Go To Fonts...

[oneblankcanvas]

I know as a designer there are MANY fonts out there. Some good, some bad, and some just plain ugly (I'm talking to you Papyrus and Comic Sans). But when designing it's said that you go to fonts that you use a lot in your designs. So you have a quiver of top fonts. You may want 5000 fonts, but how many do you really use?? What are some of the first fonts you check out to work with your design when designing sports logos?

[gordie_delini]

Honestly it really depends on the purpose of the logo, the client, etc.

[oddball]

And when you're working on one website and they have standard fonts, you use them a lot. Actually, I tend to NOT have "go to" fonts, as that makes you a stale designer. What gord said is true though, you may want to use a font, but if the client or the project calls for another, you use either what looks best or what the client wants.

[slapshot]

You shouldn't have one or two "go-to" fonts. As oddball said, that makes you a stale designer. Of course, picking fonts depends on the project, but at my previous job, I did tend to have a bunch on standby, at least 6 or 7 of each type: sans serif, serif, one of each type for copy, and a set of display fonts. It amounted to somewhere between 25 and 30 total.

[andrewharrington]

You shouldn't have one or two "go-to" fonts. As oddball said, that makes you a stale designer.

Since the original poster is soliciting approaches here, I'll play Devil's Advocate. I don't feel comfortable blanketing a statement like this. Just as an example, Massimo Vignelli used only a small handful of typefaces in his work and very much supported this as a standard practice for other designers. His work was anything but stale (American Airlines, the original New York subway map). It's all dependent on how you use the type or how you allow it to interact with other graphics and convey the information. Even the so-called 'off-limits' fonts can be used effectively. Even Comic Sans. Even Papyrus. Even Copperplate. The problem is that most people do not use them effectively, and those fonts have gotten a bad reputation as a result. If you keep a go-to list, make sure you have a lot of variety in your list. You could make yourself a very solid go-to list solely at H&FJ. These are a good starting point because they are impeccably drawn and include every character you'll ever need. It's always good to start off on the right foot. My personal faves from H&FJ include:

SANS

Gotham

Tungsten

Knockout

Verlag

CLASSIC SERIFS

Chronicle

Mercury

Requiem

Didot

SLAB SERIFS

Archer

Vitesse

Sentinel

[oneblankcanvas]

Ok, Yes. I agree with you that you shouldn't have go to fonts... (and no I do not) but Andrew went in the right direction as to where I was going with the Massimo Vignelli statement from Helvetica. His work was in no way bland or stale and he used a VERY select handful of typefaces in his work. So thanks Andrew for playing Devil's Advocate and humoring me!

[Viper]

My v4.1 sigs all use Alternate Gothic in the left and side panels, and I also use it for descriptive text on my logo and uniform concept sheets, so I guess that's my main "go-to" font. Apart from that, I can't really say I have any others.

[slapshot]

You shouldn't have one or two "go-to" fonts. As oddball said, that makes you a stale designer.

Since the original poster is soliciting approaches here, I'll play Devil's Advocate. I don't feel comfortable blanketing a statement like this.

If you keep a go-to list, make sure you have a lot of variety in your list.

I think you just contradicted yourself. Your post actually agrees with me.

You and I seem to agree that one should not have one or two "go-to" fonts, but a variety of them.

[DontWannaName]

The fonts that come with your computer are enough usually. Their are tons of websites with fonts, some copy custom fonts that companies make for products and logos which are cool.

[andrewharrington]

The fonts that come with your computer are enough usually. Their are tons of websites with fonts, some copy custom fonts that companies make for products and logos which are cool.

Which are exactly the types of fonts you should not download. You get what you pay for in a font, namely a quality letterform, good spacing, and the satisfaction of not being a supporter of pirates who trace other fonts and put them up on the internet for free download. The people who design fonts do it as their job. Buying fonts pays their gas bills.

[andrewharrington]

You shouldn't have one or two "go-to" fonts. As oddball said, that makes you a stale designer.

Since the original poster is soliciting approaches here, I'll play Devil's Advocate. I don't feel comfortable blanketing a statement like this.

If you keep a go-to list, make sure you have a lot of variety in your list.

I think you just contradicted yourself. Your post actually agrees with me.

You and I seem to agree that one should not have one or two "go-to" fonts, but a variety of them.

Yeah, for some reason I thought your position was that one should not have 'go-to' fonts, like, in general, which would mean... you should use a different font for each project? Boy, I misunderstood that one. Don't know how I botched it up that bad. It was really very self explanatory.

[chuckymack]

Well, I think every designer has certain fonts they prefer the look of. For instance, I prefer Futura to Helvetica, but I know many people who think I'm crazy for it.