Font Combinations & Pairings - Page 28 of 76

Ornate Leaf Sculpture and Crochet Art by Susanna Bauer

June 18, 2020 by Douglas Bonneville

Beautiful work worth sharing. Susanna Bauer creates these works of art from sticks, leaves and pieces of wood together with crochet woven ornately and with delicate balance.

There is a fine balance in my work between fragility and strength; literally, when it comes to pulling a fine thread through a brittle leaf or thin dry piece of wood, but also in a wider context – the tenderness and tension in human connections, the transient yet enduring beauty of nature that can be found in the smallest detail, vulnerability and resilience that could be transferred to nature as a whole or the stories of individual beings.

You can find more of Bauer’s works on her website and Instagram.

20 Gill Sans Font Posters

February 27, 2020 by Douglas Bonneville

As a graphic designer, creating eye-catching posters is an essential skill. A well-designed poster should captivate a viewer’s attention and convey a powerful idea in a way that both informs and holds strong visual appeal. For those of you Gill Sans fans, we’ve collected 20 Gill Sans font posters below. And for those who are not so familiar with Gill Sans, discover the diverse possibilities when choosing this classic tried and true font. Whether you’re a professional designer or just starting out, these examples will inspire you to create your own clean and compelling designs.

Why Choose Gill Sans?

Gill Sans was designed in the early 20th century by British artist and designer Eric Gill. Its unique and recognizable design has made it a cultural icon and a classic choice for poster design. Here are three simple and good reasons why Gill Sans remains popular and trustworthy for designers over the years.

Legibility Gill Sans is a highly legible font, making it easy for viewers to read your poster. Its clean and simple design allows the eye to quickly and easily scan the text, which is key in conveying your message effectively.
Boldness The font is bold and commands attention. Its thick strokes and strong lines make it easy to read from a distance and give it a powerful and lasting impact.
Versatility Gill Sans is a versatile font for a couple of reasons. Firstly, its simple, clean, and modern design makes it suitable for a wide range of applications, from print to digital media, and from corporate to artistic contexts. Its boldness and legibility ensure readability at both small and large sizes, making it suitable for use in body copy, headlines, and logos. Secondly, Gill Sans is available in a variety of weights and styles, including light, regular, bold, and condensed, allowing designers to use it in various typographic applications. And it has a range of alternative characters, such as capital letters with rounded or straight edges, providing further flexibility in design.

Overall, Gill Sans’ combination of legibility, boldness, and versatility makes it a winning font choice for poster design. Gill-Sans-Eric-Underground

The Basics of Color Theory For Beginners

February 21, 2020 by Douglas Bonneville

Why Understand Color?

Why is understanding the basics of color theory important for budding designers? Find out answers to questions such as why some palettes work while others are repugnant, what color combinations you should avoid, how to sell with colors that punch or create harmonizing impressions. You will discover answers to these questions and transform your design as you begin to unravel the mystery of color theory. Learning the basics of color theory is essential if you are a new designer. Color is a crucial component of design that emphasizes various elements in a composition. When practicing good color theory, the design will naturally flow well, and likely elicit your desired response from viewers. Color can be used to highlight typography or distinguish headers from content, emphasize graphic shapes, create rich backgrounds, or isolate areas needing attention. It can convey intense feelings and emotions that an artist might not otherwise be able to express. Likewise, as proven by marketing experts, color can be used to create a desired frame of mind – an allure for potential consumers. Whatever the case, placing tasteful color in a design isn’t arbitrary or flippant, but takes careful consideration. Otherwise, viewers could feel an uncomfortable resistance at first glance even if a hue is slightly off. It’s important to realize that color theory follows a logically organized system. The principles that make up color theory are precise, technical, and intentional. There is a science color theory! We’ll take a peek at some basic terms and principles to consider for making good color choices. But first, a little history on the color wheel…

The Color Wheel

In 1666 Sir Isaac Newton came to understand color like no one before by observing what happens to light as it bends through prisms, and at the time concluded that all colors derived from the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, or RYB. He then produced a circular diagram, paving the path for later understanding and color wheels to be developed by adding hues and variations. Later in the 19th century, scientists found the perception of color was actually expressed best in terms of red, green, and blue, or RGB as its primary colors.

Three Properties of Color

Hue, Value, and Chroma

Within the basic principles of color theory, hue, value, and chroma are fundamental terms that need to be defined.

Hue is the basic color name in all its shades; red, green, blue, etc. A hue would be the root of the color whether it be light, dark or dull.
You can determine the Value of color by the amount of light or dark that you add to it. Shades are created when there’s an addition of black, whereas tints are made by adding white.
Chroma is another property of color that relates to brightness and saturation. For instance, a color that is fully saturated is unable to be brighter, or more colorful. However, when a color appears to have gray added, the color becomes dull, or desaturated – this is called tonal color. So, the more brightness the color holds, the more saturated it is.

In any typical software application, you will notice that a single hue will allow for tremendous variation of shades, value, and saturation which is why it’s important to understand color harmony.

Color Harmony

Color harmony refers to the use of colors that work well together, creating a visually pleasing and balanced composition. It involves selecting colors that complement each other and create a unified visual experience. There are several color harmony systems that provide guidelines for choosing colors that complement each other, including:

Standard Color Harmonies

Monochromatic Refers to colors that derive from a single hue. Adding black, gray, and white creates various shades, tones, and tints. Read this post on using Monochromatic colors effectively. Using Monochromatic colors brings fail-free cohesiveness to a piece along with a serene appearance to your work.
Tertiary, Secondary, Primary Mixing Primary colors will produce a Secondary color and mixing a Primary with a Secondary will form a Tertiary color

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple dots

Triadic Uses three equally spaced colors on the color wheel. Use for a bright design needing some bold contrast without creating tension. Try choosing one color to stand out, and the others to accent to create better harmony.
Analogous You can create analogous colors by using colors that are adjacent to eachother on the color wheel. This color palette works well when you are emphasizing a message without an overbearing design to detract attention. Also, it’s instinctually calming as you will find it most often in nature. Try sticking to either cool or warm shades, but not both.
Complementary Complementary colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. Often you will see red/green or purple/yellow in bold designs, but be careful when employing too many of these colors or placing them side by side. Complementary colors are great for bright and festive logo designs or poppy posters by bringing attention to a focal point and inspiring action.
Split Complementary On your palette, you would choose two colors that are adjacent to ONE of the complementary pairs. This approach will tone down your color palette a bit as opposed to using the simple complementary palette.

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/beginning-graphic-design/color/1/ >> GREAT GRAPHICS<<<

Color Solid (aka color space, or color model)

It is essential to recognize the difference between both RYB and RGB color harmonies. Painters prefer using RYB and find it most harmonizing and visually appealing. Graphic designers, digital illustrators and web developers rely on RGB as computer screens emit white light colored by the RGB spectrum. If printing your work, however, use CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, black). See below.

RGB – an Additive Model In the RGB model each color is produced from nothing –you’re simply adding/merging varying shades of each hue on a scale of 0-255. The additive process produces white light of the visible color spectrum when the colors are merged at full intensity.
RYB – a Subtractive Model In the commonly known color wheel, red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors. From these colors, we can create the secondary triad – violet, orange, and green. This method of reducing and blending creates more saturated shades colors. Mixing fully saturated RYB colors gives the appearance of black.
CMYK – a Subtractive Model In this case, we start with all the colors cyan, yellow, magenta and black. Reducing or subtracting the colors leaves you with the appearance of black. You can create a full-color spectrum when printing in CYMK when the hue pigments acting as filters, subtract varying degrees of color from white light.
HSB Color Model In general software applications, you can find an HSB color model for hue, saturation, and brightness/value. It could also be HLS – hue, lightness, and saturation which you can adjust as needed.

It’s also good to be aware that colors can convey various meanings culturally, so it’s worth studying something such as Guide to the Psychology of color. Generally, red conveys passion and urgency, blues are calming, and oranges and yellows, are warming. Cool colors tend to recede giving rise to warmer colors in your design, with darker shades in the foreground – all creating depth of value. Use highly saturated bright colors sparingly to bring focus or bold impact. As a designer, you should determine the hierarchy in their composition before adding their color.

Three Simple Pointers When Beginning a Design:

Start with a color palette Begin by selecting a color palette that fits the mood or theme of your design. Consider the purpose of your design and the emotions you want to evoke in your audience. Use a color wheel or a color palette tool to help you choose colors that work well together and create a harmonious composition.
Use color to create contrast and hierarchy Create visual interest and guide the viewer’s attention to specific elements in the design with color. Use contrasting colors to create a focal point or to emphasize important information. Use lighter or muted colors for less important elements or to create a sense of depth and balance in the composition.
Consider color accessibility Color accessibility is an important aspect of designing with color, especially when it comes to digital design. Make sure that your color choices are accessible to everyone, including people with color vision deficiencies. Use high-contrast colors to ensure that the text and important elements in your design are legible and easy to read. You can use color accessibility tools and resources to help you select colors that meet accessibility guidelines and standards.

Overall, designing with color requires careful consideration and planning. By using a well-thought-out color palette, creating contrast and hierarchy, and considering color accessibility, you can create visually appealing designs that communicate your message effectively.

Creating Below the Noise

January 14, 2020 by Douglas Bonneville

How can one move into the act of creating from the usual habit of conscious, rational thinking to a different, more natural state of intuitive being? How does one learn to see things as they are, and out a deeper seeing become inspired to express oneself, and not just copy (though that copying might be fine, even great for some purposes). One of the biggest difficulties we’re facing as a society, as everyone knows, is the constant barrage of noise. We’re a culture addicted to instant gratification with the need to find out who’s texting us instantly, posting on social media, or more than often we’re wasting time dumbing ourselves down with daily news and following other pointless rabbit trails.

How is it possible then, to give ourselves space, not just space, but deep silence in order to tap into a deeper part of ourselves where the “genius” is can be found, so that we’re able to draw out some truly original work from an infinite stream of abundance. There are unlimited possibilities well below the surface that bubble up from a lively undercurrent, and it brims with life. You won’t find “drab” here, small boxes, rigidity or stuffiness. What’s likely to come out of this realm are creative nuggets born out of serene freedom, and a bit on the wild side, perhaps. You won’t find negativity or the self-critic here – you can save that for the ordinary mind. Rather, insights and affirmation come from these peaceful depths with fluidity and ease for the common good.

For now, I wanted to share some new and classic books on creativity, and how to give birth to the artist that’s buried within.

Enjoy.

A Few Books That Have Kept Me Making Things

January 14, 2020 by Douglas Bonneville

These are books I’ve come back to over the years when I felt stuck, scattered, or a little disconnected from making things. They’re less about “how to be productive” and more about paying attention, trusting the work, and showing up even when it feels awkward or pointless.

I’ve dipped into them at different moments—when starting something new, when confidence dips, or when I need a reminder that creativity doesn’t need permission or an audience to be real.

The Power of Creativity : A Three-Part Series for Writers, Artists, Musicians and Anyone In Search of Great Ideas

The Artist’s Way

The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

The Artist’s Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity

An Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity for Its Own Sake

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life