Design & Interactive Experiences

Open Sans, Open Sans, Open Sans – it’s everywhere! It’s the second most popular web font, it’s the new Arial. However, there is nothing wrong about Open Sans specifically, it’s just overused. Picking a typeface is an opportunity for your website, app or digital product to show personality, be memorable and stand out among its competition. And if you’re using Open Sans you’re missing out on all that good stuff.

This book was written in 1969 for a lettering course at the Pratt Institute. This chapter is a treasure trove on spacing - between letters, between lines, and between words. Lots of great examples and ideas here to improve your legibility in Layout 1, and a good head start for some of the ideas we'll discuss next class with creative typography.

Google Fonts is a great place to get free fonts of all kinds. Just keep in mind that you'll need to evaluate each typeface for quality, readability, and how it matches the information you're trying to communicate. Does the typeface have several weights to help you control hierarchy? Are the shapes balanced and easy to read for body copy? Great typefaces are at the root of great design. Good typography will support your design without becoming noticeable, while bad typography and typeface choice will detract from it.