gave you a letter and you had to choose which font was correct. This game was probably the most challenging, because the more advanced levels had very similar looking fonts. For example, at the beginning optima and helvetica neue looked the same to me. However, it was interesting, because the more I practiced the better I got at differentiating between the two fonts. This game was effective, because it trained me to really look at fonts and see how they differentiate from one another. Though some fonts may look similar, they are not the same. This also means that their purpose and message is different as well as their looks.

The final game that I played was “Type Connection.” The main point of this game is to pick a type of font and find its match. For example, I chose one type of font with its own personality and messages and my goal was to find another type of font that would match well with the one that I chose. This game was definitely one of my favorites because it was so interesting. I never thought that the font that you choose is important. I always thought that font was interesting, but there is no need to have so many different types of lettering. However, through this exercise I learned that fonts have matches that make them look better and that helps out with many design elements other than typography.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this assignment. I never thought typography was important. However, through this assignment I learned that depending on the message there is a type of font that works best. This assignment has definitely opened my eyes to the truth that typography is an amazing tool that can be used to tell a story the most efficiently and powerfully.