Words are emotional, and every word has its own temperament. Therefore, when designing fonts, we must grasp the temperament of the text itself when designing. The following are the key points and principles of artistic font design recommended by the editor.
1. The temperament of the text itself:
The word temperament is not only used to describe people, but the corresponding font itself also exists, and each text reveals The temperaments are all different, such as the "war" of "fight", the "cultivation" of "cultivated land", the "thinking" of "thinking", the "design" of "design", etc. All words are used individually or with each other. The combination of different words has different temperaments, so the first thing to consider when designing fonts is the meaning of a set of fonts.
2. Font recognition:
For font design, recognition is very important. When you are dealing with those horizontal and vertical strokes, strokes, and dots, you must consider your Whether the designed font can be recognized in the eyes of others, whether the words in the group of words are somewhat similar, whether it will reveal that the information is conveyed inaccurately and lead to misunderstanding. For example: "Wu" and "Niu", "Qian" and "Qian", etc. These all need to be carefully considered.
3. Selection of font form (character):
Now that the font has its meaning and recognition, the next thing to consider is the selection of the designed font form. Whether you plan to use a flat body or an elongated body, or even a calligraphy body or a cartoon body, the choice of this step cannot be ignored, because these forms bring different feelings to people: Flat body-stable and powerful feeling Slender body - most thin line bodies are soft, elegant, and more feminine. Calligraphy body - traditional and culturally strong, with the strokes connected to the meaning. Cartoon body - lively and cute.
Note: The characteristics of the above four forms are just some general ones. They usually correspond to each other in design processing, and the boundaries are not so clear!
4. Font center of gravity control:
Now that the above points are all in place, what we are considering now is the control of the center of gravity of this group of fonts. We plan to control the center of gravity of this group of fonts. The center is still up or down, and in some designs, the center of gravity is even to the left or right to achieve an overall balance or a dynamic beauty! This step is more helpful for the subsequent stroke changes!
5. The addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of strokes, as well as the processing of connected strokes:
It is inevitable that the whole set of fonts will encounter one or other things in the design, so in When dealing with special font design, we have to think about the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of strokes, as well as the processing of connected strokes to achieve an overall balance or even the feeling we want more. For example:
① The use of addition and subtraction: When we design a combination of text with fewer strokes and text with more strokes, we have to find a way to appropriately subtract some of the inconsistencies in text with more strokes. Strokes that affect recognition too much or words with fewer strokes should be added accordingly to achieve the effect. The prerequisite is that it does not affect the recognizability of the font itself.
②. Application of multiplication and division rules: Like the text we usually design, when two strokes intersect or are tangent, we must try our best to adjust the strokes to be thinner. To achieve visual balance, when we design strokes, we usually increase the width of the vertical strokes and then transform them, so that the designed fonts can be more powerful and the strokes can be better achieved. harmonious.
③. The processing of connecting strokes between words and the replacement of graphics: both of these are ways to make the font more vivid and meaningful as a whole. First, let’s talk about the connected strokes between characters. There are two main forms of connected strokes. One is that the strokes between characters are connectable, and the strokes are broken and the meaning is connected. The second is that two strokes are connected. Each character can use only one stroke. The third method is the misalignment method that everyone usually sees. Look for connectability in the misalignment of characters. Again, if you must connect when designing a set of fonts, If none of the above can be achieved, everyone will have to think of ways to add lines or other things to connect them. When we deal with words and words, we cannot impose a rigid form to design, because such processing will instead Destroying the overall feeling, if we really can't achieve the connection of the whole group of characters, we will give up. These are just my experiences in designing fonts. Many forms require everyone to try and accumulate a lot.
As for the replacement or addition of graphics in font design, it is all to make the font more beautiful and more vivid, so I won’t say much here, as long as the replacement or addition of graphics is handled properly, and It doesn’t affect the recognition, so just try it boldly!
6. Processing and adjustment of details:
In the final analysis, the most difficult part of font design is the handling between horizontal and vertical strokes and strokes. When designing fonts, if the horizontal and vertical strokes are If the strokes and strokes are not properly handled, it will easily lead to chaos and disharmony in the design of the overall font. The disharmony here is mainly due to the lack of harmony between the horizontal and vertical strokes and the strokes, and the overall aesthetic effect. caused, Yipin Design has summarized the following points in the design for your reference:
(1) When there are many horizontal and vertical strokes and few strokes: the general processing form Just find a way to turn the strokes into vertical or horizontal strokes to achieve the coordination of the overall strokes.
(2) When the horizontal and vertical strokes are basically equal: For this situation where the horizontal and vertical strokes are relatively equal, my general approach is to approach the small dot on the slope of the strokes and strokes close to the middle of the entire set of fonts. And the processing method of gradually getting larger on both sides can achieve the unity of strokes.
(3) When there are many strokes and few horizontal and vertical strokes: In this case, the vertical strokes are usually made more slanted or the vertical strokes are straighter at the top and more slanted at the bottom.
The above three points are just a common way of dealing with it. I hope it will be helpful to everyone. There are also some issues related to the processing of dots. If the dots are not processed well for a group of characters as a whole, there will be a feeling of being scattered as a whole. Therefore, when designing fonts, dots are generally combined with horizontal, vertical, apostrophe, and stroke. It is dealt with as a whole.
7. Processing of the size between fonts:
For font design, the processing of the size between fonts cannot only consider the size in mathematics, but the corresponding visual size Size is what we want, because in font design, fonts with simpler strokes have different visual impacts when paired with fonts with complicated strokes. Therefore, the size should be handled in moderation, and not just Design with size in mind in mathematics.
Principles of artistic font design
1. Readability of text:
The main function of text is to convey the author's intention and various information to the public in visual communication. To achieve this purpose, the overall appeal of the text must be considered, giving people a clear visual impression. Therefore, the text in the design should avoid being complicated and messy, making it easy for people to recognize and understand. It is important not to design for the sake of design and forget that the fundamental purpose of text design is to better and more effectively convey the author's intention and express the theme and design of the design. Conceive ideas.
2. Give text personality:
The design of text should be subject to the style characteristics of the work. The design of the text cannot be separated from the style and characteristics of the entire work, let alone conflict. Otherwise, the appeal effect of the text will be destroyed. Generally speaking, the personality of writing can be roughly divided into the following categories: (1) dignified and beautiful. This type of font is beautiful and fresh, (2) elegant in style, and (3) gorgeous and noble. (4) Strong and straight. The font shape is powerful, (5) concise and refreshing, (6) modern and (7) has strong visual impact. (8) Deep and heavy. The font shape is regular, (9) has a sense of weight, (10) is solemn and majestic, (11) is unshakable (12). (13) Cheerful and light. The font is lively, (14) jumping and bright, (15) has a strong sense of rhythm and rhyme, (16) giving people a feeling of vitality. (17) Vigorous and simple. This type of font is simple and unpretentious, (18) full of ancient charm, (19) can give people an aftertaste experience of the bygone time. (20) Novel and unique. The shape of the font is wonderful, (21) different from (22) like (23), (24) very distinctive, (25) giving a unique and (26) novel impression.
3. It should give people a sense of beauty visually:
In the process of visual communication, text, as one of the image elements of the picture, has the function of conveying emotions, so it must It has visual beauty and can give people a feeling of beauty. Well-designed fonts and cleverly combined words can make people feel happy, leave a good impression, and gain a good psychological response. On the contrary, it will make people feel unhappy after watching it, make it difficult to produce a sense of beauty visually, and even make the audience refuse to watch it. This will inevitably make it difficult to convey the author's intention and conception.
4. Be creative in design:
According to the requirements of the theme of the work, highlight the individual color of the text design, create distinctive and unique fonts, and give people The unique visual experience is conducive to the expression of the author's design intention. When designing, you should explore the morphological characteristics and combination of characters, constantly modify them, and ponder over and over again. Only in this way can you create unique characters, so that their external form and design style can arouse people's aesthetic pleasure.