Printed Graphic Fonts

Alternative and creative. Site must be viewed at 1024 X 1168 resolution.

The letters Y and Z were taken from the Greek alphabet. There were no lower case letters, and K, Y and Z were used only for writing words of Greek origin. J, U and W were added at a later stage.

J is a variant of I, U is a variant of V, and W was introduced as a 'double-v' to make a distinction between the sounds we know as 'v' and 'w' which was unnecessary in Latin. The lowercase was invented in the time of Guttenburg.

     
 
Gilligan's Island This font was created for the 70's show of the same name. It is a fun font, with upper and lower case being combined into the lower case. The letters do not follow a base line, top line or really any rules whatsoever. It is rather child like, as if a five year old had not quite got it, but is well on the way. Therefore the font cannot be taken seriously and is strictly for fun, just like the show was. It would work great for a questioning or mocking sub culture site, possibly an art site, a comedy site and a really smart pet site.

 
     

Bastarda This font is a derivation of the Batarda font which was the printing of medieval times, the handwritting of the common man when black letter was the accepted script of the educated and intellectual. Most people at that time were illiterate, so for people who needed to compose a quick note, batarda was used. This font shows how it might actually have been used and how it might appear. The batarda was used during a time of transition when print was becoming more common place and easily accessible. This font is not quite print, not quite script and not quite writing. It must have been quite a period of adjustment for the educated populace to embrace all of these revolutionary changes.

     

Comic Sans This is a totally modern font, available as both graphic and text font in most computers. In art school this font is taught, and when drawing comics, the artist tries to emulate this font, as closely as possible, as it has been deemed the most truly readible for comic book purposes. On interior design and architectural drawings you will also see a stylized lettering much resembling this font. To our eye, it looks like master printsmanship without the childish edge, a mature rendering of print with the least amount of effort.

     

JP Hand Apart from its importance as a means of communication, printing has had, and continues to have, an impressive life as an art and craft. On the the lowest level there is a childlike pleasure to be derived from the learning of your alphabet letters in your school book primers, and to proudly graduate from pencil to pen, from printing to writing. This font, called JP Hand exemplifies the state of hand printing taught in North America today. When compared to Comic Sans, above, one can see that it is much freer, less disciplined. Available only as a graphic font

     

Market This font has the look of a sign that was freehand drawn with a wide wedge marker. The font is very appropriately called Market, as you might see a lot of hand drawn signs at a farmer's market. It is a bold, substantial font with an irregular baseline making it feel casual, diciplined but not formal. The lower case letters are taller than ordinarily seen. This font would be great on a children's website, in a rainbow of colours, or used in relation to children. It's simplicity would also work well in relation to animals and pets. And of course, it would create very clear signage for a market situation.

     

Brady Bunch is the original font created for The Brady Bunch television program of the 70s. It is a whimsical font in which case structure has been dismissed, instead incorporating both upper and lower case letters all at once. The resulting baseline and ceiling of the font are therefore irregular. It is not an overtly radical font, having a friendly feeling of child-like abandon. It has a feeling of being drawn by a pre-teen with a thick black magic marker, of being a poster in a library or school corridor. It would probably be an excellent font for a pre-university educational website or a site aimed at this group.

     

Groening This font, of course, was created for the Simpsons cartoon show by the artist of the same name. When it came out in the early 90's, the Simpsons was one of the most innovative and controversial shows on television and broke a lot of ground for future animated and non-animated shows. It began as an adult show, until adults figured out that kids could probably watch it, without too much damage to their brains or morals. The show's irreverance became a teaching tool for many parents. The Groening font, available only in uppercase, should be used on an irreverant, innovative or controversial site as the font is highly recognizable and echoes this kind of mood.

     

Scratch We have portrayed this font on a black background because of the name. Imagine that these forms have been scratched onto a squeaky blackboard and you will get our feeling. The idiom, an itch to scratch, brings to mind sites such as alternative artists, musicians, trendy clubs and galleries. The word scratch is also slang for wiping something out, as in scratched from the list, so, all in all, this is a fairly revolutionary font, designed for use by sub culture enterprises and entrepreneurs.

     

Tempus This font resembles toll style painting, a popular craft in which witty and cute signs are produced incorporating such images as cartoons and florals. As such, . As such, it would be excellent for sites involving country and agricultural endeavours. It is very legible with a casual, comfortable openess which would work well for children's and wholesome tween sites. It would work well for a doctor or dentist site, as the font has integrity with adults as well as children. A good all around font where formality is not in great demand.

     
[top of page]