Font ❤️ Friday and Other Designery Things #9

Font ❤️ Friday and Other Designery Things #9 #fontlovefriday

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As I enter the last month of my 40s – yes *ahem* you read that right – are my eyes playing tricks on me, or have I seen loads more references to young/old recently? Young freelancer of the year…is there a middle-aged freelancer of the year award? Doesn’t help that I’ve started listening to Absolute 80s on the radio. Oh, the tunes. And the memories!

A potential client approached me with a report she’d like me to work on. I asked for her branding details and the font was Goudy Old Style. Oh my word – old is everywhere! So, I may as well get it over and done with. Let’s look at Goudy Old Style.

We can do a lot with Goudy Old Style by varying the sizes/weights and adding colour to it. But on first glance, I thought, I’m not going to enjoy working with this font for a WHOLE report. So, I suggested using a sans serif for the body text to soften the look. Sans serif fonts (fonts without any little bits on the ends) also help readability, so I paired Goudy with Montserrat for the body copy.

Goudy Old Style was designed by Frederic W. Goudy, who was an artist, printer, and type designer. Interesting fact – during his lifetime he designed over 100 typefaces. Prolific!

At first glance it looks old fashioned. It’s a classic. The dot on top of the i and j are a quirky diamond shape and the italics of wxyz look like they’ve been crafted in a wispy way.

Also very glad I found out what an Adirondack was – everyday’s a learning day.

Next month I want to feature a very young font. You know, for balance. Any suggestions are very welcome!

FONTS

365 Days of Type.
Feeling creative? Want to showcase your typography talents? Take a look at 365 days of type.

I spotted this typeface designer jasminazornic_design on insta who took part in the ‘36 days of type’. Throughout the time period you submit a letter each day, using their hashtag on socials. Anyone can join. There are a few days left, why not submit your work? They’re currently on R.

Do believe the hype
Type01 magazine looks very cool. A bi-annual magazine on the graphic design and typography world. I’m off to part with more pennies now.

You can read more about it here.

Bonus - when you subscribe to the Type01 newsletter, they give you a free gift of a font pack. Don’t forget to check the licences – some are for personal use only.

The 40 best fonts from Adobe
Gosh, anyone would think I’m an Adobe ambassador. Plugging them again. Hey Adobe, feel free to gift me my subscription! If you’re on the Creative Cloud, check out this blog by Typewolf. It nicely lists the 40 best Adobe fonts, plus inspiration on layout and colour ideas.

DESIGNERY THINGS

I believe that children are The futur
Well, technically they are. The ‘future’ of design was presented at an Adobe Community event I attended recently in London. Adobe showcased their AI tool Adobe Firefly - the ChatGPT of the design world. You can sign up for the Beta testing here. I’m still waiting for access, have you tried it? What do you make of it?

At an event I met the brilliant Hadrien Chatelet from The Wern, who did a talk on Adobe Express (Canva’s cousin). Chris Do from The futur, was also at the event, taking an evening out from his European Tour. I really had to hold it together and not say, ‘I love your LinkedIn carousels!’ lol.

Swap the small screen for a surround screen
If you’re near central London, take a look at The Outernet. It’s an outdoor immersive space where tech is used by artists and musicians. The outdoor area is free for you to enjoy the art. The building itself looks like aliens planted it at the end of Oxford Street. Check out the experiences that are on here.
Image credit: Outernet

The colourful world of Lo Harris
Lo is an American-based illustrator and author. I love her website and her ethics; she’s always celebrating others within the creative industry. Lo’s written an informative blog here, on working with or without an agent as an illustrator.

FREELANCING

Time to get the cheerleading pom poms out
IPSE have launched their Freelancer Awards. There’s a category for OLD Freelancer of the Year… ha ha only joking (I’m not bitter, honestly). Go on, hype yourself – enter here.

Networking is kinda working
I know some of you might run for the hills when you hear the word “networking”. But no, it doesn’t have to mean selling your wares and handing out a gazillion business cards. I’ve written a blog on my experiences over the last few months; it doesn’t have to give you the ‘ick’. Just ask my new best mate, Chris Do ;)

Image credit: Unsplash – I thought this was me when I was image searching, it is not but I do have this cat top!

Hostess with the mostest
Thanks to anyone who’s come along to the Freelancer Magazine co-work sessions I’ve hosted so far. I have a few more here. And the Magazine is going on the road to co-work! I somehow think my Mac might just be a prop on that day. But I will TRY and get at least some work done… Anyway, you can sign up here. I’ll be at the Hanbury Hall on 12th May with our editor, Sophie Cross.

#FONTLOVEFRIDAY

Caption here xxx
Hey, it happens right? I spotted the words ‘Caption here xxx’ just before it went to press. Hiding behind an image. Phew. Mistakes happen. We’re human. But catching them and checking, double checking, and triple checking is part of the process.

One day I was feeling a little low, and this popped up on my LinkedIn feed. Proves we can all have bad days – as if this went to print?! Ah, it made me laugh. Go light up someone’s day by sharing it as Jenny did! Just for info if you don’t already know, the problem here is the ‘kerning’ - the spaces between each letter.

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful May. Enjoy the gazillion-and-one Bank Holidays coming up!

Ange 🌈

P.S. As Colombo says… ‘Just one more thing…’

Thank you if you bought The LinkedIn for Humans course and used my affiliate link. I donated the affiliate money I made to the Turkey & Syria relief fund. The grand total was £175, I’m so pleased we were able to make a difference.

If you’ve found any fonts on your searches that you’d like to share, I’d love to know. I’ll feature you and the font in my next edition.

*designery – I have made up this word.