Design: Type Specimens

Problem: Create a resource book that showcases 5 different fonts within 5 different families, for a total of 25 fonts. Additionally, an essay must be included in the design of the book.

Solution and Reasoning: I chose the essay “Design is Serious, Not Solemn” by Paula Scher. In this essay, Paula talks about how serious design is not typically in your style, while solemn design is within your comfort zone. The only way to get better as a designer is through serious design. Before this project, I was still finding my style as a designer and designing only in a style that I knew: clean and structured with Helvetica Neue as my go-to font. This essay allowed me to try and break out of my comfort zone and create serious design. In order to challenge myself, I really took advantage of white space and created the typography in a non-linear grid. Additionally, I was able to learn different types of book-binding with the different ways I bound the book together as a whole, and how I bound the essay in the middle of each font family.