Planning Task 6 - Font Choices
The Masthead
Firstly, I had to select the font that would be used for the
masthead of my magazine.
I felt that the most appropriate font type for the masthead
would be a Serif font, rather than a Sans Serif font, due to the sense of style
and elegance that the more detailed lettering would add to my magazine’s image.
Furthermore, although the legibility of Serif fonts can often be limited, the
larger size of the masthead will compensate for this, ensuring that the text
remains easy to read.
After observing several fonts, I was able to narrow my options down to five slightly different options.
Font 1 - "Relationship of Melodrame"
This first font, although it adopted the Sans Serif style I
thought was ideal for a magazine title such as mine, there were several
weaknesses.
Firstly, the combination of upper and lower-cased lettering makes
the strapline seem both less cohesive, as well as less striking, and I
therefore fear that it may not stand out from the rest of the magazine as I
want it to.
Furthermore, the closeness of the cursive-style lettering may further add to this font’s illegibility, especially due to the repetition of letters, such as “e” and “d”.
Font 2 – “Nomark”
This second font, although its clearer capitalised typeface
made it far more appropriate than the first font, I believed that it was still
far from perfect.
The thickness of the font’s serifs make it seem overly restricted
and rigid, seeming to overcompensate from the first font – maximising
legibility, at the expense of style.
Font 3 – “Vogue”
This font further improves on Font 2, eliminating overly
thick serifs, giving the font an imbalance between the vertical and horizontal
lines, which instantly helps to deliver an effortlessly stylish aesthetic.
However, the main issue with this font is in how it got its
name. I feel that the font’s almost identicality with VOGUE’s official font
will mean that THREADED will be seen as almost a knock-off of such a titan of
the industry, leading to a lack of readership.
Font 4 – “Morgan”
Once again, although this font improves on Font 3, with the
lowered serif of the “R” adding a sense of character to an otherwise relatively
similar font, it is also this touch that acts as the sole weakness.
This lowered lettering is, in my opinion, slightly
over-the-top, and it also means that the font lacks a linear bottom, which may
make it difficult when combining it with a cover image, as this letter may act
as an obstruction when trying to orient the image in the correct position.
Font 5 – “VELISTA”
Finally, I settled on this font.
Its thin-to-thick fluctuation of the lettering is instantly associated
with style brands, such as VOGUE and TATLER. Despite this similarity, the wavy edge
to the lettering helps to create a sense of weaving or “threading” something, a
subtle hint to the magazine’s title and brand image, as well as differentiating its logo from alternative
style magazines such as these. Furthermore, the absence of italics helps to give
the masthead structure and prevents negative space either side of it.
The Strapline
With regard to the strapline of my magazine, I believe that
the key is to differentiate this font as much as possible from that of my
masthead, as the eye-catching nature of a masthead is primarily achieved by its
differentiation from other text on the page.
Therefore, the criteria for the font of my strapline are as
follows:
- · A Sans Serif typeface
- · Capitalised lettering
- · Balanced bettering thickness
I found that the font most befitting of these three criteria
was the Newake font, which is shown below.
Summary
Finally, when both the masthead and the strapline are
combined, their differentiation is what makes them combine so well, with the legible
and minimal Sans Serif of the strapline, in the Newake font, helping to help
the elegant and sophisticated VELISTA typeface to stand out as effectively as possible.
