Font Faves
Hi – my name is Dani, and I’m a font addict. My budget for fonts can be described as an annual percentage, and I have an entire directory on our design server where my fonts live, cataloged by style and indexed by category in an ever-growing spreadsheet of styles and licensing data.
Whenever I work on a new project, I comb through our existing archives, looking for the perfect font for the message and the design. More often than not, I head to FontSpring (loads of @font-face compatible fonts for web use), FontSquirrel (loads of free fonts with commercial use licenses – YMMV) MyFonts (boatloads of awesomeness), Letterhead Fonts (Oh, the design I could do for a pub with their work!) and Font Diner (retro font heaven, craptastic website navigation).
Right now, I’m working on a super-fun project that has me searching for the absolute pinnacle of font perfection – my brother’s wedding invitations. Lemme tell ya – nothing is a nerve-wracking as designing something that my entire family will see repeatedly over the next year and a half (save the dates, website, invites, programs, placecards, cake decorations, thank yous, cupcakes, and on and on…)! So I’m sketching. And fussing. And scratching. Different pencils. Different paper. Different markers. Wacom tablet. More research! More sketching. And studying every damn font I come across as if my life depended on it.
All of this is, of course, a really long-winded way to say: Hey! I’ve used some really awesome fonts on projects in the last year or so…and I keep coming back to some as particular faves. Here they are, in no particular order…
Kelvingove
Used: Originally grabbed (and not used) for a different project, this was perfect for a recent set of christening invitations we recently sent to print for a favorite client (shown).
Love: It’s not Copperplate Gothic. Also, swashes FTW!
Doublewide
Used: on my Twitter background (shown).
Love: wide but not awkward.
Presicav
Used: My biggest repeat offender. Pottstown Cluster project, Wicked Plum site and brochure (shown), internal headlines for Copper Wire Jewelers, anywhere I can make it work.
Love: Different, but not jarringly so. Excellent, well-matched family. @font-face license available.
CartoGothic Standard (free) and CartoGothic Pro
Used: My go-to, multi-purpose body copy font for print and web use (via @font-face) – in action on Om Shanti Handcrafts, Your Kid’s Room (shown), the newly-launched Stone Hill Landscapes, and many others.
Love: It’s not Arial. (And really, isn’t that enough?)
Kon Tiki Enchanted
Used: our 2009 holiday cards (shown), and a few retro-style projects
Love: It’s sweet, it’s jazzy, it’s cool…and hell, it’s not Liza!
Other Faves
Because the list isn’t long enough already…
- Dai Vernon Direct (navigation/headers on the LF Planet site)
- The title font for this blog, Ninja
- Megalopolis Extra (accent text for Your Kid’s Room)
- Aviano Sans, which I fear is quickly becoming the new Trajan, destined to be on movie posters everywhere, but I’ll enjoy it while I can
- Carta Marina
- Sommet Slab
- Chunk (another one that I fear is too trendy for its own good)
- And the title font for Copper Wire Jewelers mag, By George Titling
Dani made this mess on September 10th, 2010 and filed it under Fonts, Random Drips