Examples of Typography found . through the weeks

Week 1

While I was at work earlier today, I was in a search of what I thought was good typography. The picture above is what I believe to be good typography. The cursive letters are well spaced out and easy to read in contrast with the printed words underneath. The cursive letters also seemed to blend in well with the dancer that is beside them; giving the sign the feeling of movement. I also think this was a good example because the lettering is all in uniform color. I also noticed that the letters that start the words were very appealing because they were bigger than the normal letters, yet they weren’t obnoxiously big that it took away from the sign. For the words at the bottom, I feel as though it was a smart choice to make them printed out instead of cursive because it helps people to figure out what kind of business it is. Instead of making them figure it out on their own. I also believe that it was smart to make only the title of the business cursive, because it gives off the appearance of being a very tidy and structured business. It also is recognizable from other businesses of its kind because the logo is cursive and the first letters in the words are made in the way they are; so it is hard to miss.

While I was looking for my examples, I went ahead and looked for something that I would consider to be bad typography. I came across this building currently being built and looked at its sides closely. I thought I was seeing words but could not tell until I took the picture. I believe this is bad typography because the name of the business is placed onto the material in a sporadic way to where it can seem visually confusing to the eye. I also believe that this is bad typography because the writing blends into the material. The colors are too similar so it makes it harder to see the logo. I also believe that the lettering was not the best either. The first word’s letters seemed to be too big while the word that came after its words did not seem big enough. The letters also seemed to be hard to read, even though I was a little ways away. I even walked a little closer to the building to try to make out what the logo was but still had to look at it for quite a while to understand what it was. I feel as though if they wanted more emphasis in their logo there should be more words that are bold instead of just the word zip

Week 2

On my search for yet again more typography I stumbled upon this piece. I felt stumped on this one because I think it was very creative but I do believe that it is a little messy. I like the message it gives, but with the different sizes of text you can easily lose track of where you were reading. It also does not have a set font that it follows which also makes it very distracting. It is also very close together which starts to make all the words blend together. It also does not have a set pattern so that also makes it harder to read. I feel as though this is what makes this piece of work not the best example of typography. There is at least a few things that make this a good piece. One is the choice of having the typography be a lighter color than the background which make it a little better to read. Another thing that make it good is the message that the piece is trying to convey. I feel that if it had some sort of pattern or if the font was all the same this would have been a much better piece of typographic artwork.

During that same search I also found this piece of work. This is a little similar to the one listed above, but it seems to also have a major difference. Granted it is a smaller piece of work, but with the differences of color and the play on words inside of words this piece effectively conveys two messages. One of the things that work in this piece is the fact that it is all the same font. I feel that keeping everything the same font helps the eye to follow in a left to right motion. I also feel that the other thing that works well in this piece if the different colorization. Although the background is a little too close to the color of the text it is still recognizable. With certain letters being different colors, it helps to read the two different messages within the text. Another thing that works well in this piece is the fact that the colored letters are slightly bigger than the lighter ones. I feel as though this helps to distinguish between the two messages, but without taking away the fluidity of the messages together to create the phrase “Believe there is good in the world”. These few reasons are why I believe that this is a great example of good typography.

Week 3

On my search for typography this week I figured that there would be no place better than going to the grocery store. As I was walking around looking for food I came across this box. I was really curious about what was inside, but after looking at the box for a good 10 minutes I could not figure out what the brand was. I could not even figure out what was in the box. I decided to not buy this product because I could not understand what they were trying to sell me. This is a very unfortunate thing to happen for this company, and I feel bad for them. If they had cleaned up their advertising, and had not put whatever the product was in front of the logo, I feel as though I would have bought their product to try. It is a little annoying that they put whatever food it was conveniently in the middle of the logo, because when reading, it looks like “bah sen” which is probably not their logo. The letter in the middle is covered up so it looks like an e instead of whatever it was supposed to be. The cursive is also a little distracting and should never be broken up because they are trying to show an image of their food. I feel as though if they wanted to do both they should have either made their logo the focal point and made the food smaller, or divided it up in a way where the food could be a letter which would have been very creative and people would find it a little funny. Thus convincing them to buy their food. That way people could read it and would be convinced to buy their product. Due to these reasons I believe this is a bad example of typography.

On my way back from the grocery store I found this sign. I feel as though this is a good example of typography, because the wording and lettering is very clean and precise. I also believe that this is a good example because of how it is designed to be visible from very far distances. The font is very clean and the spacing between letters is crucial to its readability. I also like how they did not include the serifs because if they kept the serifs on the letters it would have been more for the brain to process, thus leading to distractions. These distractions would lead to people endangering themselves which the law would be responsible for. I also like how they have “speed limit” semi bold so it can be seen against the reflective coating, and the numbers in a deeper bold than the letters. The bolder numbers shows which part of the text is most important, thus effectively telling people who read the signs the information they need to know, rather than distract them with the words “speed limit”. I feel as though they were also very organized about the colors that they used to make this sign. White and black are very easy colors for us to see, and putting them together creates easy to read contrast. Due to the simplicity and effectiveness of this sign I believe this supports the fact that this is a good example of typography.

Week 4

This week’s bad typography is brought to you by “Urban Air”, “Urban Airz”, “Urban Air 22” ? This logo gave me more questions than answers. The only part that made sense was the description as to what it was which was an adventure park. I found this place on my way back home from my grandparents. There were so many questions in my mind as I dove past this place that I actually got off on that exit and drove over to the building to look at its sign. My first question that popped into my brain was what the heck is the font. After doing some research I finally found that this was called graffiti. This font makes the logo seem childish and unprofessional. I believe that graffiti should be reserved for artistic purposes, instead of trying to make it fit into a professional view point. I feel like they were going for a more fun looking logo which would attract kids, but I feel that they could have done this in a much better way than using a terrible font. Due to this terrible font it is also very hard to read. I also do not think that allowing the flourish in the Rs was necessary. The flourish adds to the confusion that is already there. The flourish confuses the eye because it looks either like the letter Z, or the number 2. Literally probably one of the worst examples of typography I would find. Looking at this logo made my eye twitch, and it still does.

Now here is a logo that will not cause you to want to cry! Publix has probably one of the cleanest logos out there. The nice opificio bold font keeps the logo sharp while adding its own character. I have always liked Publix’s logo. The font keeps it small, simple, and humble; just like their employees. I can always look at their logo and know what kind of customer service I will receive, what foods will be provided, and how fresh the produce will be. The spacing between letters also helps to keep the logo readable. I find it interesting that all the letters seem to be the same x-height, but after looking at the logo more I noticed that the P is actually not an upper case but the regular capital letter. I also believe that keeping all the letters the same color helps to keep the logo easy to read. Unlike Google which has its logos designed for computer graphics and can get away with creative colors, Publix is more reserved in the sense it is meant for people to go and visit to find out what kind of business they really are. Granted there is online shopping for Publix, but it is originally intended for an in person experience, which is probably why they kept the logo so simple. This also contributes to the easiness in the eye scanning from left to right. If this logo had any unnecessary things added to it I believe that it would have been just as bad as the logo above. I believe that this logo teaches us that sometimes the simpler the logo the better the message gets conveyed.5

Week 5

This week’s bad typography is brought to you by Aim Behavioral Health. I believe this is bad typography because of not only the positioning of the letters in the word “Aim”, but also the font chosen for the rest of the sign. There are many things that I would have changed about this sign. The over all layout of the sign is very bland and does not make any sense. The font chosen is rather clean, but it is also very boring. I would think that for an advertising sign you would want something to be attractive to the eye, without being either classified as messy or too stressing on the eye. I believe that this does not do a very good job advertising this business. My reasons are because first the text seems too small for the sign. To fix this problem it probably either needed to be in a bolder text or a completely different text altogether. Another problem I see with this is the letters seem too close together. This may be because of the font chosen, but having them too close together makes the letters blend and be indistinguishable. I am also confused about their choice of the positioning of the word “aim”. I see what visual they are trying to display, but I do not think it was executed well. Usually, with the way we read, we read from top left all the way down to bottom right; but the word is going the complete opposite way. This can clash with the eye’s normal reading ability and put some strain on the eyes. Even if it is ever so slightly. I also think another problem with this sign is the fact that the words get lost in the blue background because they are not bold enough, and they are not spaced out enough. We end up seeing the white parts before the black letters which is also why the word “aim” does not stand out. We see the white arrow before the word, which will distract from the logo.

This week I would like to present the picture above as an example of good typography. There are many reasons as to why I feel as though this is good typography. My first reason is because the type that is used is not only fun, but very clean and easy to read. I really like the play on ligatures that they have used to make this piece. The ligature helps the eye flow from one letter to the next. The choice of the font has made a very big impact on the way this piece is viewed. The font helps express a feeling of feeling good and relaxation, along with being fun and playful. I would say that the Ds are a little too big but all in all the piece is very good. I also feel that the choice of a darker background and white letters helps the eye see the words, and it also helps the feelings of fun and happiness be expressed.

Week 6

This week’s bad typography is brought to you by EmPOWERment. I’m sorry it’s just a funny thing to type out. So for many reasons this sign really makes my eye twitch. The first thing that bothers me about this piece is the fact that the capitals are all out of whack. I find it disorganized with the first letter being capitalized and then the word power being capitalized really makes this sign jarring and not pleasing to look at. It would have flown better if either the e was not capitalized, or if the word power was not capitalized but still kept in red. Another issue I have with this sign is the use of color. I would say they did a good job when it came to showing the difference between empowerment and power, but I really do not think that the choice to make the o blue was a good one. It breaks up the word power and makes it disappear because the bold red letters are overpowering the o and the o is slightly smaller than the rest of the bold red word. Not only that, but the different colors mixed in with the different capitals really just make your head spin. If I were to fix this sign, I would start by fixing the o, I would have made it either the same color or just not changed it into a way to put the logo in the name. I do understand the message they were trying to convey, but I do not think the execution was proper.

And now, finally, something that does not make my eye twitch. This sign is my example of good typography for this week, even though the picture during the transfer may make it a little blurry. I chose this as my good typography because every word is neatly placed. The typeface on this sign was also a very good choice. I really think it was a good choice to keep the words in the blue area white so they could be more legible and the text that is in the white is grey instead of black so that it does not compete with the white letters. I also like how the important things on the sign are bold and are bigger than the descriptions below them, which helps to show hierarchy. I do believe that they used their colors wisely and did not rely on playing with words to catch the viewer’s attention. even though this sign is using about the same amount of colors, they are restricted and are being used to provide a certain function unlike, the bad typography that is using it for visual purposes. This sign shows the perfect balance and the fact that less is more. I also like how everything seems to be situated in almost perfect thirds, this helps the eye flow and helps readability. I believe that this was a very good execution of balance when it comes to color, hierarchy, and typeface.

Week 7

This week’s bad typography is brought to you by AnB. I know that this sign does not seem like it may be a bad example of typography, but there is something about the typeface and the competition between the capital letters and the small cap letter. Granted the picture is a little blurry from the photo transfer. I do not like the setup of the capitals at all because they seem to be overpowering one another. What I mean by this is the angles of the capital A create more space between it and the small capital N, but when we look at the capital B and the small capital N together they seem to blend together. I see them sort of blend together because they are very similar in angle which in turn takes away the space in between them. If we only glanced at this sign instead of sitting at a red light and staring at it, like I was, we would have read it as AB instead of AnB. The N is so insignificant that it gets lost easily. I will give it some good things though. The restriction to black and white was a nice touch because it keeps everything clean and makes it seem organized. They also have some sense of hierarchy in this sign. I also think that they made a good decision on the typeface they used because it looks nice the way the AnB seems to almost connect into one shape. I also understand what they were going for when they designed their logo as AnB. They were making a play on the cultural slang in our text messages and in our speaking instead of saying “and” we shorten it to “n”. So the sign was meant to communicate as “A and B”. I feel what would help this sign is if the N and the B had a little more space in between them to match the space between the A and the N. This will give the composition some balance and will make it more appealing.

This week’s example of good typography goes to the Total cereal. This is living proof that sometimes less is more. There are many other things I like about this cereal box besides just the simplicity. I do think that they did an amazing job in picking a typeface for their logo. The font just showcases simplicity, and this company definitely knew how to use that to its advantage. I also think that the different coloration helps guide the viewer through the text. The most important parts, the brand name, and the vitamins/minerals are in red, a very bold color that the eye is naturally drawn to, and the lesser things are in blue, the parentheses which are meant for decoration, and the text below the brand name. I also think that the size of the text helps with its simplicity and fluidity. If it were too big it would feel obnoxious and overwhelming to the viewer, but if it were too small it would not attract enough attention in order to be bought. General Mills did a very good job on this advertising!

Week 8

This week’s bad typography is brought to you all by a little sign in my friend’s house. I really like the message on this sign, but I feel that it was not put together in the best way. I first want to start off with the different sizes. I feel as though the size difference is too drastic for this piece because the words “nest’ and “best” completely overpower the words “our” and “is”. I feel as though what would fix that is if the sizes were slightly closer together, that way nothing is overpowered. Another issue I have found within this piece is the different fonts. I feel as though these fonts clash way too much because the font for the smaller words makes them disappear while the font for the bigger words makes them stand out and are easier to read. This also does not make the sizing issue any better since this causes the words to disappear even more. Granted the message of the piece still gets across, even if you take out the words “our” and “is”. I know this class is not about picture design, but I do want to mention something about it. I feel that the wording is too cramped inside the wreath. This also in turn does not help the factor of words disappearing, because now that the bigger words are in a tight space there is hardly any space for the smaller words. Thus they almost vanish entirely. I feel what would fix all of these issues is if there were more space, non-clashing fonts and if the letter sizes were a little similar without looking like the exact same size.

This week’s good typography is brought to you by Ty-Phoo! There are many different reasons why I have chosen this to be my good example for this week. The first thing I want to acknowledge is the good use of hierarchy. The reason why I say it has a good hierarchy is that the title “TyPhoo” is nice and bold, and its description “tea” is smaller to show that it is not the important thing in the design. I also think that the slight curve to the title is a nice addition because it adds personality to the piece and tries to make it different than the brands surrounding it. I also like the clean color scheme. The blue is nearly encompassing the title and gives a nice contrast against the silvery-white letters, and the red is a nice contrast to the blue. This helps us to center our eyes on the title. I also think that the font that was chosen was very well thought out. It is bold and not extravagant which is a good observation of the company because there is already enough going on around the title. I feel if they chose a different font it would have been lost inside the design. I also like the name they chose for their tea. “Ty-Phoo” is just a fun thing to say and it will definitely attract attention to itself with a fun name.

Week 9

This week’s good typography is brought to us by Ilford photographic paper. I was sitting in my photography class and thanks to this typography class, noticed how well-made this box’s advertising was. The reason why I believe this is a good example is because of its simplicity. Much like the road sign from earlier this semester, this company has truly taken advantage of the saying less is more. This design on the front needs to be simple, otherwise, photographers will start to say to the company and the product, “Ok, so where is the actual important information?” and they will not buy it. They have succeeded in their use of hierarchy as well. The most important thing on the cover of the box is the company’s name, Ilford. This lets anyone know, not just photographers, that this is the company that you buy this product from. This will help the individual to remember which company to buy from when they run out of the product. I will admit that it works because when I had run out of this paper a few weeks ago I was able to remember the company’s name because it was so big. There are many photographic paper companies out there that Ilford has to compete with so I can say they did a fine job. The next most important thing on this box, going down in the hierarchy scale, is the MGRC. This is an acronym for multi-grade resin coated. This tells us what type of paper it is which is very important to the photographer because they will be looking for a specific paper to better accentuate their photograph. With the wrong paper, the photograph will not come out as well and the photographer will be disappointed. It is also surrounded by a purple box which helps to accentuate the MGRC. The least important things on the box are the photographic paper in different languages and the breakdown of the acronym. These are not as important because they are descriptive and offer the same information as their counterparts.

This week’s bad typography is brought to you by more of my friend’s signs in her house. This one to me seems to have a great message but is chaotic in its setup. I do not think in its entirety this is an extremely bad example, I just think that the text sizes need to be adjusted. I believe the embellishment on the L in love is way too big. Which is cutting into the entirety of the text and not only breaking up the flow of the text but blending into some of the words. This to me causes the piece to fall apart. The reason why I say “fall apart” is because if the piece is somewhat illegible then it becomes a distraction. My eyes personally get fixated on every point where the embellishment meets a word. This distraction is what is making this piece fall apart. If the text size of love was lower and the embellishment was smaller I believe it would help this piece a ton. There would then be significant space between the big text and the word love which would attract almost the same amount of attention to the word instead of sacrificing everything else instead.

Week 10

This week’s good example goes to an off-brand of Cocoa Puffs named Crispy Cocoa Rice. The reason why I think this is a good example is because of how simple it is. Granted there are some conflicting hierarchies but I think that it still does a good job all around. They used the colors to not only paint the picture with the lama and the leaves but used them in a way to show hierarchy. The “crispy cocoa rice” is in the bigger color space (brown) which draws our eye first because there is so much of color. “Mom’s BEST cereals” is the second thing our eye is drawn to not only because of how bright the red is against the brown, but also because the all-capital “BEST” calls attention to itself. The next thing that draws our eye is “gluten-free”, because not only is it close to the title, but it also has the bold “FREE”. However, it is not the same size as the word “BEST” so it does not attract our attention first. Lastly, the little green leaves with descriptions are the last things we notice. I would say the leaves’ position is rather clever because they guide our eye all the way down the side to have us look at the picture of the cereal, almost as if it is presenting it. I will say that they definitely had more extravagance than the bad example, but with a little work they were able to be successful.

For this week’s bad example I chose another sign that is in my friend’s house. There aren’t many things wrong with this sign, but the few things that are wrong with it really bother me. The first thing that bothers me is the extreme difference in the font. I think both are beautiful fonts but I do not believe that they agree with each other. I think the sharpness of the entire text and then the fluidity of “welcome” make the flow of the piece unstable. I also think the text sizes are too different. This is very tricky though. I like the different sizes because it shows what is important (which is the fact that it is a Welcoming sign and not an average sign), but I feel like it is a little too overexaggerated. The reason why I think this way is because the welcome feels more like a shout than a warm welcome, and the rest of the text feels like a whisper. What also bugs me is the way the cursive L divides the two lines. It divides the bottom evenly, but when it comes to the top it is divided in an awkward spot. This makes my eye go from the word “every”, down to “welcome”, and then back up to “family has a story”, then back down to “welcome”, and then finally “to ours”. I feel that if the L divided the top line in an even matter then my eyes would not have bounced around the whole piece. What also bothers me is the L is a bigger size than the rest of the word “welcome”. I end up staring at the L and not at the piece as a whole.