A Particular Font That You're Partial To

[robbman21]

In my relatively brief career as a "professional" graphic designer (having done only freelance stuff in the 5 years previous), I've found that I'm partial to certain fonts when it comes to creating new art for clients, namely "Episode I", especially as an alternative to "Times New Roman", which is one of the fonts the boss around here seems to preach. So this got me to wondering if any of my CCSLC brethren have fonts that they have a tendency to go to over others. I'm interested in hearing if I'm not alone in this or if I need to broaden my horizons more.

[JustForFun]

I'm not a designer, but when I put together a website I use Futura whenever possible. I remember that when I was a kid, the public library used it for all its signs and for some reason it's really stuck with me.

[MEANS]

yeah Episode I is nice. I've been in the industry 10 years and I tend to agree, I use certain fonts that I'm partial to. I think it also comes down to knowing what the right font is to choose for each situation. On another note I am always looking for new fonts to keep things fresh, even if it just a subtle variation of a popular font.

[SDX]

At the moment for all my stuff for work i am using Qlassik, trying to standardise our use of fonts as everything we put out has different fonts and looks.

[slapshot]

Episode I? You mean Trajan?

Trajan is seriously overused in virtually every movie poster.

Also, see Kansas.

Trajan is not a bad looking font. It is just ubiquitously used and has lost most of its cachet as a stylish classy font.

I just checked DaFont.com. Episode I is a seriously bastardized hybrid of Trajan (caps) and Albertus (caps used for lowercase).

[scottysprings]

I agree with Patsfan, I'm definitely a fan of Futura. I also like Myriad an Fontin Sans.

[tBBP]

I can tell you what font pro sports as a collective seems to favor of late...Agency.

In recent years, we've seen the Indiana Pacers, San Diego Chargers, Toronto Blue Jays, Vancouver Canucks, and Washington Capitals (I believe I'm missing some here) turn to using (their own "specialized" versions of) this particular font. (For some reason, it also seems as if this font may have been the base point for the Atlanta Falcons numbers, as well--but that may be a stretch.)

As for me, personally...it really depends on what project I'm working on. Generally, whenever I'm laying out a new project in which I wish to include typography as an element of the art, I tend to go with oblique versions of bold serified fonts, which I may then offset by using a sans serif font for the copy. (I know that's a good bit backwards from the usual philosophy on body copy and headline/tagline fonts, but I'm a backwards dude, so what can I say?) Lately, though, for whatever reason, I've gotten really attached to Trade Gothic. (It may have something to do with me having recently done a lot of layout design for different things for both the Army Reserve and the Port Authority of Allegheny County--both use that font a lot). Before that, I had a serious thing for Univers, for reasons I still ain't figured out.

[robbman21]

Episode I? You mean Trajan?

Trajan is seriously overused in virtually every movie poster.

Also, see Kansas.

Trajan is not a bad looking font. It is just ubiquitously used and has lost most of its cachet as a stylish classy font.

I just checked DaFont.com. Episode I is a seriously bastardized hybrid of Trajan (caps) and Albertus (caps used for lowercase).

You know what? Strangely that didn't even occur to me until just this past weekend, when I was trying to find a number set that matched-up well with Episode I (the "2s" in EpI are really skewed) and Trajan became the best match. Then upon a closer inspection I noticed the real similarities between the two.

Interestingly enough, it was you jp that got me into a "font interest", as I figured it would make me a better designer to be able to recognize "on site" a particular font with little effort. So...thank you jp

[eRay]

i used to be in love with baskerville, and still am to a point. recently i've liked the look of Birch, though it isn't useful in many places because it gets jumbled when small IMO. for sports concepts or working through sports logo concept ideas or even at work i too have been using Agency lately...i don't know how to escape it. otherwise i seem to go through phases, much like i do with favorite color combos.

[Blackjack76]

Quick note on Agency - see MLB ASG 2003 Chicago White Sox...Agency is predominantly used for all of those marks.

As for myself...I thoroughly enjoy a good Brothers Bold any chance I get. Ironically, my favorite team (StL Cardinals), uses it quite a bit too. I also created a font based off of the "Busch Stadium" wordmark; I couldn't find the font itself, so I just did it myself. I have three different weights for that, and I use those quite a bit as well.

[Shumway]

In most cases, I stick with basic sans-serif fonts. I actually really like condensed variations, espcially those of Myriad and Franklin Gothic. However, if I were to name a font I use most often, it'd definitely be Futura. The majority of my work is simple and clean, so I tend to keep a distance from irregular, decorative, or worn fonts.

Oh, and I suppose my moderate fontcrush towards Friz Quadrata would fit in here too.

[fiasco!]

Currently overusing:

Sans: Interstate, Kautiva, Meta (especially Bold), The various Din flavors

Serif: Caslon Pro, Goudy Pro

Slab: Rockwell

Script: LHF Sarah Script, Bickham Script (so many nice alternates and swashes in this one)

[winters in buffalo]

Our official company fonts are Caslon and Myriad, but ever since we started using Office 2007, I've got a secret crush on Calibri.

[andrewharrington]

There are certain typefaces that are just good; they simply work time and again for project after project and for person after person. That's why are still around after all these decades and people have kept them alive by redrawing the letal types and updating them to digital form. Likewise, there are certain typefaces (many of the ones listed in this thread, eek!) that simply don't work, either because they are poorly planned, poorly illustrated, or they do not serve any fundamental typographic purpose beside looking cheesy and overdesigned. In addition, there are types that go in and out of style, and some stick around and come back in, and go back out, etc.

For instance, as you look around the world of design right now, you see Gotham everywhere. Moreso than I've ever seen any other typeface dominate pop culture since I've been paying attention to this sort of thing. From Coca-Cola to Crest, and from Motor Trend to Martha Stewart, and GQ, Barack Obama, and on and on... you will find Gotham. It's such a beautiful type that is more of an engineer's letter than a typographer's letter, but still has a friendly, organic and approachable quality that is absent in something like Futura. I mostly despise Futura because it is so cold and geometric and, as a result, it looks dated to me now that the sort of ultramodernism to which it was born has given way to the current trend of modern-organic.

I used to (and still do, but to a slightly lesser degree) see a lot of Trade Gothic, especially the bold condensed weight in all caps. I still love this. It's one of the greats as far as I'm concerned. The range and contrast in the weights and lengths makes it very versatile on top of being so attractively drawn. It seems to have roots in old-style wood type and it lends itself well to many sorts of applications. A similar type that I really love, and that has serious roots in wood-type, is Knockout, which has about three times as many weights and lengths as Trade Gothic, but is slightly less trendypop.

I also like classics such as Akzidenz Grotesk, DIN (only the FontShop version) and Helvetica, but I don't use those quite as much. As far as serifs go, there are classic faves as well, like Caslon, Garamond Clarendon and Bodoni, along with some newer ones like Arno, Filosofia, Archer and Chronicle. Artists are creating more and more great, new, pro-level fonts that will grow to be classics as the technology improves and allows them to do so, which I think is great. I just hope the industry doesn't fold because of the font piracy issues that are happening more and more.

[tBBP]

There are certain typefaces that are just good; they simply work time and again for project after project and for person after person. That's why are still around after all these decades and people have kept them alive by redrawing the letal types and updating them to digital form. Likewise, there are certain typefaces (many of the ones listed in this thread, eek!) that simply don't work, either because they are poorly planned, poorly illustrated, or they do not serve any fundamental typographic purpose beside looking cheesy and overdesigned. In addition, there are types that go in and out of style, and some stick around and come back in, and go back out, etc.

For instance, as you look around the world of design right now, you see Gotham everywhere. Moreso than I've ever seen any other typeface dominate pop culture since I've been paying attention to this sort of thing. From Coca-Cola to Crest, and from Motor Trend to Martha Stewart, and GQ, Barack Obama, and on and on... you will find Gotham. It's such a beautiful type that is more of an engineer's letter than a typographer's letter, but still has a friendly, organic and approachable quality that is absent in something like Futura. I mostly despise Futura because it is so cold and geometric and, as a result, it looks dated to me now that the sort of ultramodernism to which it was born has given way to the current trend of modern-organic.

I used to (and still do, but to a slightly lesser degree) see a lot of Trade Gothic, especially the bold condensed weight in all caps. I still love this. It's one of the greats as far as I'm concerned. The range and contrast in the weights and lengths makes it very versatile on top of being so attractively drawn. It seems to have roots in old-style wood type and it lends itself well to many sorts of applications. A similar type that I really love, and that has serious roots in wood-type, is Knockout, which has about three times as many weights and lengths as Trade Gothic, but is slightly less trendypop.

I also like classics such as Akzidenz Grotesk, DIN (only the FontShop version) and Helvetica, but I don't use those quite as much. As far as serifs go, there are classic faves as well, like Caslon, Garamond Clarendon and Bodoni, along with some newer ones like Arno, Filosofia, Archer and Chronicle. Artists are creating more and more great, new, pro-level fonts that will grow to be classics as the technology improves and allows them to do so, which I think is great. I just hope the industry doesn't fold because of the font piracy issues that are happening more and more.

That last paragraph sounds a lelluva lot like something I've been saying in that back of my mind for a while now. I found myself thinking rather often about the prospect of the industry suffering a dent if not a straight-up collapse due to all the piracy issues and all the freeware fonts out there. So long as it doesn't end up like the issues in the music industry...

Even though DIN is a good-looking font, it can get overused--and it ain't for everything (despite what the Port Authority of Allegheny County and the Cincinnati Bengals might think). Heck--I rarely use it for headlines or taglines anymore (and again--I think my recent attachment to Trade Gothic has a lot to do with that).

Here's another font I found myself using quite often for a lot of our company's sales and marketing materials that seemed to win a lot of praise with our clients: Stephanie Marie. It's sorta fancy-looking font, but not too fancy, like some versions of Shelley Volante (which can be found in my original "b in B" logo package).

And yes, JP22...Trajan is just about the most overused font out there today. As i was packing up my DVDs last night, I found myself looking at the spines of those cases and I'll be damned if HALF of, if not more, of the movie titles were written in that font, or some doctored version of it. It actually really annoys the hell out of me.

[Davidson]

episode 1 aint a font cuzzy bro.

someone has traced the starwars poster and put their :censored:ty illustrations into fontlab or something.

none of the kerning is right and the cases seem to be completely different fonts?

go the classics!:

din,

avante guard,

akzidenz

itc quay.

didoni

chalet

belizio/ clarendon (whatever is the real one, i cant remember)

good stuff ive aquired through work:

volvo sans (nicer version of akzidenz)

scee (sonys font, real nice)

mtv2 (an old mtv font from the uk)

liquorstore (another nice mtve font)

delay (might also be an mtv font?)

[PSUdraw]

Great thread for sure.

I definitely have Futura as a favorite but I been really trying to stay away from it in works. I have been using Frutiger as a kinda Futura stand in at times. I have been using Adobe Carlson and Jenson as stands in for New Times Roman. I stay away from Trajan for sure. I have to look around cause I have some big projects coming up, (Minor League Playbill and Poster designs) that need to work on.

[STL FANATIC]

Right now I'm stuck on Trade Gothic.

I work for the U of Illinois Athletic Dept, and that's one of our primary fonts. Ever sense I started I go to that a lot whether it's for the University or not.

Futura used to be my go to font prior than that.

[heernumurr]

century gothic has to be my all time favourite, but maybe that's just because of the weezer connection...