The Best Font Blog

When to Use Smileys

admin — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 03:37:37 +0000

Or emoticons. Text faces. Character expressions. What ever you want to call them. But the thing is, they’re cropping up more and more often. You have your standard sideways smiles and your upright ones ^_^ ^.^ ^_~ . There’s a variety of sad faces T.T ;_; too. And then all those involving looking at someone oddly, squinting, laughing, surprise, or embarrassment. But I do like this one < Poor kids a dunce!

I could go on and on about when emoticon to use when, but the bigger issue I believe is when to use them at all.

Don’t ever use them for professional writing. Professionals are well….professional and that usually includes have a good handle on their emotions when talking to people. And considering that smileys expression emotions, you get the drift. It’s also important to consider that many people you work with simply wouldn’t understand the symbol you use, especially if you do not stick to the most common ones. Emoticons were developed by young people, and such are still being tailored by them. So you’re welcome to use them when talking to friends in causal conversation, use them in Facebook posts. But keep them out of e-mails to your boss.

Standard Fonts

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:58:18 +0000

There are a lot of fonts out there in the world, with new ones being developed almost every day. However there are a few standard typefaces you should be aware of and their purposes.

* Courier: This typeface mimics a typewriter in looks and thus is the standard for manuscripts. Stories, novels, and screen plays are submitted to agents in this typeface.

* Time New Roman: A classic that has been around for years, this typeface is a standard for essays and most day to day word processing. It’s a common default for word processing software.

*Symbol: This is the standard font for Internet Explorer, a simple sans serif font like most web standards. In the early days of the computer, serifs were hard to read so sans serif fonts were adopted for the Internet.

Of course, breaking away from standards is a sure way to stand out and get noticed, something we all need from time to time. So choose wisely.

When You Should Use Bold or Italics

admin — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:52:03 +0000

By this point I’m sure you’ve selected your typefaces, chose a size, picked a color and are just about done with your lovely Sendfont art. But there are still some options you have to choose from, if you desire too. Should it be bold? In italics?

Bold words are more attention grabbing. The letters are thicker, heavier, and as a result the text is more obvious on a web page. It’s very hard to miss, and when using color makes the hue more likely to catch attention. Something in bold is great for shout outs like ‘Happy Birthday!’ or headlines.

Italic lines are thinner, slanted, and are the result of a quick writing method used by those in the Medieval days before cursive had been developed. As such, italic text has a handwritten feel to it, making it a great style to use for romantic or personal messages.

What Colors Mean

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:21:14 +0000

When using Sendfont, you’re not only able to pick what typeface you want to use, but what color is should be. You spend time deciding what font to use, it only makes sense to put an equal amount of time into selecting a color. But don’t pick black, it’s lazy. Black is a default color and using it requires no thought at all. It’s not exactly a message you want to send out. So if you’re looking for that next level of engagement, pick a color that corresponds to what you’re trying to get across.

Blue: trustworthy, dependable, committed
Green: peaceful, institutional, persuasive
Yellow: optimism, enlightenment, happiness
Orange: fun, warm, energetic
Red: exciting, focused, encouraging
Purple: creative, royal, mystic
Brown: stability, approachability, reliability

The Meaning Behind the Font You Choose

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:46:14 +0000

Typefaces, like any other form of art, express something. It can be the Wild West authenticity that Playbill offers or an expression of preference (or obsession depending on who you talk to) when you use a font developed for media. Example: the Transformer’s font here on our site. I find it highly unlikely that anyone not in love with the franchise would use it.

The point is, what font you use to send a message matters so make sure you pick out the right one. Gothic typefaces carry a weight of history, while hand writing fonts speak of care and romance. Calligraphic fonts convey an idea of class and grunge and novelty fonts excel in expressing personality. It takes a unique type of person to use the font Aliens Ate My Mum. Typewriter esque fonts show an affinity for the written and performing art. Pixal fonts on the other had declare a love of Pong and Pac-Man.

With so much you can say just by what typeface you select, don’t be hasty in selecting on for your Facebook post or blog. Take you time to figure out what you want say because fonts can be as much as a message as what you write.

How To Peronsalize A Facebook Post

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:24:07 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed getting letters, even more so in this digital age. There is something…detached about e-mail and text message, IM chats too. Where’s the personal touch? The hand picked stationary, the thickness of paper, the first class stamp all seem to me to be tangible proof that someone was thinking about me. That I matter and am worth even just that little bit of extra attention.

Facebook in particular is so easy to contact people through, all clicks and maybe a three sentence wall post. If you’re lucky. It’s usually just one. I get it that mail is expensive, facebook and e-mail are faster as well as cheaper, but in this world of bits and code I find that privacy isn’t the only thing escaping us. So too is that slight effort put into a communication that says to the receiver they matter.

So it’s great that we exist right? It might take some time to select a font, but the processes itself is easy. Choose a typeface, a size, a color, type your message and click send. It’s something different from the monotone of normal wall posts, something that says real effort was put into crafting it. Not just, you crossed my mind so I sent you a message, but I wanted to show that you matter. Using Sendfont on Facebook just makes things more personal, and who doesn’t appreciate getting showed a little love?

Share Some Art

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:29:35 +0000

Graphic design is the art of providing information visually. It covers everything from how a book is put together to movie posters. Images have to be selected and arranged in order to not only attract attention but to convey a message.

In many cases, works of graphic design are successful due to the interaction of art and letters. Typography, the art of typefaces, is one of the basic building blocks of graphic design. Different styles of fonts can be created or manipulated to work with the project and in many times are distinctive to certain ones. For example, the font used on all the Harry Potter merchandise was designed specifically for that franchise and interacts uniquely with images on DVD and book covers.

As it is, creating and working with fonts is an art of it’s own. All of the fonts here at Sendfont are beautifully and painstakingly created after hours of work. They deserve a little love and attention, so go and send a Sendfont message to someone. Share some art.

The Difference Between a Font and a Typeface

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:00:35 +0000

For those who visit regularly, you’ve probably noticed the use of two words: font and typeface.

Font is by far the more popular term, used by most of the population to refer to the style of letters used in a document. Typeface have a similar meaning, though it’s more used by the art crowd. The art of designing letter types is called typography. But though similar in meaning, there is a difference between a typeface and a font.

A typeface is a style. They have distinct character shapes, from ‘A’ to ‘?’, and the spacing between them is meticulously assigned. A font is a specific typeface, detailing size and style. Zenda is a typeface, Zenda size 14 is a font.

The line has gotten a little blurry now, where a bold version of a typeface is not a font, but it’s own typeface. There are now four Garamond typefaces: normal, bold, bold italic, and italic. It used to be that each style was simply a different font.

Helvetica vs Arial

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:00:08 +0000

Helvetica is a very popular font. A standard with Adobe products, it’s a simple sans serif font that’s easy to read on screens and makes a wonderful body text. Microsoft did not want to spend the money to gets the rights to use it in their applications, so they designed a similar font: Arial. Since Windows 3, the font has been a standard for their office software product. The font became so popular that Adobe was forced to use it in it’s products, despite Arial being a cheap knock-off of Helvetica.

The fonts are very similar, especially in letter weight and spacing. In fact, if you typed a paragraph in Helvetica and then changed the font to Arial, you would not see any changes in word placement. To tell them apart, look at the lower case “t”. Its top is cut of at an angle in Arial, and straight in Helvetica. With “s” and “c”, the ends of the strokes are perfectly horizontal in Helvetica; in Arial they are cut off at a slight angle.

Forging The Classic Times New Roman

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:01:55 +0000

In 1932 the British newspaper The Times selected a serif typeface to use. Times New Roman became a classic from day one. The serifs are small, and thus don’t interfere with reading, and add a touch of class. Since then, Times New Roman has become and industry standard. It’s the default for many word processors, online and off.

As such, it is very easy to get fend up with. It’s everywhere and it makes me feel like I have no choice in the matter. It’s a default. So for those of you a little tired of using the same font over and over again, here are a couple substitutions for Times New Roman. They all look similar, enough so that most people can’t tell the difference unless directly comparing two samples. Actively selecting one of these look-alike fonts puts you in complete control of your writing, from content to appearances.

Calisto MT
Herald
Minion Pro
Calson Pro
Arno Pro
Didot
Palatino
Apple LiSong Light