Font ❤️ Friday and Other Designery Things #11

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We’re well and truly into summer. Halfway through the year, with only a few of my plans/goals in place! But my motivation was rekindled by the Atomicon conference in Newcastle, UK this month.

It’s a one-day conference for small business owners, with great keynote speakers. The attendees made it – the icing on the cake. I met some freelancing friends and made new ones.

The day was great, and of course I was looking out for branding and fonts. Some people don’t notice them, but then that’s a sign of a good brand; it all flows seamlessly. The team have nailed the branding, with their magenta pink and brush script font. You knew you were at an Atomic event.

The guest speakers were awesome. The nation’s PE teacher Joe Wicks, LinkedIn legend Lea Turner, queen bee Dani Wallace and design strategist Chris Do, plus many more. Chris was the keynote speaker and his talk on sales was a brilliant ending to the day. I’ve already got my ticket for next year. Even got another pic with Chris Do (we’re obviously best mates now) but I won’t subject you to that again ;)

Speaking of sales (excuse the tie-in here ;) ) take a look at the I Love Typography site as they celebrate their 2nd birthday this week. There’s a half-price sale on some of their 10,000 typefaces. You know I love bright colours, and this typeface does not disappoint. AND it’s on sale.

Let’s take a look at JUMA:

Beautiful, colourful, fine points and rounded fun shapes. I know, hard to read, right? But, how about using one letter as a drop cap at the start of a paragraph? It’s designed by Brazilian lettering artist Cyla Costa. They say: “The shapes and colours of Juma remind us of natural beauties like tropical birds or a slab of marble, its twists and turns almost hypnotic.”

Now I just have to find a project to use it in. Where would you put it?

FONTS

Don’t brush these aside
On the subject of brush script and handwriting fonts, they can look cheesy if they don’t tie in with your brand. But look around, see if you can find some cool ones. Can you spot any similar to Atomicon amongst these Brush scripts?

And if you want to add a little swirly flourish to your work, take a look at these handwriting fonts.

Face off
More free fonts now. I do love the power of social media. A subscriber to this newsletter, Thomas Pawley, sent me the website Free Faces created by Simon Foster. Which was shared over LinkedIn. Thanks, T!

Design your own font
After the last newsletter, Nikki Simpson from The International Magazine Centre asked me if I’d ever designed my own font. Nope! But after a quick scan, I found www.calligraphr.com and thought I’d give it a go. Technically not the best way to do it as it’s based on your handwriting. But hey, if you have time give it a go. I’ll let you know how I get on. And if you try it, let me know!

With all the suggested links, do check the usage license. They can be either personal or commercial.

DESIGNERY THINGS

Life’s not all black and white
As much as I love colour, there’s something beautiful about only using black ink. I’ve been following the illustrator Kin Henn for a few years now. “By only using black and white, she challenges the notion that colour is necessary to convey depth. Within the undisturbed quiet of black and white lies an entire world. To Henn, black is not monotonous, or dull, or lacking. Black is poetic.”

Poetry right there! Do check her Instagram page – beautiful work.

Top of the house… Press Loft
This month I’ve been working on a few publications, and I often take this useful site for granted. It’s called Press Loft.

It has products by various industries and you can download hi-res images from their press library. Images can be used for blogs, social media, publications – top of the shops for sure. Please always credit the maker though.

FREELANCING

Be a case study
We all know we should have client case studies on our websites to promote what we do (ahem – next on my list). But how about being part of one yourself? Do you take part in Enterprise Nation online webinars, and if so, have they benefitted you?

You can apply to be a case study. I did, and it featured in Enterprise Nation’s email newsletter and website, Vodaphone’s website and on their LinkedIn page. You never know who’s watching… we ❤️ lurkers. Plus, you can put it on your own website - good ol’ SEO backlinks.

Time to work on your biz
Has it gone a bit quiet in your world of work? Maybe it’s the perfect time to work on your brand or take some courses? Creative Boom recently shared a couple of blog posts that are useful for freelancers. The first one is build your personal brand, and the other is work on some learning. You know I love a course (still not finished my Procreate course - not buying another course until I have) but do check out this list of business development courses for freelance creatives.

You are not alone
I may have mentioned it in past newsletters, but I mustn’t assume people know about certain communities - as I was reminded at Atomicon. A few I’m part of are Being Freelance, Inclusion* and Freelancer magazine.

I’ve also joined Bonnie Harrington’s free ‘BonsPoms’ a few times. It’s timed coworking on a Tuesday, with am and pm slots available.

 Freelancer Magazine has coworking sessions 3 times a week and I’m hosting on the 4th, 11th and 25th of July.
If you’d like to join (it’s free), we would love to have you there.

All of the above are a great place to get inspired, meet freelancers/biz owners and get focused on your work.

#FONTLOVEFRIDAY

Thanks for reading and have a great month ahead.

Ange 🌈

*affiliate link – complete transparency; I’ll get some monies if you buy through this link.

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.

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