Exploring the World of Typefaces
Sacha Greif
Lesson 6
When we look back at black and white movies, we marvel at the results they could achieve without color. Despite this, we can agree color film was a good invention: you can still shoot in black and white, but color gives an extra dimension and opens up a lot of new avenues for those who want to use it.
Similarly, it sometimes feel like the web is only just emerging from the black-and-white era as far as typography is concerned.
After a decade of Arial and Verdana, designers have settled on Helvetica as the new standard. But there’s a whole world of fonts waiting to be explored out there, and while there’s nothing wrong with Helvetica, it pays to at least be aware of the alternatives.
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More Google Web Fonts That Don’t Suck
Let’s start things off with one of my own posts. Read through the article, and then explore Google Fonts to find at least one more nice font that I haven’t mentioned. Share your favorite font by leaving a comment on my blog if you'd like.
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MyFonts Bestsellers
Look through the list and try to find at least one real-world site or brand using one of these fonts. Hint: Google is your friend.
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Hoefler & Frere-Jones
Marvel at H&FJ’s beautiful fonts, including the well-known Archer and Gotham.
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WhatFont
Install this Chrome extension that instantly helps you identify any webfont, and start using it every time you see nice-looking type to build up your type culture.
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WhatTheFont
Take a random screenshot of some text, or a photo of some packaging and try identifying the fonts in it using this handy tool powered (I assume) by magical type-loving elves.
Sacha Greif
Designer
I'm a product designer living in Osaka, Japan. I split my time between working on my own projects (such as Folyo, Telescope, and Sidebar) and consulting for clients all over the world, including companies such as Hipmunk, RubyMotion, and Codecademy.
