By Marko Dugonjić CHAPTER 9The common mistake is to choose a beautiful typeface, one that looks
attractive, thus favoring form over function. This is putting the cart over
the horse. However strange this sounds, the ‘look’ of the typeface should be
your least concern.
— Alessandro Cattaneo, Yves Peters, Jon Tan, Smashing Book #1A good place to start is visiting various lists:- Typedia’s Explore section lists all type designers and foundries. Start
with the most popular designers first and then study typefaces by
each designer: http://typedia.com/explore - The folks at Typekit created a number of lists that will help you find
alternatives to common typefaces: https://typekit.com/lists - FontBook for iPad is another great resource. Fonts are grouped by
genre, which is super useful if you are looking for a typeface that
should meet your target audience’s expectations:
http://www.fontshop.com/blog/newsletters/fontbookipad/
Develop Your Type library
For a seasoned typographer, purchasing typefaces is a big commitment. It’s
comparable to buying new clothes in that they should ideally match items
we already have in the closet, and have some durability. Purchase sets that
complement your existing library, otherwise, you may find yourself with
a typeface that will probably never be used, resulting in a couple hundred
dollars’ worth of merchandise being thrown out the window.
Successful chameleon designers are very rare and in reality we all have
a distinctive style. Some of us are better at designing one-pagers, while
others are better at designing multifaceted information systems. Some
designers specialize in Web shops, others in Web applications. That’s why
it’s very important to find and work with a set of typefaces that suit your
particular style and the type of projects you are usually commissioned to