An ongoing conversation: Favorite Fonts + Rebranding myself.

Fonts.

In relation to Brand Identity.

They can make you squeamish, the perfect typography can make or break a brand + identity system.

The entire enterprise of finding the perfect font to use in design is something that is quite daunting to me. It's a challenge, definitely.

Every day, there are new ones that are added to Adobe Typekit. It's almost overwhelming how many I have within my font management system. (at 8K+), I'm getting to the point where I want to curl up and cry every time I think about what font to use and why I selected that specific one. This is the trial and tribulations of a designer and is a part of our craft, I do understand. 

More and more I am finding that a wordmark is as important as any creative logo that uses imagery of some kind. Using the fonts to play with the image. I adore logos that have a subconscious hidden meaning to them. (See FedEx's logo with it's hidden arrow, Amazon's with the arrow going from A to Z, etc.) Here's a link to a list of inspiring hidden meaning logo designs.

I remember a discussion I had long ago with a friend about using seemingly innocuous flowers in my logo. They said, are you sure you want to be associated with something as feminine as flowers? Don't you want to be taken seriously?

That got me thinking, how is it that feminine (and by extension feminine looking fonts) are seen as whimsical, not serious, something to brush off? I am proud to be associated with being feminine, I like the very nature of the female form. It should be something that is admired and viewed with reverence. Of course, I want most of all to be seen as a good (if not great) designer, with simple lines and a comprehensive view.

Recently, I rebranded myself. I wanted something strong, yet feminine. Something that shows the love of my tattoos, and yet is subtle in it's connection to it.  I ended up with this:

Once done with my rebranding, I set to work rebuilding my website. It was disconnected, busy, without any reason to why I showcased the work I selected. I marveled at how disjointed everything was. There wasn't really a rhyme nor reason to any of it. 

Setting to work, I created a wireframe of other sites that appeared to be working well. I wireframed how I would like my site to look and function. Flow between pages became really important. 

Eventually, I arrived at the selection of fonts and I remembered how much I used specific ones during times in my Design Life.

High School (1994 - 1995): I wasn't really interested in how fonts impacted my life at this time. Most of my reports were done on an electric typewriter, yes I'm old. I believe I used mostly san-serifs to compose these reports.

During my undergrad (1995 - 1999): Much like my life during this time, I floated between serifs and san-serifs. I was quite flighty in my likes and dislikes. Trying to be anti-establishment, I was on a mission to disavow anything or anyone who used Helvetica. (seriously, WHY?!) I was enamored with Antique Olive and Eurostile for way too long, and began my love of Futura. At least Futura has it's saving graces.

Early Freelance Career (2001 - 2006): I began to understand the merits of serif fonts and when to use them. Still loved Futura and began branching out to Arial. Discovered that simplicity is key when conveying an idea within design. Web Design was beginning to take root, so web safe fonts were becoming a part of my repertoire. Serif fonts like Mrs. Eaves and Garamond were beginning to be a part of my designs. At this point, I believed that altering the font was somehow cheating and I wanted to ensure the font's purity in some way.

Hiatus: (2006 - 2014): I took a step back from design. Worked on developing myself as a customer service representative for such companies as Apple and Squarespace. I was tired of the design hustle and needed a break from it. I went back to school in 2013 and while this go around didn't really emphasize the importance of using fonts to convey an idea, I was able to discover on my own how using fonts and specifically which ones can really help with design. I maintained my look by using Helvetica Neue and Arial most often.

Current Freelance Career (2014 - present): Here we are, in the present. I have abandoned some of the more frivolous and age defining (hello 90s!) font styles (like Eurostile... LOL) in place for fonts such as Helvetica Neue, Proxima Nova, Arial, Futura, Mrs. Eaves, Garamond. As long as the fonts themselves appear to be something that is well thought out and conceived. I am not as much of a font purist anymore and am absolutely open to adjusting the font to my needs (and not the other way around.)

One other thing that has remained constant that I've realized, I've been wanting to create a font of my handwriting. My handwriting hasn't changed much in the last 20 years and I've had a lot of people comment on how nice it looks (thanks to the calligraphy classes I took in middle school and high school.) I haven't sat down to do this yet, but I still have the inspiration to do it. Maybe now that I am on the second leg of my freelancing journey, I will be able to. First, research on how to do it. Then, create a project to do it.

So little time!