Choosing a Font

As a Chicago design firm, we cannot stress the importance of choosing the right font enough.  When we are working with a client on creating logos and design pieces, one of the first things we take into account is the font choice. The font chosen for your advertisement or design piece has a huge impact on the way people will view your brand. As a marketing company we rely on techniques to make viewers more interested in your products and services through advertisements and creative pieces.  Believe it or not, but there are tens of thousands of existing fonts with new ones being created on a daily basis.  With so many choices out there, what prompts graphic design companies to choose one font over all the others and why are so many generic fonts overused?  It's a tough call.

Font choice is crucial when creating an advertisement or design piece.  Typography is a great way to set a mood or compliment branding in an advertisement or design piece.  It may not be the first thing you notice, but the font you choose for your pieces can either make or break your design. The content of the material presented in your design and the purpose of the design are main factors when deciding on a specific font.  A corporate look usually falls with more traditional, clean and straight fonts while something less formal can benefit from utilizing stylized fonts.

When choosing a font, there are many aspects of design that we, as graphic designers, think about.  With so many fonts in existence its crazy how overused certain fonts are.  It is very easy to fall into the trap of using default fonts.  The fonts that are standard with software setup are not always the best choice depending on what you’re trying to achieve with your advertisement or design piece.  It is very typical to see people using common, simple fonts such as Arial, Helvetica and Times New Roman.  When working on an advertisement or design piece, use a good portion of your time to look at font to find the perfect fit.  Our Chicago design firm uses multiple font books and agents, but there are also  many different online resources with free downloadable unique fonts. If you are interested in searching for creative, unique fonts check out these sites:

Dafont.com

Fontspace.com

Addictivefonts.com

Now you’ve searched for the perfect font and have finally chosen one.  Awesome!  What’s next?  Consider the size of your font and color choice.  Size and color alone can make or break your choice.  Some fonts look totally different at a small size then they do at a large size, so make sure you check out how your font looks at various sizes. 

Font can truly become a huge focal point of any advertisement or design piece, especially when it is done creatively.  Creating headers of different colors and sizes can draw a large amount of attention to the font on your piece and help intrigue viewers to read your content and learn more.  Make sure with an ad or creative piece that you design that you balance out your images and text.  A successful ad or design will have text and images that compliment each other, not overpower one another.  

Want to know more about choosing font?  Leave us a comment below or contact us.  

Creative Printing Techniques

A great way to bring variety to any marketing collateral or design piece is by switching up the printing technique.  Over the last few months, graphic designers everywhere have been preparing for the holiday season.  As Chicago graphic designers always looking to do something unique, we like to consider a variety of different print techniques. As the holidays approach us, we are getting more and more requests for fun and exciting greeting cards and print materials.  We strive to create new ideas and love to utilize new techniques.  There are many different printing techniques that can bring variety to your designs.  Below are a few of our Chicago Design Firm’s favorite printing techniques:

1- Foil Technique:

With the foiling technique you can create a brilliant, shiny finish to almost any print piece for a reasonable price. The process is simple and affordable and can turn a wide range of CMYK colors into multi-colored foils.  Everyday we are bombarded by marketing collateral and as a marketing company, we create prints that stand out from the crowd.  Foil colors bring shine and sparkle to a design and are very appealing to the eye. 

2- Embossing/Debossing:

Embossing and debossing are both similar techniques but produce the opposite effect.  Embossing produces a raised impression on your print materials, while debossing creates a depressed impression.  We recommend using a technique like embossing for special print materials.  Embossing looks great and stands out, but the process does manipulate the paper stock and printed items are often only one-sided if embossed or debossed.  When embossing or debossing it is very important to remember to keep an adequate amount of space between items on your piece, especially any text. Embossing is very easy and can even be done from home. Embossing can easily be preformed by stamping an image on to a piece of paper, sprinkling store bought embossing powder over the image and applying heat. 

3- Thermography:

Another interesting printing technique we’ve seen graphic designers and printers use is thermography printing. Thermography printing is obtained by heating a powder into the ink.  When the powder is heated it causes the ink to rise above the paper. The effect is often times compared to the appearance of engraving. Thermography printing has become one of our favorite techniques, as it stands out but is still very simple and subtle.

4- Silk Lamination:

Silk lamination is a water-resistant form of printing.  The look is very soft as it provides a silk-like-finish.  Similar to the foil technique, silk lamination is produced like any other CMYK document, but an additional step is needed to create the look and provide a unique texture. The silk lamination technique is great if you want to create a soft look with a durable quality.

Comments or questions on creative printing techniques?  Leave us a comment below or contact us.