Design Citizens

This fun little article about the appropriate and accurate use of different typefaces appeared in the NY Times yesterday. The basic premise is that the more you love typography, the more annoying it is to see poorly-set type or outright mistakes. (I guess it’s the same with grammar lovers - my own father once cringed [...]

or those of you typography (and illustration) bloggers out there, you have a new resource: Daily Drop Cap. Jessica Hische creates a new, gorgeous drop cap every day that you can copy and paste into your own posts. (Expect to see more of these on Design Citizens… I love this idea!) So far she’s made [...]

I know we’ve been posting a lot about typography lately (mostly precipitated by IKEA’s typeface change, which probably got a bigger reaction than they were expecting) but there ARE other elements of good design to cover. Before we move on though, here is one more humorous example of why choosing the right typeface is important, [...]

Those of you offended by crass language, please forgive the title of this post. I didn’t write it; I am simply re-posting it from this article on fastcompany.com about controversial fonts. (Or I should say, typefaces. But that’s a discussion for another day.) It lists several typefaces that create heartburn among designers for various reasons: Verdana; [...]

Several months ago, a Dutch company called Spranq rolled out a free typeface called Ecofont®. It had lots of little holes in it and the idea was that those open spaces would cut the amount of ink needed to print the typeface by 15%, thus making it a more earth-friendly choice. A lot of research [...]

The Visual Dictionary is a searchable collection of word photography. It’s similar to welovetypography, but instead of searching the typographic style by topic (like “wedding invitation”), you search for the actual word you want to see in a photograph. Perfect for those of you who might need to write a quick ransom note or something. 

Want to hear a joke? Comic Sans walks into a bar. The bartender says, “We don’t serve your type.”
I wish I could take credit for that little gem, but I can’t. I got it from this article, published in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, about the backlash against the typeface Comic Sans. Created 15 years ago [...]

Happy Friday! It’s finally stopped raining here in DC and it’s actually warm outside. On top of all that, John at ilovetypography.com has launched a new venture with Kari Patila called welovetypography.com. It’s a collection of FABULOUS photos of all kinds of different typography that you can search by keyword if you’re looking for something specific. [...]

A bit of Friday inspiration for those of you who might be feeling drained at the end of a long week: The One Day Poem Pavilion, designed by Jiyeon Song. This isn’t a brand new installation (it won an SEGD Design Award in 2008) but it’s so well done that it deserves a second look. [...]

Courtesy of ilovetypography.com, here’s a little diversion for your Wednesday: The Font Game. Some of the questions are easier than others. One even features Comic Sans. (And I hope all of you get that one right!) I scored 23 out of 34 on my first try. Check it out and post your score in the [...]