A Type and Color Primer
10
Choosing the Right Face: Visual Associations
Selecting a typeface for its feeling or mood is a tricky endeavor
that often comes down to a designer’s gut reaction to the rhythm
or shapes inherent in a particular style. Some typefaces, for
example, feel fast or slow, heavy or light, and these qualities
can be quickly attributed to the interplay of counterspaces,
stroke weights and contrasts, joints, and so on. A great many
typefaces also conjure associations with cultural motifs because
of their common use in advertising or other pop-culture venues
for specific kinds of subject matter: gothic blackletters or textura
faces, for instance, commonly evoke horror or fantasy because
they are tied to certain historical time periods and because they
have been used widely in posters and advertising for movies
and books in this genre.
However, the intrinsic drawing of a typeface may involve shapes
that can be read as other shapes that are found in our environ-
ments. Sinewy, curved shoulders that seem to sprout from the
vertical stems of letters, or leafy terminals, allude clearly to
natural forms such as plants or animals. When thinking about
choosing an appropriate typeface, it is helpful to look at the
images that accompany the text, or to think about objects or
places related to the subject matter of the text, as inspiration.
The geometric, linear texture of this
architectural façade is complemented by
the rigid quality of the sans serif.
The rounded forms and sinewy modulation
of this italic serif echo the organic quality of
the figure. A bolder version alludes to the
figure’s muscularity.
A stylized serif with graphic details closely
resembles the branching, twisting forms of
the tree branches.
Repetitive, industrial forms with linear
character and rapid alternation of positive
and negative space have a rhythm similar
to the condensed sans serif.
(Provision) Type Style Finder
CD606.006 / 4108
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