In celebration of the official launch of Why Fonts Matter in the US today: This post about fonts and mood became the most popular post on It’s Nice That in the first three months of 2016. “The one womantour-de-force behind Type Tasting … looks at the power typography has over our lives and senses.”
It’s Nice That
Why Fonts Matter, and how they impact your mood
In celebration of the official launch of Why Fonts Matter in the US today: Liz Stinson from Wired played the Type Dating Game via Skype. “20 percent of women said they’d pick Franklin Gothic as their typographic beau, the winner by a landslide. I know it sounds weird.”
Wired
If You Love That Font So Much, Why Don’t You Date It?
By Liz Stinson
In celebration of the official publication of Why Fonts Matter in the US today we’re looking back over articles and interviews that give a glimpse of the impression we’ve made on the world at large.
Jake Wallis Simons from CNN came to the Type Tasting studio and played a selection of Type Tasting Games. “As bizarre as it sounds, my job is to match up the bottles and fonts using only my sense of smell.”
CNN
What’s your type of lover? How fonts could help you find the perfect date
By Jake Wallis Simons
Click on the images above to take a quick tour of the book, which will officially be launched in the US on June 1st.
You can buy it online in the UK here, and in the US here. It’s also in plenty of bookshops, museum and gallery shops, please send a photo if you spot it somewhere, and support your local bookshop.
It’s time for a type revolution. It’s time to change the way we think and talk about type: for non-experts to join the conversation.
Type Tasting delivers talks, ice-breaker sessions, masterclasses and workshops that make the complex topic of typography accessible and relevant beyond the design studio. We take the type consumer’s point of view and explore the experience of type—how it influences our perception and can alter our decisions.
“Clever, insightful and original, left a lasting buzz and excitement behind!” Charlotte Godfrey, BBC Bristol.
It’s time for typography to be demystified. Design tools are becoming everyday applications and they are used by all of us both at work and at home. Typography—the choice of fonts and how they are arranged—is a fundamental element of design because it is what the voice looks like. Yet it is wrapped up in the language of a specialist discipline and this makes it intimidating for those outside the profession to join in the conversation.
“Sarah brings the power of fonts to everyone” Patrick Burgoyne, Editor of Creative Review.
It’s time for typography to become visible. We live in a time of increasing design awareness and we now ask questions about the messages we are bombarded with in our everyday lives. Each font/typeface has a personality that influences our interpretation of the words we read by evoking our emotions and setting the scene. We all understand this instinctively but it happens on a subconscious level. Conscious awareness of the emotional life of fonts can give us more control over the decisions we make.
Kawal Oberoi takes us on a Type Safari in Delhi
“The Quote I chose for Type Safari is “Dil Walon Ki Delhi” (English Translation—City Of People with big hearts—Delhi) which is a expression used for magnanimous spirit of Delhites. To letter this quote in Delhi’s Typographic DNA, I wanted to capture alphabets from signage of local restaurants, cinemas, old shops and public centres that are doing well despite globalisation. A weekend trip around the city got me lettering gems like the logo of Paras Cinema, which exists despite Multiplex cinemas attracting most of the audience. The flavours of Old Delhi—Karims, Pind Baluchi, Dhabas, the firework shops of Old Delhi, the tailor shops that exist from colonial times, the truck stands, the hand lettered exteriors of Herbal Medicine Tents and much more.” Kawal Oberoi
Take up the Type Safari challenge
The combinations of type found on signage reveal a great deal about a city, town or specific area. They reflect the social, economic and historical development of the area and create their own, unique typographic DNA. Take up the challenge yourself and create a composition that reflects the area you live in.
“Fun” “Brilliant” “Inspiring” “Eye-candy” “Enlightening” Amazon reviews
“A fascinating insight into how type can influence our feelings, our senses, and even our taste” Professor Charles Spence, University of Oxford
Bookseller 10 titles not to miss
Why Fonts Matter by Sarah Hyndman is out now, published by Virgin Books (Penguin/Random House).
I was the guest host for the Design Museum’s #FontSunday on Twitter yesterday which was an amazing experience. I picked the Type Dating Game inspired theme of ‘Fanciable Fonts’ and you all tweeted in your photos of the typefaces you would date (or ditch), along with witty observations and a bad typographic chatup line or two. Thank you to everybody, we even trended on Twitter above Kanye for a few hours, well done!
Type Tasting turns three years old on Valentine’s Day, having started with an evening of ‘Typographic Swearing ‘n’ Cussing‘ back in 2013. To celebrate this I’m the guest host for the Design Museum‘s #FontSunday with a Type Dating Game inspired theme of ‘Fanciable Fonts’. Get ready to Tweet/Instagram your photos of the typefaces you would date (or ditch) from 12 noon on Sunday 14th February to @DesignMuseum with #FontSunday.
Remember, no premature tweeting, the font flirting starts at 12 noon on Sunday!
Do you like your typefaces naughty or nice?
I was delighted to be invited on to Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch yesterday (Sunday 7th February) to talk about my new book Why Fonts Matter and play some classic Type Tasting games. It was a fast-paced and fun 9 minutes. The aim had been to show that typography can be fun and accessible; that it doesn’t always have to be an intellectual discussion, and from the feedback on Twitter we achieved this. I demonstrated how type tells us how expensive or calorific a product might be. I talked about Simon choosing a typeface for his restaurant menus to convey that the chef is skilful (and discovered that he has an aversion to italics). We had a quick look at the Type Dating Game, before Tim and Simon both chose a typeface card and read out their own personality analysis. We ended with font sniffing: pairing the smells to the shapes of typefaces, and I explained why most people give very similar answers.
Click here to play the Font Fortune personality analysis game yourself.
The Type Tasting props posing nicely with the Channel 4 logo in the background.
Type Tasting Blog 