Hi, I have been in prepress for over four years since I got of post-secondary school. I always wanted to be a designer, I however ended up in prepress and figured it was a good place to start with learning the technical stuff. I have since left that job and now work at a sign shop doing some design etc. I am however finding it sometimes overwhelming. I don't have much experience, but am very artistically enclined(sp?). My main problem I find is fonts. No one really showed me much and I find their fonts to be a massive mess. When I need a font I just don't know where to start. I end up spending alot of time just trying to find a font I can build something with. Their fonts are organized in folders, but there are tons of them. Should I build some sort of font base for myself? Find fonts and store ones I would like to use? Is there a site that may have a long list of font examples? Is there also a site that may have basic design examples, logos, working with spacing, shapes, etc., or would I have to find some books instead? Thanx, for any input, I am seriously stressed out that I am not doing a good job.
Designer Wannabe
- Thread starter MacNEO
- Start date
a_iver
Registered
Well. I know in Mac OS 10.3 they have a Font Book (or something similar I think). It's located in the Applications folder by default. Otherwise this is a couple I got from Google:
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.addesigner.com/free.shtml
http://download.com.com/3150-2185-0.html?tag=dir
http://www.abstractfonts.com/fonts/
http://www.acidfonts.com/
http://www.fonts.com/
I hope that is helpful. I know you meant well and everything but try looking in the search engines a bit. I don't mind but I notice a lot of people on the net get bent out of shape over this sort of thing. Here's some of my favorite search engines if you don't know any good ones:
www.google.com -most common, does a good job, kind of limited though
www.metacrawler.com -searches several search engines for results
www.vivisimo.com -uses clustering to group sites (on left)
www.dogpile.com -haven't tried it but heard it's good
I hope I didn't come off as too harsh, and good luck on your projects. You sound like you got some fun ahead of you.
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.addesigner.com/free.shtml
http://download.com.com/3150-2185-0.html?tag=dir
http://www.abstractfonts.com/fonts/
http://www.acidfonts.com/
http://www.fonts.com/
I hope that is helpful. I know you meant well and everything but try looking in the search engines a bit. I don't mind but I notice a lot of people on the net get bent out of shape over this sort of thing. Here's some of my favorite search engines if you don't know any good ones:
www.google.com -most common, does a good job, kind of limited though
www.metacrawler.com -searches several search engines for results
www.vivisimo.com -uses clustering to group sites (on left)
www.dogpile.com -haven't tried it but heard it's good
I hope I didn't come off as too harsh, and good luck on your projects. You sound like you got some fun ahead of you.
uoba
Re: member
It'd help you to organise your fonts into type-classifications. Such as:
Sans Serif
Serif
Block
Display
Script
Symbols
If you don't know what these are, then I'd suggest getting a book about type/typography. I remember Eric Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep being fairly good for starting off with.
Sans Serif
Serif
Block
Display
Script
Symbols
If you don't know what these are, then I'd suggest getting a book about type/typography. I remember Eric Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep being fairly good for starting off with.
Cool thanx for the font sites. And yes I am 100% familiar with all types of fonts, it's just finding stuff I like or that is suitable, I seem to take a long time. I will make some folders containing fonts I like. I guess I am use to being rushed and the people around me are fairly experienced...
Natobasso
Tech-Bot 5000
Hello! You have a very common problem. I have been doing graphic design for 10 years and oftentimes have to limit myself to the fonts I use just so I don't go nuts!
Basically, you are right on track when you say you pick a few fonts you use all the time. 95% of fonts you may use 0-1 time and the other 5% should be in your mind to use at any time. For example, use Palatino for a good formal text/readable font. Use Copperplate for a good all-caps font that looks very corporate and professional.
I got Extensis Suitcase for $99 and it's well worth it. It organizes your OS 9 and X fonts in one place and you can view fonts by category (a previous poster mentioned sans-serif, script, etc.)
Hope this helps!
Basically, you are right on track when you say you pick a few fonts you use all the time. 95% of fonts you may use 0-1 time and the other 5% should be in your mind to use at any time. For example, use Palatino for a good formal text/readable font. Use Copperplate for a good all-caps font that looks very corporate and professional.
I got Extensis Suitcase for $99 and it's well worth it. It organizes your OS 9 and X fonts in one place and you can view fonts by category (a previous poster mentioned sans-serif, script, etc.)
Hope this helps!