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Project three Interpreting typography

Design software

01
Echo Beach is an intentionally
kitsch soap opera, set in the
ctional Cornish town of
Polnarren and aimed at a youth
audience. Thus the rst step was
to gather some suitable imagery
based around the surfer-style
setting and create mood boards
that could be used as reference.

The
language
of fonts
The choice of font can
do as much to convey the
message of a logo or title
as the words themselves.
Ed Ricketts spoke to
Andrew Altmann about
the thinking behind some
recent type creations
Selecting the right typeface for a particular project can
sometimes appear nigh on impossible. With more fonts available
more readily than at any other time in history, its easy to become
overwhelmed and throw variations at the project until one sticks.
That approach, in fact, can sometimes work well, but its
time-consuming and costly. Therefore, understanding the subtle
messages certain fonts convey is vital. For some, its obvious: the
associations that classic fonts such as Courier and Gill Sans
conjure up, for example, are amazingly strong.
But every font has a subtle effect on the viewer and,
while recognising these becomes easier with experience, its always
useful to look at real-world case studies. Veteran designer Andrew
Altmann of Why Not Associates explains some of the reasoning
behind the agencys choice of fonts.

Designer
Andrew Altmann is
a graduate of both
Central Saint
Martins School of
Art and the Royal
Academy of Arts,
from which he
graduated in 1987.
He then founded
Why Not Associates
with fellow
graduates David Ellis
and Howard

Greenhalgh, working
on largely type-led
projects. Find out
more at www.whynot
associates.com.

Computer Arts Projects _June 2008

CAP111.tut_lang 58

01

02
When doing a corporate identity,
we normally print out the word
the name of the company in
about 50 fonts, explains
Altmann. Its just to see what on
earth it looks like as a word. It
looks so different that way.
03
The team also experimented
with cases, as well as mixing and
matching different fonts within
the same title. Its clear that the
serif and script font versions
seem too fussy, while the allcaps versions are just a shade
too forceful and blocky.
02

Skills
Mood boards
Fonts for TV,
print and display

03

www.computerarts.co.uk

2/5/08 16:13:17

The language of fonts

04-05
Why Not also experimented with
varying the title for the end
credits. Toying with placement
and sizing also makes a huge
difference to the overall impact,
but in this case the simplest
options carry the most weight.

04

59

06
An interesting project is to take
a word and put in every font that
you can. Pin them up and look at
them all, says Altmann.

05

07-08
Some fonts just look right, says
Altmann. You cant necessarily
predict those, and you cant
always explain why they work
they just do. Why Not eventually
settled on Futura Light in lower
case for a clean, modern look.

07

06

08

www.computerarts.co.uk

CAP111.tut_lang 59

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60

Project three Interpreting typography

01

01
This project was commissioned by
Speedwell Academy school in Bristol,
where pupils wrote their wishes to go on
sandblasted marble. Century Schoolbook
ended up being the chosen font.

02

03

04

05

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CAP111.tut_lang 60

04-05
These two educational-style fonts were
rejected. Typography is all about being
sensitive to the characters on a page, and
you cant really train that, says Altmann.

02-03
Couriers oddities in its serifs make it too
difcult to read at the intended size.

06-07
Variants of Futura and DIN might seem to
be suitable, but they perhaps look a little
too juvenile for the schools age range.

06

07

www.computerarts.co.uk

2/5/08 16:13:38

The language of fonts

01
Produced for an anti-trafcking
charity, these beer mats, says
Altmann, are meant for lads to
pick up and think, ooh, lets have
a look at this. But when they turn
them over, theres a devastating
image on it.

02-03
In these rough ideas made for
Why Nots presentation, bad
fonts are used. By selecting
the sort of faces normally
associated with local fanzines,
the agency has ramped up the
air of extreme tackiness.

04-05
These rejected ideas take a very
different approach. But in many
ways the sparing use of one serif
and one sans is preaching to the
converted, rather than to the
demographic that the campaign
is trying to educate.

61

06
On the front, the fonts are like
those horrible, ripped clip-art
fonts, says Altmann. It was
unusual to be using that kind
of font, but if you showed that
in straightforward fonts, it
wouldnt work right at all.

02

03

04

05

06

01

www.computerarts.co.uk

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