¿How to choose a type by the sound of a message?

3 tips that will become melodies for your ears.

The world of typography is an adventure of many paths, you may like the tallest and the tiniest, the skinny ones, the fat, and little ones, uncertain and wide and so balanced, maybe you’ll like the flat ones with pretty glyphs…

Versión en español disponible aquí.

To sound like a rhyme it has to be more than a single verse, but the reality is you have an infinite number of options to send your message. The question here is; How do you know if the message will arrive with the rhythm you want?

The correct typography will be the one that you can taste in a moment and a specific place, like a good song that you hum to the sound of memory, that’s the way how works the compositions of letters, how better to select the suitable type, easier and faster it will be to remember it for your users.

We can start with a thousand analogies but our favorites are the songs and the art to create melodies through moments, so you can begin to think;

What would you want to hear? — Is the place where your message is going to be.

What type of gender will be? — Which is the point of your text in the design?

How much time will the song last? — It will be for a long text?

And last but not least important, Which is the audience target? Because it won’t be only you who is going to analyze, repeat and sing, there will be a whole movement behind your message.

Not all are cut from the same cloth.

Knowing each one of the categories of the types is as indispensable as know if the color will be RGB or CMYK, is because of that what to know his name is the first step to invite them to go out: Serif, Sans serif, Display, Handwritten, Script, Slab serif, each with a name and a personality molded through generations who let us search in a universe of types made in different moments of the history and for a different context, this is why if you take it for granted that the first one you chose is the right one, it will be the beginning of the end.

Filtering is the key to selection.

Filter and filter until everything is clear. As soon as you allow yourself to see the magnitude of your election, it will be easier to make a decision. Be careful with each part of the letter, if it’s sans serif, How round do I need the letter G to be?, if it’s display, How many calligraphic traits will help my message? and if it is a script, How risky is my message to use one of them?

Ah! And don’t forget the height and size, not everyone will align to the same X, but as we well know, the twin souls are tough to find but not impossible.

Stop! May I see your license, please?

Take care of the copyright, everyone knows that if without the permission of the father, it can’t invite to get out, this is why that check the author, the kind of use (personal or commercial), and the licenses will be a task to never forget, you would not want that your work would be used without your permission and that others take the credit. That is why assessing the work of others gives us transparency and lets us create new ideas, don’t close yourself to a free typeface, if a type is the one, that a few extra zeros don’t prevent you from achieving the ideal design.

Finding the right path is not that simple and we don’t assure you that having all of this in consideration, you aren’t going to be wrong, but if we are sure of something is that: the more you give the opportunity of having a date with the letters the more you will be able to conquer all of them.

Be dynamic, explore and lose yourself in the design, everything is about creating a good rhythm so that the melody is digestible and can be beyond the additional elements which accompany, and when you finally got the mix of music you wish, the letter will fit perfectly on every occasion.

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From the Ambiguo team with love.

Find us everywhere as @ambiguodesign