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The BonFX Letter

One good pairing.
Every Tuesday.

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This week — no. 14

Quiet authority

Merriweather sets the tone in one line. Lato stays out of the way and lets it.

MERRIWEATHER 700  +  LATO 400

A font specimen, a pairing that works, and one line on why it works. That is the whole email.

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Improve Your Typography: Over 100 Tips from 12 Top Resources

April 23, 2013 by Douglas Bonneville

typography-tips

It’s no trouble to be reminded of the simple things we can do to improve our typographic chops! This quick list of a dozen top typography resources feature over 100 easy-to-grasp hints, tips, and bits of advice. If you are a type newbie, spend a few minutes soaking up some new (to you) typography advice. If you are a seasoned type pro…well…spend a few minutes re-soaking up some old (to you) typography advice! Nobody remembers everything, right?

When it comes to typography, and design in general, there are no absolute rights and wrongs, but there are degrees of rightness and wrongness based on well-established and long-agreed-upon principles. The more  you know about what makes good typography, the more you’ll align yourself with the best practices that have been distilled down to us today from the great minds of so many great artist and designers over the centuries. There is a lot of good to draw from. Therefore, draw from it!

So, align yourself with typographic goodness, as embodied in so much of the advice at the resources and articles below, and you’ll soon be making your own typographic goodness!

  • 10 Typography Tips to Bring Your Design to the Next Level
  • 8 Simple Ways to Improve Typography in Your Designs
  • Colin’s 10 Principles for Better Type Design
  • Useful Typography Tips For Adobe Illustrator
  • Five simple steps to better typography
  • Nicoles Classes: Typography Tips
  • 7 Tips For More Professional Typography
  • 8 Simple Ways to Improve Typography In Your Designs
  • Top Ten Typography Tips
  • Mixing Typefaces: Tips and Techniques
  • 15 Practical Tips How To Use Typography For Emotional Design
  • Erik Spiekermann’s Typo Tips
“Look at all those great names in graphic design history; Tschichold, Schleger, Rand, Fletcher, Aicher, Muller-Brockmann; and look at their beautiful type. They understood the need to understand it.”

— Richard Westen of ACE JET 17

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About Douglas Bonneville

Douglas has been a graphic designer since 1992, in addition to software developer and author. He is a member of Smashing Magazine's "Panel of Experts" and has contributed to over 100 articles. He is the author of "The Big Book of Font Combinations", loves cats, and plays guitar.

The BonFX Letter

One good pairing.
Every Tuesday.

2-minute read · free

This week — no. 14

Quiet authority

Merriweather sets the tone in one line. Lato stays out of the way and lets it.

MERRIWEATHER 700  +  LATO 400

A font specimen, a pairing that works, and one line on why it works. That is the whole email.

Free. One click to unsubscribe. No sharing, ever.

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The Typography Primer.
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About BonFX

Douglas Bonneville has been a graphic designer since 1992 and has written about type here since 2009. BonFX is a blog about typography and design, and the books that came out of it.

  • The Big Book of Font Combinations
  • The Preposterously Huge Book of Google Font Combinations
  • UX for Cats

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Start Here

  • Font Combinations: The Complete Guide
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  • 17 Types of Fonts
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