How Do Fonts Convey Mood?

As a graphic designer, I know that each element, no matter how small, plays a huge role in the outcome of a project. Fonts are often overlooked in favor of other elements, however, this can be a huge mistake. Fonts convey mood through many different aspects, from weight to serifs and more. Here are some of the most common tips for utilizing the right font to convey your mood.

Serifs

Fonts that contain serifs are typically more formal and academic. Think about the most popular academic font: Times New Roman. This font is used by teachers and students for its easy readability and has become the standard in many schools around the world. Using a serif outside of a school setting may result in your work coming across as uneducated or stuffy, however, so be cognizant when deciding whether or not to choose it.

Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough

In graphic design, these four options are used to emphasize something. Bold font can be used to grab someone’s attention, or possibly as a way to increase the weight of the font (if used throughout the entire project). Italics are meant for emphasis when speaking, or often for foreign words or jargon. Underline is typically used for the most important words or phrases, and strikethrough is used informally to show a change of thought. While you may not utilize these fonts often in graphic design projects, you may find yourself using them frequently in writing or longer projects.

Fancy Fonts

Many people love to use weird or fancy fonts to give something a unique voice. However, I strongly advise you to consider what kind of message you are sending. If the font is too curly, it may be difficult to read or come off as childish. If it looks robotic, it can seem campy. Try to rein in the fancy fonts and instead consider making a unique font for your project.

Weight and Size

The weight and size of fonts can also make a difference with how your work is perceived, although for a much different reason than the other factors. Let’s say you are combining two fonts for a project, one to display the title of a business and one to explain what the business does. You would want a larger font with a heavier weight for the business name, as larger text and heavier text both draw the eye naturally. The explanation should be one or two sizes smaller and a normal or light weight. This makes it easy for readers to distinguish the most important information and make the text flow. As a final note, I would shy away from increasing the weight and decreasing the size, as letters become hard to distinguish.

Fonts are a huge part of everyday life, so it is important to understand the conventions surrounding font and mood. Whether you are utilizing fonts for graphic design purposes or just for general use, take these tips into consideration when deciding which font you want to utilize.

Society6: A Graphic Designer's Heaven

Graphic designers often struggle to sell their own art. Either they don’t have the resources to print their designs, or they have a hard time marketing their works. It’s a problem that has been plaguing graphic designers for years. However, there is a site that has fixed this problem: Society6.

Society6 is a place for graphic designers to sell their work, and fans of fun designs to buy them. It’s fairly easy to begin selling; you simply join, verify your account, and you’re ready to sell! The process for uploading your images is also easy. You click the Sell button, and you are ready to upload.

Some artists are skeptical of Society6 for a few reasons. The first is their rights to their artwork. S6 states that even after uploading your designs, you control the rights to all of your pieces. People also tend to be concerned about the quality of their pieces, but you can easily find the pixel dimensions for a general art print, as well as the dimensions for some specialty objects.

Furthermore, you have the ability to choose which products you sell your designs on. If you only want to sell art prints, that is completely fine. If you want mugs, tapestries, throw pillows, and more with your design, you can also do that. It is completely customizable.

Finally, Society6 allows you to set the prices for your prints. That is the price you will be paid if you make a sale. However, if you want to sell your design on anything other than prints, S6 has a list of how much commission you would make per item. No matter what you sell, you’ll get paid through Paypal at the beginning of every month.

If you are a graphic designer and you don’t have your works on Society6, I strongly encourage you to consider the benefits. College students in particular love this site, and they are willing to spend a good chunk of money to get the high-quality products S6 provides. If you’re thinking about joining the site, check out their Artist Bootcamp article for advice on how to make the most of your business.

Best Cities for Graphic Designers: Beijing

So far in our series, we’ve covered two places in North America where graphic design is prevalent. For our third city, I wanted to branch out to other parts of the world. Today’s great city for a graphic designer is Beijing, China.

Many people think of China as simply a communist state, where everyone works in a factory. However, there is more to the story than that. China has a rich cultural and artistic scene, and Beijing is right at the heart of it. Considered the art capital of the country, Beijing is a great place for a graphic designer.

Let’s look at salary. Graphic designers in Beijing typically make no less than 234,000 Chinese Yen, which roughly translates to 45,500 CAD. A one-bedroom apartment in the center of Beijing costs about 1,139 CAD per month, and the cost of living aside from rent is about 685.00 CAD per month. This means you will have roughly 2,000 CAD left each month to use for entertainment or to save. Considering the cost of living is lower in Beijing than in Toronto, and you will likely have a higher salary, this can be a great place to live if you are looking to pursue your passion and save money for a few years.

There are a few things to note about working and living in China. There are very strict laws that govern the country, from censorship to control of the Internet. You also should be fluent in Mandarin, as it will be easier to get by than it would be if you relied on English. Furthermore, if you are not of East Asian descent, you may stick out in Beijing, and you could be targeted by criminals as an unsuspecting foreigner. However, if you can bypass these pitfalls, Beijing is a great place to make a nice living and save a decent amount of money, all while working in the field you want.

Arches, Women in Trees, and David Lynch—This week in art

Some fun news to share with you all this week!

Looking at the Art of Arches

When's the last time you've taken a moment to admire the beauty of an arch? Has it really been that long? Arches are ubiquitous they make up so much of our surroundings, but it's very easy to not notice them—an example of how well they blend into their surroundings. Well, not only are these circular gateways important to the integrity of the buildings that many of us make use of on a day-to-day basis, they can also be quite beautiful. Frieze.com recently gave the arch its proper due in a blog post with some beautiful videos.

Frieze London & Pablo Bronstein: The Art of Arches from Frieze Art Fair on Vimeo...

For the full blog, go to JuliaSotnykova.org.

From Vancouver - Part 4

This has been such a meaningful project for me. Right now I only have the photos to share with you, but I'm working on drafting up the rest of the project for the end product, called "Emanations".

In case you're just tuning in:

I've lived in Vancouver for the vast majority of my life. In this photo series, I explore the relationship between place and identity. In particular, I explore the regions of Vancouver and British Columbia that have been so important to me and my family. This is the fourth and final installment in the series.

For more photos, go to JuliaSotnykova.com