There are some great threads about fonts on this forum, but most of them are soooo 2007. Does anybody else want to put off valuable progress on their portfolio by debating the minutiae of typefaces?
I'll begin:
HOT LIST
1. Arial/Times: Yeah I said it. I love these "nothing to hide," "I don't give a fuck what you think," GENUINE fonts. Unpretentious and focussed, these gals get STRAIGHT to the point, because they know their job is simply to communicate content that is far greater than themselves.
2. Curlz/Comic Sans: I think we all realize this one's a risk, but what about those of us going for a postmodern ironic "just kidding" portfolio? Hopefully whoever's reviewing the portfolio is hip to this subtle, elitist flourish.
NOT LIST
1. Courier: My mouse pointer ALWAYS drifts to this one, but I have to restrain myself. True, we are in the age of information technology - but no, I for one don't want to be seen as a tech fetishist who talks about hacking with a sideways grin.
2. Verdana: Nope, what an attitude! "San-serif because I KNOW better." Hmm, we'll see about that!
Ok, it's your turn now! By the way, you MUST use gossip tabloid language when you post.
I would either puke on or throw out a portfolio using comic sans as the font. Definitely a NO GO.
I really like Century Gothic, it's sort of my thing. Helvetica is nice too... although there's a chance it's starting to get played out. I really despise serif fonts, there's something about them that just drives me up a wall.
I wouldn't be so fast to discredit courier. At least it is authentic in reference to computer code. When used in the appropriate application, it can actually be very nice. But it is something that should be used with discretion and for a very specific purpose. Although the same could be said about many fonts.
HOT LIST
1: Lately I have become a huge fan of slab-serif and ball-terminal fonts. Granted, they have a 70's flair to them, but hey everything old is new again. Clarendon is a nice one, as is Bodoni Poster Italic ( font used on the cold war kids robbers & cowards album cover). Oh and Rockwell. Again, only to be used if you have the moxy to back it up.
2: I almost hate to say this because below I slam the ubiquity of Eurostile and Helvetica, but I am growing fond of Gotham (which was the font Obama used on the presidential campaign) and Din Pro. They are nice sans serif with something just a little different without being obnoxious and pair well as a body type with the more showy ball-terminal.
NOT HOT
1: Eurostile. I admit, this used to be my fall back. It's clean and simple and a little boxy so it worked well as a nice generic architectural presentation font. But then I started to see it everywhere. Seriously. It's like the new Helvetica (also on the not hot/over used list). So I had to wise up and move on.
2: Agency. This actually goes with the above point about the "tech look". My office uses this on everything and I can't stand it. I doesn't read well and is just kinda lame. Boxy sans serif fonts don't make people think you are a cool and tech-savvy person. Actually, they do just the opposite because it looks like your trying to hard.
3: Architects that only use sans-serif because it's "modern". Embrace the wild world of serifs, dear Architects. Really, people will not think you are "stodgy" or "traditional" or "whatever it is that makes you afraid of a serif".
But in the end, if you don't know better, don't feel like investing the time, or don't have thousands of fonts to choose from, just don't even bother. Make it Helvetica and be safe. And for the love of god just delete City Blueprint from your computer and never look back.
Huh, I didn't even think to do a search for font related topics when doing my portfolio, because I didn't think anyone else cared about typography, layout, etc. I figured all architects knew was City Blueprint and other terrible, terrible fonts. I really don't see any justification for using that... ever.
I'm just starting to actually learn about typography (and graphic design in general) and my portfolio was really my first time creating something real/legitimate.
I didn't realize Helvetica is so played. I'll admit I used it, along with some Times New Roman, though I modified them slightly (spacing, high/width ratio, etc.). I used Helvetica Neue for the cover (i.e. my name). Arial and Tahoma were also used. I feel bad looking back now and seeing mostly common fonts, though I messed around a lot... and by a lot I mean it took me forever, but I made only minute changes. Many other fonts also found their way onto my pages: Baskerville, News Gothic MT and Optima. I may sound like I went overboard and just loaded a bunch of different fonts, but I feel everything is quite clean, and the fonts effectively distinguish the purpose the words serve (e.g. caption, my name in the corner of the page, page number, etc.) If anyone cares, I'll send you the PDF to gain some feedback (I've already sent it in, but would like to see what people might have to say). This one was a good learning experience, and when I apply to grad school, hopefully I'll have a stellar submission.
I agree with grid; Didoni, Futura, Modern 216 are nice. Palatino and Rockwell are pretty cool too. I think I may use some of these on the presentation boards for a competition entry for which I think I'll be doing the layout.
Sorry no tabloid language, and I didn't really add much of a list of good/bad fonts. Also, curlz? comic sans? really? for a portfolio... or anything? I would have no qualms with someone if they were to erase those two fonts from every computer in the world. no offense, I just don't like them.
camhard - one rule that a graphic designer friend told me, which I adhere to, is to never use multiple multiple fonts from the same "font type" (isn't there a typographic term for that?) in a project. i.e. don't use Helvetica and Future (both san-serifs) in the same document.
Helvetica is very "played" for a good reason. It is everywhere because it's a perfectly legible, undistracting font, meaning you read the words, not the style of the font. Helvetica and Helvetica have a wide range of styles in their family - from extra light to extra bold and these variations can definitely make a document interesting, even if done with the same font.
My advice would be to do your portfolio with just one font - such as Helvetica Neue. Afterword, make a second font introducing a second font at specific moments (titles or body text) if necessary.
I also recommend check out this this book. It's great for portfolio design, presentation boards, etc. I highly recommend it.
As a disclaimer, I by no means have a professional education in graphic design, but think I have a decent eye for it and strong working knowledge (and I enjoy talking about it). If you have other questions feel free to ask away.
camhard...it seems to me you used way too many fonts in one document. I use two in my portfolio - one for project titles and my name and one for the body text.
As for good fonts:
I love:
century gothic
rockwell light
helvetica - sparingly or only for titles
I hate:
gimmicky fonts like comic sans, city blueprint etc
my 'present' for the guys that gave me my first job in the industry was Avantgarde Bk bt.. I brought it with me and they changed literally ALL the documents -graphic or written- in the office into Avantgarde... even put their firm name in the door with Avantgarde silver metal letters.. I left in some months -their projects were mediocre at best- but I passed by their door some time ago and they still had their avantgarde letters on the door.. I bet by now they have learned how to write by hand with Avantgarde letters..
Avantgarde is nice for titles, but in school I used mainly Frugal sans or Gill sans -Gill always in grey if it's too big: a title, etc-
my current boss only lets me use Century Gothic, sometimes similar fonts like Futura or Optimum... he's old school -74 y.o.- and thinks these are the most similar to what he draws by hand
Century Gothic:
Futura:
the Swiss721 series are nice too.. I used them at school several times, they have a good collection of light, bold, extrawide, etc that combine very well..
invisblecanook, thanks for the link to some nice free fonts.
.._. .._ _._. _._, that reminded me of Anthon Beeke's 1970 alphabet:
don't know if it will land you the "appropriate" job though. Maybe a summer internship on a French nudist camping.
Thanks for the suggestions. That seems to be the German version (?) I searched and found no English one, but I'll keep an eye out. I did, however, just order Graphic Design: The New Basics, and once finished with it plan on looking more closely at specifics (e.g. typography, grid systems, etc.).
Btw, I decided to make a thread about my portfolio so people can rip it apart and to avoid hijacking this one. I uploaded most of the pages to Flickr and posted a link.
Add these to the list of fonts I wouldn't mind seeing deleted forever:
Copperplate Gothic
Algerian
Thankfully I've never seen them used on any architectural graphics but I do see them from time to time on signs and banners.
Sometimes people (especially when they don't have a clue what they're doing) are just too damn scared of sticking with the default. And the new default font for ms office - Callibri - really isn't so bad.
Oh and as for the various "blueprint" style fonts, I can't believe how many architects like and even love this font. I've worked in a couple of offices where there was constant battling between those of us who loved it and those of us who hated it.
Even if someone likes the look of it I can't understand why they don't see how unreadable it is. It's pretty much impossible to read on reduced-size prints unless the font size on the full size drawing is made ridiculously huge.
Lately, I've been gravitating to the Swiss721 line up, or Courier. Before that it was Helvetica and before that it was Arial.
In high school, they actually had us use City Blueprint or Country Blueprint on our drawings.
Avenir and Avenir Next are great fonts to use in place of Helvetica. You see them a lot in Dutch typography. They're a bit more "human" than Helvetica, while still maintaining a modern cool.
Another, perhaps overused, modern font that nonetheless looks great is Gotham. The collection is beautiful but expensive.
farwest: what makes you consider Avenir more "human" than Helvetica? Proportionally, Avenir is actually much more geometric, and Helvetica incorporates more gentle curves (consider the capital R in each, for example). Do you actually just mean that you feel Helvetica has been taken over by corporations, so you mean "human" as opposed to "corporate"? Or do you actually mean it in the typographical sense (as in humanistic vs. geometric)?
The stamping was done as titles for works on illustration board - pretty quick and dirty, as that was the intention. I've also used them on an aluminum book (portfolio) spine I made to get into grad school, and apparently it worked.
It might be a little labour-intensive, but the work stands out to people - for better or worse - whose eyes are glazed over from looking at helvetica all day.
Plus I'd rather get my hands dirty. Technology has made me its bitch this year, with a cellphone that's stopped being able to text or save numbers, a laptop that blew up, and a USB stick that mysteriously disappeared a completed history paper.... just to name a few.
I'm going back to the stone age. Chisels and stone tablets FTW.
no, i mean that, subjectively, i feel that Avenir is more human and quirky than Helvetica. Helvetica, which I love, has always seemed a little bit cold to me.
NOT list
Times... I don't care what you think, I'm not an accountant and it DOES hurt your eyes
Architext, City Blueprint or any other font created to mimic drafting text
Trebuchet something about it
HOT
Arial, Helvetica - whilst the former cannot compare I've found for heavy text it gets the job done... just don't use at sizes larger than 14pt
gentury gothic.... I only wish it forced all users to type in lower case
I think all but those 3 fonts should be deleted unless you are a graphic designer extraordinaire (ie. rationalist, etc)
@farwest: I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then. I personally like Avenir quite a lot, it's even one of my resume typefaces, but I've never thought of it as particularly human. The geometry and the straight uprightness of it have always seemed rather technical to me.
HOT: Avenir, Rockwell, Interstate, Gotham, Kautiva, Glypha, Droid, Scala, Unit, Thesis, Delicious, Garamond if you lovelovelove more traditional serifs
NOT: Futura, Arial, Times, Baskerville, Cooper, Bauhaus, Bank Gothic, Verdana (screen only!) Eurostile (love it but the spacing is terrible for those not willing to spend the time on it) and anything thematic, which covers blueprintiness, handwritiness, etc.
rationalist, what's wrong with Futura? .. it's almost identical to Century Gothic and I think it's pretty good -especially the numbers-, except maybe the "J" that breaks the base line.. why "not hot"?
Because when you look at the things that give it character, it's not identical to Century Gothic at all. The proportions are even more extreme, and that lowercase j looks too much like an i in text. Look at the examples above and focus on these things as compared to Century Gothic: the awkwardly slender P & R, the vertical terminals on the C but not on the G, S, or K, the much lower x-height which again makes things appear awkwardly slender at times, the over-heaviness of that j as well as the v and w....
I'm not saying that CG's the hotness or anything (it falls somewhere between hot and not for me), but it's what I generally recommend to people who really really like Futura. The proportions are nicer (ok, except for the topheavy R and skinny Z), and the terminals more consistent, the lighter weight is nice, and it spaces a little more evenly too. Really the only thing they have in common is that they are both geometrics, but as typefaces they are definitely individuals.
Portfolio Fonts 2009: HOT or NOT
Hi everybody!
There are some great threads about fonts on this forum, but most of them are soooo 2007. Does anybody else want to put off valuable progress on their portfolio by debating the minutiae of typefaces?
I'll begin:
HOT LIST
1. Arial/Times: Yeah I said it. I love these "nothing to hide," "I don't give a fuck what you think," GENUINE fonts. Unpretentious and focussed, these gals get STRAIGHT to the point, because they know their job is simply to communicate content that is far greater than themselves.
2. Curlz/Comic Sans: I think we all realize this one's a risk, but what about those of us going for a postmodern ironic "just kidding" portfolio? Hopefully whoever's reviewing the portfolio is hip to this subtle, elitist flourish.
NOT LIST
1. Courier: My mouse pointer ALWAYS drifts to this one, but I have to restrain myself. True, we are in the age of information technology - but no, I for one don't want to be seen as a tech fetishist who talks about hacking with a sideways grin.
2. Verdana: Nope, what an attitude! "San-serif because I KNOW better." Hmm, we'll see about that!
Ok, it's your turn now! By the way, you MUST use gossip tabloid language when you post.
I would either puke on or throw out a portfolio using comic sans as the font. Definitely a NO GO.
I really like Century Gothic, it's sort of my thing. Helvetica is nice too... although there's a chance it's starting to get played out. I really despise serif fonts, there's something about them that just drives me up a wall.
I wouldn't be so fast to discredit courier. At least it is authentic in reference to computer code. When used in the appropriate application, it can actually be very nice. But it is something that should be used with discretion and for a very specific purpose. Although the same could be said about many fonts.
HOT LIST
1: Lately I have become a huge fan of slab-serif and ball-terminal fonts. Granted, they have a 70's flair to them, but hey everything old is new again. Clarendon is a nice one, as is Bodoni Poster Italic ( font used on the cold war kids robbers & cowards album cover). Oh and Rockwell. Again, only to be used if you have the moxy to back it up.
2: I almost hate to say this because below I slam the ubiquity of Eurostile and Helvetica, but I am growing fond of Gotham (which was the font Obama used on the presidential campaign) and Din Pro. They are nice sans serif with something just a little different without being obnoxious and pair well as a body type with the more showy ball-terminal.
NOT HOT
1: Eurostile. I admit, this used to be my fall back. It's clean and simple and a little boxy so it worked well as a nice generic architectural presentation font. But then I started to see it everywhere. Seriously. It's like the new Helvetica (also on the not hot/over used list). So I had to wise up and move on.
2: Agency. This actually goes with the above point about the "tech look". My office uses this on everything and I can't stand it. I doesn't read well and is just kinda lame. Boxy sans serif fonts don't make people think you are a cool and tech-savvy person. Actually, they do just the opposite because it looks like your trying to hard.
3: Architects that only use sans-serif because it's "modern". Embrace the wild world of serifs, dear Architects. Really, people will not think you are "stodgy" or "traditional" or "whatever it is that makes you afraid of a serif".
But in the end, if you don't know better, don't feel like investing the time, or don't have thousands of fonts to choose from, just don't even bother. Make it Helvetica and be safe. And for the love of god just delete City Blueprint from your computer and never look back.
My first portfolio, made in 1988, used Palatino (and a little drawing of an Ionic column capital next to every page title). So Po-Mo!
^ Palatino looks pretty nice!
I'm all for proper use of a serif font. I also don't think architects (especially the original poster) know enough about typography.
Lately I've been enjoying Didoni, Futura, Modern 216.
I cannot stand anything with Bank Gothic - period. I don't know why architects love this font.
Arial is by no means a "genuine" font. It's a rip off of a genuine font. I also cannot stand "script" fonts.
2nd that about bank gothic. It's like anything square and sci-fi looking architects flock to. that and black prada clothing.
hahahaha.....
the next thread will be 'do you like flair markers or sharpies'....
comic sans seems like a great way to secure your future in the construction industry
Huh, I didn't even think to do a search for font related topics when doing my portfolio, because I didn't think anyone else cared about typography, layout, etc. I figured all architects knew was City Blueprint and other terrible, terrible fonts. I really don't see any justification for using that... ever.
I'm just starting to actually learn about typography (and graphic design in general) and my portfolio was really my first time creating something real/legitimate.
I didn't realize Helvetica is so played. I'll admit I used it, along with some Times New Roman, though I modified them slightly (spacing, high/width ratio, etc.). I used Helvetica Neue for the cover (i.e. my name). Arial and Tahoma were also used. I feel bad looking back now and seeing mostly common fonts, though I messed around a lot... and by a lot I mean it took me forever, but I made only minute changes. Many other fonts also found their way onto my pages: Baskerville, News Gothic MT and Optima. I may sound like I went overboard and just loaded a bunch of different fonts, but I feel everything is quite clean, and the fonts effectively distinguish the purpose the words serve (e.g. caption, my name in the corner of the page, page number, etc.) If anyone cares, I'll send you the PDF to gain some feedback (I've already sent it in, but would like to see what people might have to say). This one was a good learning experience, and when I apply to grad school, hopefully I'll have a stellar submission.
I agree with grid; Didoni, Futura, Modern 216 are nice. Palatino and Rockwell are pretty cool too. I think I may use some of these on the presentation boards for a competition entry for which I think I'll be doing the layout.
Sorry no tabloid language, and I didn't really add much of a list of good/bad fonts. Also, curlz? comic sans? really? for a portfolio... or anything? I would have no qualms with someone if they were to erase those two fonts from every computer in the world. no offense, I just don't like them.
camhard - one rule that a graphic designer friend told me, which I adhere to, is to never use multiple multiple fonts from the same "font type" (isn't there a typographic term for that?) in a project. i.e. don't use Helvetica and Future (both san-serifs) in the same document.
Helvetica is very "played" for a good reason. It is everywhere because it's a perfectly legible, undistracting font, meaning you read the words, not the style of the font. Helvetica and Helvetica have a wide range of styles in their family - from extra light to extra bold and these variations can definitely make a document interesting, even if done with the same font.
My advice would be to do your portfolio with just one font - such as Helvetica Neue. Afterword, make a second font introducing a second font at specific moments (titles or body text) if necessary.
I also recommend check out this this book. It's great for portfolio design, presentation boards, etc. I highly recommend it.
As a disclaimer, I by no means have a professional education in graphic design, but think I have a decent eye for it and strong working knowledge (and I enjoy talking about it). If you have other questions feel free to ask away.
camhard...it seems to me you used way too many fonts in one document. I use two in my portfolio - one for project titles and my name and one for the body text.
As for good fonts:
I love:
century gothic
rockwell light
helvetica - sparingly or only for titles
I hate:
gimmicky fonts like comic sans, city blueprint etc
Someone will probably shoot me for this, but I've never cared for Helvetica for regular pieces.
There's a place for everything, from sans serif to serif to scripts, just depends on the use.
#1 rule I try to adhere to is 'not too many fonts'. Keep it clean and focus on the design and overall look.
That, and never, never use Bank Gothic (although I'll admit I used it about ten years ago, along with every other architecture student).
Miso??
my 'present' for the guys that gave me my first job in the industry was Avantgarde Bk bt.. I brought it with me and they changed literally ALL the documents -graphic or written- in the office into Avantgarde... even put their firm name in the door with Avantgarde silver metal letters.. I left in some months -their projects were mediocre at best- but I passed by their door some time ago and they still had their avantgarde letters on the door.. I bet by now they have learned how to write by hand with Avantgarde letters..
Avantgarde is nice for titles, but in school I used mainly Frugal sans or Gill sans -Gill always in grey if it's too big: a title, etc-
my current boss only lets me use Century Gothic, sometimes similar fonts like Futura or Optimum... he's old school -74 y.o.- and thinks these are the most similar to what he draws by hand
Century Gothic:
Futura:
the Swiss721 series are nice too.. I used them at school several times, they have a good collection of light, bold, extrawide, etc that combine very well..
lately i've been a fan of 'franklin gothic condensed' for the subtly tall and slender proportions.
p.s. i usually like to set the tracking to +25
If you really want to land a job, just use Alphabunnies:
Hopefully your name uses the letter M
trade gothic
pmn caecilia
rotis
invisblecanook, thanks for the link to some nice free fonts.
.._. .._ _._. _._, that reminded me of Anthon Beeke's 1970 alphabet:
don't know if it will land you the "appropriate" job though. Maybe a summer internship on a French nudist camping.
Thanks for the suggestions. That seems to be the German version (?) I searched and found no English one, but I'll keep an eye out. I did, however, just order Graphic Design: The New Basics, and once finished with it plan on looking more closely at specifics (e.g. typography, grid systems, etc.).
Btw, I decided to make a thread about my portfolio so people can rip it apart and to avoid hijacking this one. I uploaded most of the pages to Flickr and posted a link.
Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=88006_0_42_0_C
Akkurat
Akzidenz Gros
FF Din
Rockwell
Courier
Avant Garde
Any tech'ish serif font.
NOT:
Times
Arial
Verdana
Eurostile
Futura
Century Gothic
Helvetica
People keep trying to kill Helvetica, but you're more likely to rid New York City of rats.
Add these to the list of fonts I wouldn't mind seeing deleted forever:
Copperplate Gothic
Algerian
Thankfully I've never seen them used on any architectural graphics but I do see them from time to time on signs and banners.
Sometimes people (especially when they don't have a clue what they're doing) are just too damn scared of sticking with the default. And the new default font for ms office - Callibri - really isn't so bad.
Oh and as for the various "blueprint" style fonts, I can't believe how many architects like and even love this font. I've worked in a couple of offices where there was constant battling between those of us who loved it and those of us who hated it.
Even if someone likes the look of it I can't understand why they don't see how unreadable it is. It's pretty much impossible to read on reduced-size prints unless the font size on the full size drawing is made ridiculously huge.
Lately, I've been gravitating to the Swiss721 line up, or Courier. Before that it was Helvetica and before that it was Arial.
In high school, they actually had us use City Blueprint or Country Blueprint on our drawings.
cooper std black
Am I behind the times?
isn't Swiss721 just the Kmart Helvetica?
i use edwardian script as often as possible...but admit that it has its limits. nonetheless, it's been my favorite font for about 5 years now
Yup. Time to put you down! *cocks shotgun*
isn't Swiss721 just the Kmart Helvetica?
Yes.
Avenir and Avenir Next are great fonts to use in place of Helvetica. You see them a lot in Dutch typography. They're a bit more "human" than Helvetica, while still maintaining a modern cool.
Another, perhaps overused, modern font that nonetheless looks great is Gotham. The collection is beautiful but expensive.
Gotham
medit- I like the Swiss line as well , esp. SwissCNBT etc etc
I'm seeing Gotham in adverstising everywhere now after Obama's success...
I used this stamp set for my portfolio this term. Just keepin' it real.
(yes, seriously, I did.)
^ nice. I like it.
farwest: what makes you consider Avenir more "human" than Helvetica? Proportionally, Avenir is actually much more geometric, and Helvetica incorporates more gentle curves (consider the capital R in each, for example). Do you actually just mean that you feel Helvetica has been taken over by corporations, so you mean "human" as opposed to "corporate"? Or do you actually mean it in the typographical sense (as in humanistic vs. geometric)?
Whats a stamp set? Damit now I have to google..
Are those the things for stamping key rings?
A stamp set, eh? When I was in school I made a couple of labor-intensive hand-crafted one-off portfolios to show my creativity. Man, was that stupid.
The stamping was done as titles for works on illustration board - pretty quick and dirty, as that was the intention. I've also used them on an aluminum book (portfolio) spine I made to get into grad school, and apparently it worked.
It might be a little labour-intensive, but the work stands out to people - for better or worse - whose eyes are glazed over from looking at helvetica all day.
Plus I'd rather get my hands dirty. Technology has made me its bitch this year, with a cellphone that's stopped being able to text or save numbers, a laptop that blew up, and a USB stick that mysteriously disappeared a completed history paper.... just to name a few.
I'm going back to the stone age. Chisels and stone tablets FTW.
rationalist,
no, i mean that, subjectively, i feel that Avenir is more human and quirky than Helvetica. Helvetica, which I love, has always seemed a little bit cold to me.
I've also read this about Avenir.
NOT HOT:
Any of the ISO fonts.
Generally, I prefer Zapt Dingbat.
Let's turn this around shall we...
NOT list
Times... I don't care what you think, I'm not an accountant and it DOES hurt your eyes
Architext, City Blueprint or any other font created to mimic drafting text
Trebuchet something about it
HOT
Arial, Helvetica - whilst the former cannot compare I've found for heavy text it gets the job done... just don't use at sizes larger than 14pt
gentury gothic.... I only wish it forced all users to type in lower case
I think all but those 3 fonts should be deleted unless you are a graphic designer extraordinaire (ie. rationalist, etc)
@farwest: I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then. I personally like Avenir quite a lot, it's even one of my resume typefaces, but I've never thought of it as particularly human. The geometry and the straight uprightness of it have always seemed rather technical to me.
HOT: Avenir, Rockwell, Interstate, Gotham, Kautiva, Glypha, Droid, Scala, Unit, Thesis, Delicious, Garamond if you lovelovelove more traditional serifs
NOT: Futura, Arial, Times, Baskerville, Cooper, Bauhaus, Bank Gothic, Verdana (screen only!) Eurostile (love it but the spacing is terrible for those not willing to spend the time on it) and anything thematic, which covers blueprintiness, handwritiness, etc.
rationalist, what's wrong with Futura? .. it's almost identical to Century Gothic and I think it's pretty good -especially the numbers-, except maybe the "J" that breaks the base line.. why "not hot"?
Because when you look at the things that give it character, it's not identical to Century Gothic at all. The proportions are even more extreme, and that lowercase j looks too much like an i in text. Look at the examples above and focus on these things as compared to Century Gothic: the awkwardly slender P & R, the vertical terminals on the C but not on the G, S, or K, the much lower x-height which again makes things appear awkwardly slender at times, the over-heaviness of that j as well as the v and w....
I'm not saying that CG's the hotness or anything (it falls somewhere between hot and not for me), but it's what I generally recommend to people who really really like Futura. The proportions are nicer (ok, except for the topheavy R and skinny Z), and the terminals more consistent, the lighter weight is nice, and it spaces a little more evenly too. Really the only thing they have in common is that they are both geometrics, but as typefaces they are definitely individuals.
what i like about Futura is verticality. i like more specifically the fact that the lowercase j is essentially a straight line.
SONamu.
how about this font?
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.