CHOOSING FONTS FOR PRODUCT DESIGNS

As an artist and a writer, love art and words, and I especially love them together. When I designed my series called Sea Dreams, I wanted not only to evoke the feelings we have about the sea with soft, fresh colours, but also to incorporate words.

I chose to keep the words simple, using only the names for each shell pictured in the watercolour. While the words were simple, choosing a font was not.

Generally, I have an idea in my mind's eye of how I want the whole image to look but often once I create it, I find that I'm not happy with how it turns out. That's when the experimenting begins.

Over the years, I have added a lot of decorative fonts to my font "basket" because I create decorative work. The process of choosing a font and the appropriate colour is one of trial and error. First I type the word, then scroll through my fonts for likely candidates.

Some fonts get rejected as soon as I see them on the artwork. Others are definite maybes. I will make a copy of my word or words, and change the font on the copy so I can compare the two. I continue with this process until I have several possibilities.

Several considerations go into the choice:

• Does it match the tone of the art?
• Does it evoke the emotion I want the viewer to experience, i.e nostalgia, humour, freedom?
• Do the colours work well with the artwork?
• What is most important, the art or the message?
• Will my intended audience instantly understand it without explanation?
• Is it easy to read in any size, and on any product?
• Does it translate well to other products and materials, i.e. ceramic, fabric, fleece

I place each font style on the artwork, size it, work with the colour, and gradually eliminate fonts that don't convey the look and feel that I want for the art. It can take many hours to get just right! But that's all part of the fun fun.

SEE ALL SUMMER BAY STUDIO'S COLLECTIONS HERE.

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