One of the most important decisions we must make in the creation process of business cards is the selection of the typeface such as serif fonts that we will use in our printing work because an important part of the impact of our publication, flyer, brochure, or poster will depend on it.
There is a general belief that Helvetica is ideal for reports or brochures and that Century Gothic is perfect for posters. But before we dive into recommendations and ideas, let’s see what a typeface or font is and learn about its fundamental characteristics.
Font or typeface?
Some use both terms equally and do not differentiate font. We are going to see in what context we can use each word:
Typography is the technique or process that defines the characteristics and appearance of a text. For this, the typographer seeks that the resulting text meets three characteristics: that it is legible, that it is aesthetic, and that it is understandable. This is the definition maintained by the RAE, but in our daily work, when we talk about typography, we usually refer, in an abbreviated way, to “typeface”. Thus, when we say that we need a good typeface for this or that job, we are talking about choosing a font, among all the existing ones, that best suits our project or message.
When a font designer or typographer makes variations on a font, changing parameters such as thickness, for example, he creates a typeface family. Thus, you can combine characters from the same typeface family providing contrasts to the composition, using, for example, Italic or Bold to highlight part of a text. An example of a typeface family would be Helvetica, with its many variations such as Medium, Roman, Italic, Condensed, Bold.
It is also quite common to hear the word “type” as an abbreviation for typography, but in reality, the type is the design of a certain letter. The term is inherited from the old pieces used in printing, where each type left a letter of the alphabet printed as if it were a stamp. Furthermore, in English “typo” refers to a typographical error, a misprint that exists in a text, and that we must correct.
An example of a type would be the “x” in Georgia Bold Italic :
Choosing the ideal typeface through font foundry is one of the most important decisions you will make when designing the plastic business cards because an important part of the final impact of your project depends on it. However, many times typography is downplayed, leaving it last when we are thinking about what elements we are going to include in our project, which is a mistake.
Likewise, it is important to know what types of sources exist to be able to choose the one that most convinces us for our work. So let’s go to the next section.
This way you can give an effective message through your flyers, business card or a poster. All you need is a good design and a text with good font.
