Type in the
Wild An Exploration of Good and Bad Typography By Kira Stoy
For 12 weeks, I was a part of an ongoing investigation of discovering examples of good and bad typography. These were my findings.
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Good
The first example of good typography I have chosen is a magnet that purchased at a Cracker Barrel in Nashville. I think that the magnet displays good typography with the choice of font, and the arrangement of the font. The font style fits well with the look and vibe of the magnet, and it communicates well that Nashville is known for Country Music, even though the magnet does not include the word “country� anywhere on it. the magnet well in that all of the most important words are larger. The type is kerned well and the letters are not too close and not too far apart, making it easily legible.
My example of good typography is from a z-fold menu also from my work. This menu has a nice hierarchy to it’s typography. It includes the use of serif and sans serif fonts that work well a and provide a nice contrast. It also uses different type faces, type styles, and font colors and sizes to clearly distinguish between different chunks of information. The use of the italic type effectively emphasizes the different choices the drink that are offered while the bold type sets it apart so that it does not get lost in the description of the drink. The use of the red color breaks up the information by the different days and different fonts add an attraction to the page that keeps it from looking boring. The typography on this page effectively communicates the information it is intended to.
This example is the packaging for Milk Makeup’s Kush Mascara. The type on this packaging is one that is easy to read. The design has a great hierarchy to the text and there is use of different type styles of the same font, creating contrast and keeping it interesting while also cohesive. The use of all caps brings attention to different point the company wants to make about the product and then provides more information using a more readable style of the font.
This example of is the menu for Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. The type on it displays cohesively and is easily read. Each menu item is in a bold font in all caps while the descufor the meal is in a regular font making each item clearly distinguishable from other items. The menu uses a sans serif typeface in conjunction with a script typeface for modifying text. The use of italics and a lighter color for the calorie count in the description of each item really makes the text distinguishable, keeping it from looking like a jumbled mess with too much information. Setting the prices apart also helps make the information more legible.
This example of good typograpghy is a page from a Magnolia Journal Magazine. I chose it because It is very clean and cohesive. The use of different type styles make the spread look like it has a variety of fonts to keep your eye moving, without it being complete chaos. The use of all-caps with loose tracking tells me that it is a title for the chunk of information I am about to read.
For this example of good typography I have chosen coupons from Kohl’s. These coupons use a single font and successfully emphasize parts of the text by using all-caps. The text is also extremely readable with reversing and using a color that you can see the text with. It uses a hierarchy in text size also to emphasize the information that is most important to the consumer, which is the chance to take 20% off of purchase. The sans serif font used has thick enough strokes that it does not get lost even in its smallest size being knocked out.
For this example of good typography, I have yet another restaurant menu. The title fonts are nice and bold and big and the body font is legible and the tracking is done well.
This example of good typography is the inside of the vinyl cover for Pink Floyd’s Dark side of the moon. The white text on a black background makes the text easier to read than if it was the opposite way around. The choice of typeface is very consistent looking with the design of the album. The type is lead well so that the letters are not overlapping, and the different paragraphs break with an empty line between them. The titles of the track are distinguished with a bold style of the type.
This example is the wrapper for Now and Later candies. The logo for the candy uses principles of gestalt and creates two arrows in the text, on pointing down in “Now” and one pointing ahead in “Later.”
For an example of good typography, I chose this can of corn from Publix. Publix brand seems to have a more consistent look to their design. It still offers hierarchy with use of colors and different type styles, but while all using the same font. It has a much simpler and effective approach to this design problem.
For good typography, I chose this page in the menu at Hopjacks. While this page has quite a few different fonts going, I feel it works because I almost see each rectangle as a different section with a personality, rather than the whole page. Each font matches what is being advertised in each block. The menu also displays hierarchy with the different point size and colors of text. There is very good readability.
This example of good typography is a coupon for Ruby Tuesday. The typefaces look cohesive together as well as the colors of the type.
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Bad
This example of bad typography is from a poster that was included in a Pink Floyd Vinyl. While I understand the direction that the artist was going with this poster, I do not think that the best solution to the problem was achieved, and the letters need to be closer together. For me, the placement of the letters in a very scattered manner does not serve the poster well and even at first look of the poster I was confused as to what exactly was trying to be communicated. In addition to the different chunks of letters being too spread out, there is one chunk of letters where kerning needs to be adjusted. The “YD� does not have enough space between the two letters. The tops of the letters are almost touching, but not quite, and leaving just enough space between them to make someone go crazy and want to physically rip them apart. I think the poster might benefit in selection of a different font. I do think that a serif font works better for this poster, however I think the font needs to be changed to a different font, or maybe just a different font within the font family.
This example of bad typography is from part of the menu for the restaurant that I work in. The section that contains the choices for all of the side items is very hard to read in my opinion. Everything is typed in the same color, font size, type face, and type style and it is very hard to distinguish between each item. All of the items are separated by a single forward slash that gets easily overlooked and does not serve the purpose that it was intended. Modern figures are used for the calorie numbers which adds more to the jumbled mess of type. There are many options that the designer could have put into place in order to make this section of the menu more readable. One option would be to use Old style figures for the calorie numbers, I believe that would set enough differentiation between the letters and numbers to more easily read them. The designer could have also used a different type style when typing the items and the calorie count. The items themselves could be in a bold style while the calories remain in a regular style.
This example is a sign for what I’m assuming is a mechanical shop off the interstate in Ohio. (Disclaimer: I travel A LOT.) For starters, this sign is very small to be meant to read while you are driving 70+ miles on an interstate, and the picture was taken using my long lens on my DSLR camera. The choice of font is not a good one for the purpose of this sign. It is hard to read, especially when in all caps, which a good chunk of the sign is. It is even MORE difficult to read since the tracking is so tight on most of the words, including “SHEET METAL FABRICATION.” The text on the bottom third of the sign is so incredibly small that I’m not sure anybody driving along would be able to ingest the information it is providing. Even with the picture already zoomed in I have to zoom in even more to read the web address for the business.
This example of bad typography is a poster found in Universal Studios Orlando on the Men In Black ride. Whether the bad typography is on purpose or not, it is still bad typography. For starters, the color and stroke on the words “Space Visitors?� is way too similar to the colors being used as the background behind it. The tracking on the words is also too tight, and some of the letters become one unit. Additionally, there are too many fonts used on this poster. I have counted five, and none of them work together or complement another one. The tracking on the orange type also seems to be too tight in c onjunction with the leading and made me have to read each line at least twice in order to actually read the entire chunk of information.
This example of bad typography sign for someone named Amber to purchase for their room. This sign has commuted the number one crime in typography, and that is stretching the text. Not only is the text stretched, but the “BELIEBER” text also seems to be distorted by using one of the default photoshop text distortion options. The white space in the counters of the capital E’s make the piece look unbalanced to me and also the fact that the text is not centered in the whole rectangle because of the heart on the side.
For this example, I chose a pieces that I received in the mail. The bad example is a flyer for “The Daily Page$.� It is bad for a couple of reasons. First off, it features multiple fonts that in my opinion, do not mesh well together. I have counted five different fonts. There is no need to use that many different fonts. Also, some of the text (October- November 2019) loses readability when it is overprinted in front of the leaves used as the background. For the website on the bottom, the capital lettering makes it slightly less readable, especially with the tracking being so tight on the text.
As for bad typography, I have this photo pass from a concert. The kerning on the work “photo� is not done correctly and there is uneven spacing between the letters. I also understand what they were trying to do by increasing the size on the p and the o and trying to make it mimic the logo, but it is just not working. They should have just left all of the letters the same size. The font itself would tie the two together just enough.
This example of bad typography is the menu at The Leisure Club. The text on this menu is not lead correctly. The lines of text are so close together that ascenders and descenders are overlapping other parts of the text. The menu also has bad hierarchy. For the most part, all of the text is the same size and type style. The distinction between items and their description is only marked by the name being underlined but since the text is already so close together, it is just not working to differentiate the information.
This example of bad typography is for “Trinity Rehabilitation Clinic, Inc.” The tracking on “Trinity” is too high and decreases the readability on the word. The size of “Rehabilitaion Clinic, Inc.” is also to small and it would be hard to read it while driving on the road.
For bad typography, this example is a can of baking Cocoa from Great Value. What makes this bad to me is the overkill of different decorations in the type. For example, the use of a script font, a sans serif font with dots and a shadow made of lines, and then the font for the logo.
For bad typography, I chose this poster that was hanging in the restroom. The first text that you encounter on this page is the scripty purple text at the top. It does not work for me because I feel that script text should only be used for short chunks of information, even shorter than this one. You start to lose readability with a script font because very quickly the eye gets tired. Another thing that is not working for me in this page is the use of bullets for something that is not a list, and the bullets themselves do not even line up.
This example is a box from a nail polish from the brand “Color Club.” The word “Color” is pretty ledible, but the word “Club” is extremely hard to make out. On the actual bottle of nail polish, the word “Color” is in white and the word “Club remains in black, but the legibility issue still stands.