Font ❤️ Friday and Other Designery Things #12

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Wishing you a bright, sunny welcome! Well…the English Summer has been a bit of a washout so far…

As I write this, I’m planning a few days at the seaside. Or, as a proper grown-up might say “we’re holidaying on the Essex and Kent coast”. I do love a seaside trip. The candy floss (dentist appointment incoming…), the fish and chips (why do they always taste better there?) and the pier. As a child it felt like the pier went on forever. Every step was a delight, with the amusement arcades, ice-cream sellers, hook-a-duck, death-trap waltzer and then finally at the end you get the sea. As far as you can see! My dream is to live on the coast one day (yes me, a proper East Londoner). The seaside’s always been a wonderful escape for us city folk. A chance to breathe some fresh air.

Well, doesn’t this tie in nicely with… seaside fonts! Almost like I planned it… Let’s take a look at Tuscan fonts.

Above is a collection of Tuscan fonts, often thought of as cowboy/Western or circus/carnival fonts. They became popular in coastal resorts during the Victorian era.  A Tuscan font is a typeface with two (“bifurcated”), three (“trifurcated”) or more curly fancy bits branching off each serif. If you’re new around here, or you’ve forgotten, serifs are the little pointy bits on the ends of some fonts. Tuscan fonts are highly decorative, often illuminated by lights. Makes you think of festivals, fun and frolics. And the more colour the better! Definitely one for signs and headlines, not body text.

As if by font magic there’s an exhibition, Signs of the Seaside, at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in Sussex, UK. It’s on until 3rd September and features work by signwriters, illustrators and graphic designers. If you’re nearby, it looks a fantastic place to pop in and get your seaside font fix.

FONTS

Seaside selection
If you feel inspired by the above fonts, this collection might inspire your summertime projects.**

Word up
So, Microsoft… hang on isn’t this a newsletter about design and fonts…?! Ahem… well, Microsoft have ditched Calibri as its default font. Huge news. The word “Calibri” always makes me think of the sparkling wine Lambrini. Yeah, I feel no shame admitting I thought I was sophisticated, drinking it age 20.

Soon when you open Word or PowerPoint you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see Aptos as the default font. No more Lambrini, I mean Calibri ;) Read more about it here

The rabbit hole of distraction this FontLoveFriday
The Washington Post has this great article on how we read fonts, especially online. It’s an interactive page that highlights font history, speed reading and accessibility. I got caught up in timing myself reading and exploring external links. Just don’t click the link if you’ve got a deadline today…

DESIGNERY THINGS

Digital designery downloads
Here’s another *rabbit hole* warning! 🐇🕳️ It’s Friday, so I’m not even sorry. Check out UIGoodies.com. It’s a collection of digital design resources, including icons, fonts, illustrations, mock ups… it goes on. Created by designers, curated by @jesseddy. It’s so good, and a lot of it’s free**. Check it out here.

Need more colour in your life?
Need to find a colour pallet from an image, logo or screenshot? Try Adobe colour and the Extract Theme tab. Drop your image onto the generator page and voila! It’ll breakdown the hex numbers so you can use the exact colour match in your projects.

Life on the grid
If you’ve spent any time on insta you’ll have noticed some beautiful “9-grids”.

Here’s a free Instagram grid splitter. You upload an image, and it splits your graphic into puzzle squares for you to create the perfect Insta grid. Once you’ve split into post images you can add text (it’s okay, you can use Canva, I’ll forgive you). I tried it for a client – it worked! But don’t judge me on my own Insta page. I’m not that organised over there, but this tool is great if you want to get that pristine Insta look ;)

 **Always check the licenses for personal and commercial use, and credit the creator where you can.

FREELANCING

Productivity hacks
Appsumo is a collection of the latest apps to help you in your business. They’re new apps, so often you can get lifetime memberships at a reasonable price. It has software, courses, learning, templates, and creative resources. Thanks Louisa from Inclusion for suggesting I look here.

One last bonus rabbit hole! The Dunker is the Freelancer Magazine newsletter. Last week it reached its 50th edition. To celebrate and help freelancers out, it included a fantastic list of resources for your business, lifestyle and creative mind.

#FONTLOVEFRIDAY

I’m always very grateful to be in your inbox, and if you’re reading this, thanks for getting this far! I know it’s long but hopefully you got some useful tips.

As a thank you and to celebrate reaching a year of Font Love Friday, it’s competition time again. The prize is Paul Jarvis’ book a Company of One and your choice of either a Font Love Tote or T-shirt.

“Come on Ange, how do I enter?” I hear you cry.  Just hit reply, say hi and let me know of a cool font or useful resource you’ve found recently! I might even include it in a future edition.

I’ll select a winner by the next newsletter, 25th August 2023. Go on… you know you want a sticker!

Happy Friday, and if you get to the seaside have fun, smell the sea, eat some rock and look out for those fonts ;) #FontLoveSummer

Ange 🌈

Thanks for reading!

I specialise in both print and digital graphic design. If you are interested in learning more about me and my services, take a look here.

*designery – I have made up this word.

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