As I lie awake in the early hours of a Sunday morning, I wonder on these few questions:
Why is it so cold?
Whatever happened to the quality programming that used to air on Nickelodeon?
What happen? (Someone set us up the bomb.)
Why does everyone seem to use Times New Roman for everything?
It’s this last point that has recently been irking me, and I think that people use it subconsciously. Think of this as an awakening to a problem that is seen everywhere and plagues even the best of designs.
Perhaps it is the large corporations that think your font choice should be Times New Roman (or Helvetica or Arial). Who put them in charge of deciding how you should portray your written word? And who says you are to restrict yourself to the poorly selected default fonts listed on your computer when you first purchase it?
Before I continue, I must first point out that some fonts are pricey. In fact, for the entire Adobe Font Library (thousands of professional-grade fonts), you are looking at a price tag in the neighborhood of nearly $10,000. You may not be able to afford the prestigious and professional fonts, but you are not limited to the selection of what you have pre-installed.
But where can you get some quality fonts without dishing out hundreds or thousands of dollars? There are large freeware font repositories all over the Internet with fledgling font companies and artists just trying to get their name out. Residing there are some creative and imaginative pieces of typeface, mostly seen only by the font enthusiast. (And believe me, there are quite a bit more than you realize.)
It’s not that I think that Times New Roman is a bad font. Actually, it’s an excellent font for writing large amounts of boring text. It’s great at that; it makes boring text look formal and official. But it is horrible in large type. For example, in sizes above 72 points, it gives the impression that very little thought went into the creation of the work.
Here is the part where I get to plug some cool fonts: Toms New Roman and Tims New Roman. They are excellent fonts that offer a different feel on the same theme. They are even easier on the eyes most times. And they’re free.
Other fonts can give the impression of what you are trying to do. Will-Harris, for instance, gives the impression of a cityscape whereas Tamale gives a more Southwestern approach.
Bodoni, the font in which "Rensselaer" is emblazoned on top of a thick grey line, is a poor font when printed.
The point that I would like to have come across is that there should be some thought put into some of the creations you may put up around campus or present anywhere. Give the audience the impression that you know or care for what you are doing. Show it with personality, and let yourself be seen through your typeface.
