Never underestimate a fun font.
I've dealt with an insurmountable legion of sleek, modern fonts that oft stay in vogue as scripts come and go: everyone is, and wants to be, cutting edge and minimal to the point of Scandinavian approval. And as much as I'm personally inclined towards a symmetrical and well-weighted font, I have a soft spot in my heart for irregular, childlike typography.
Why?
It reminds me of my own headline handwriting.
As a kid, I was often pulled out of class for art projects. Whenever faculty wanted something 'artsy and pretty' in the school entryway, I was the go-to art kid. So an example design--given the season--would be creating a spooky, Halloween centric banner or billboard bigger than myself. Sometimes if was for the Science Fair. Thanksgiving. Valentine's Day. Veteran's Day. Often, these projects could take several days. And for some incomprehensible reason, I was always pulled out of class to work on these time-consuming projects, year after year (don't worry, I'm sure it didn't affect me too deeply, having graduated with above average marks). I can still remember the block lettering I tried so hard to make perfect, yet always succumbed to the unevenness that was perhaps quite indicative of my rushed proclivity each time; even though it felt privileging to be selected for random projects, I would face the days in isolation away from friends and always did these projects hurriedly.
And the lettering always got to me.
I could never figure to make it look, in my adolescent mind, professional. I'm assuming it was part of the charm of having a student do the designs, but for me it was a job. And it always looked like the lettering was child's play.
Fast forward to now: I have a lot of clients that are companies dealing within the children's market (be it snacks, books, learning tools, toys, etc). Now most times that I do designs specific to this demographic, I try reverting back to that uneven hand from so many years ago: I want my children's designs to be approachable, and not so mechanical.
Some fonts I admire are as follows. I hope you enjoy, and hopefully this limits your monospacing from time to time.
Regards,
Alisa Longoria
We will take a break from this riveting font stuff to address something completely off topic: Halloween, and Its Mythos of Design.
