As you might’ve already known, I have decided not to go with typefaces Ruritania, Kingthings Calligraphy and Selfish because of the fact that they looked too medieval. I want to create something that has aspects of this era but in a more modern style, and perhaps more cursive rather than having intricate decoration.
I went onto different websites to see if I could discover newer typefaces, and I found a couple that really caught my eye. To make it easier for me I shall copy and paste the whole paragraph to see if the typeface would be suitable for it.
Typeface Choices
Lavandria is a very delicate typeface, but it does come in a regular and sturdy version so that the strokes of each letter are thicker and easier to read.
What I like most is how elegant this typeface is, and that this reminds me of the typefaces used in posh restaurant menus but also on traditional wedding invitations. There isn’t a lot of decoration but the little curls that connects each letter together gives it that “cuteness” because it mimics the writing of a young lady, and I keep thinking that it’ll be something like that girl in Legally Blonde would write.
What I also like is that the uppercase letters have a lower baseline than lowercase letters. This means that they stand apart so it’s obvious which ones are the uppercase, but this means that they also need more space.
Because of this it makes the lowercase letters look very close together so they are quite hard to read. To make it easier for me to read I had to put it at a very large pt size, which wouldn’t be good for my invitation as I would like to have some illustrations on it.
Matilde is a very different typestyle to the ones I’ve look at before, but there’s just something about it that I really like! Because of its tall ascender lines it gives it a very stretched appearance, and the little curls at the ends of the shoulders, ears and descenders brings up the connotations of cute flowery food packaging and then reminds me of picnics with the family.
I think that Matilde would be very hard to use with another typeface, so if I did choose to use this one then I would have to use only this.
The reason that I chose Valentina was because the contrast between thick and thin lines reminds me of Didot, and yet there’s something more elegant about it. For instance, there’s a slight axis to it that is shown on the “e”s, and the terminal of the “a”s is more pronounced and there are other such balls on some of the other letters.
The typestyle overall is very smooth as it has soft curves with extremely thin serifs, and because of this contrast the typeface looks elegant and “modern” as it reflects Didot which was produced for the modern era. I think that this typeface would be brilliant for the main text, as it would work well with a decorative typeface.
Sofia is probably another typeface that wouldn’t work with a second one, because it is very decorative in the sense that the curls are very pronounced. It’s extremely girly as well, so might not be best for a wedding invitation unless I want it to be girly to reflect the nature of fairy tales (as the Disney versions are quite childlike). Sofia would probably be better to use in a birthday card design or a party invitation for a young girl.
Champignon is a beautiful typeface, yet I think that the x-height is very small meaning that it’ll be hard to read at a smaller size, so I have put it in the “heading” section where I would only focus on “Sophie Lancroft and Mark Tyler”.
I really like how the designer had added little flicks and curls at the ends of each letter, the uppercase ones in particular. They don’t take up too much space because of how they are slanted, and so this means that there is a perfect amount of kerning between them.
The contrast between thick and thin strokes reminds me of Modern typefaces, as it gives off a very elegant appearance, and that combined with an italic cursive typeface gives off the connotations of an elegant lady. This lady probably enjoys hosting balls and parties where the women dress in beautiful gowns and the men in posh suits. This typeface could quite possibly mimic this lady’s handwriting.
The high contrast between the cap-height and the x-height might prove a difficultly when I use it for my invitation, because the uppercase letters might be too large or the lowercase too small. I think that if I do plan on using this then I would have to do some experimentation and print outs to see if the type is readable.
Parisienne is very similar to Champignon yet I find think of it as an improved version because of all of those problems with x-heights are resolved here. The width of each letter is a lot wider as well so that they would be easier to read at a smaller size, which would be great for my wedding invitation.
Like Lavandria, the uppercase letters have a lower baseline than the lowercase and this means that the kerning wouldn’t appear too small nor each letter too “squished”, and it also allows these uppercase letters more room to breathe, as they are slightly lower. The “curls”, as it were, curves beneath the letter next to it and this creates a harmonious combination. This subtle feature could link to the perfect combination of the couple as they fit together perfectly.
Although this does have characteristics of handwriting, the smooth curves gives away that it’s a digital typeface as it they are too perfect. However despite that it still has that personal feel to it because of its similarities. The bride could possibly get away with saying that this is her handwriting!
Even though I mentioned that I wouldn’t look at typefaces that resemble “medieval” typestyles, I found Hanford Script quite appealing because it is a modern take on it. It isn’t a blackletter, but because of the extravagant curves in the uppercase letters it gives it away that it belongs to the Old English style. This typeface brings up the connotations of the Edwardian or Victorian era because when I clapped eyes on it my mind immediately jumped to Pirates of the Carribean, when the commodore was writing a letter (or someone similar, I can’t remember the exact details).
It therefore reminds me a little bit of pirates, and yet it’s too elegant for it due to it being slightly slanted (italic). Looking closely I can see some subtle ligatures on some of the words that creates a cursive appearance, but I only noticed this why I put it at a larger pt. size.
Because of Junicode’s resemblance to Times, it might be a better typeface to use when it comes to working with other, more decorative typefaces. It was so similar that when I had my break I soon couldn’t tell the difference between the two when I went back to work, however the strokes of Junicode are a bit thinner and the x-height is slightly taller. These little differences means that Junicode doesn’t look like a typical default typeface.
So Junicode shares some of the same connotations as Times; it’s professional, clean, and great for important documents because of how each letter could be read easily.
I’ve also noticed that some of the serifs crossbars looks joined together – f and t in particular – when placed next to each other, and only when I zoom right in do I see that they are separate.
This typeface would be brilliant for my invitation because of how minimalist its design is, and it would work perfectly with a more decorative typeface.
Conclusion:
I simply cannot decide which typefaces to choose, so to make my life easier I decided to combine them and see which ones looks best when written out like an invitation. I know that I want to use either Junicode or Valentina as the typeface for the main text, but now it’s just deciding what other typeface to choose.
Typeface Combinations
I think that Junicode with either Parisienne or Lavandria works really well as I find that the contrast in styles between Champignon and Junicode is too high, as it’s mixing an extremely slanted typeface with a very rigid one.
As I mentioned above, Hanford Script does remind me a little bit of pirates and now that I can see it set out like it would on my invitation, my views are only strengthened so I don’t think I will use it after all.
Here I’ve now tried out the same typefaces and left them at the same pt. size but I changed the main text to Valentina. Now I can clearly see that the typeface is much too large to work with the other typefaces unless I them larger, and that it looks slightly stretched due to the tall cap-height.
This made me realise that Juniode would be a better typeface to work with, and now it’s a choice between Parisienne and Lavandria.
Ah this is so difficult! But if I have to think about which one reflects the fairy tale feel I must save that it’s Lavandria. It’s elegant but not too much that it belongs to a restaurant menu, and yet there’s a slight “girly-ness” to it that reflects the youth in fairy tales. It has that perfect balance of being decorative and yet minimalist at the same time which means that it’ll be perfect to use across a variety of stationary such as menus, table cards, R.S.V.Ps… Everything, really!
Conclusion:
After much deliberation I have chosen Junicode for the main text, and Lavandria for the headings. I have mentioned my reasons above.
Throughout the whole project - as well as my previous projects - I only looked at typefaces that were available for commercial and personal purpose, however Lavanderia was for personal use only.
Throughout the whole project - as well as my previous projects - I only looked at typefaces that were available for commercial and personal purpose, however Lavanderia was for personal use only.
No comments:
Post a Comment