A typography post has been long overdue on Redswish. And just when I was getting geared up to get stuck into one, Craig Ward published a fine article in this months Creative Review on the shifting role of typography in advertising. I’m afraid if you’re not a subscriber you probably won’t be able to view the full article, so I’d most certainly recommend getting hold of this months issue because it’s one of the finest in months.

Craig’s article looks at how we can adopt great typography to portray our messages without the need for obvious visual hand-holding and the ‘witty juxtaposition of images’ to force an idea or message across very quickly, summing it up well with the final line “A picture may paint a thousand words, but conversely, with a thousand words, who needs pictures?”.

A recent article on Smashing Magazine featured some inspirational floral typography in both print and web that in some cases was breathtaking, and certainly didn’t need any distracting visual accompaniment. The typography really did speak/read for itself!

Typography on the web

It’s not just in print that typography has been pushing forwards. With greater adoption of technologies such as sIFR, cufón and @font-face we’re seeing a wider spectrum of typography usage on the web. Although it’s not always for the best. With this open access to all sorts of available font families the barriers begin to fall and the standards set in place to help ensure accessibility and legibility on screen can be disregarded. That’s before we start considering the legal implications of using anyone’s fonts left right and center!

Mark Boulton’s presentation at FOWD London looked at how it’s not about the fonts we use on the web, but how they’re used. This is very important to consider. Before we open the floodgates to all sorts of web-safe and web-unsafe fonts and flash replacement etc – are the default web-safe fonts really that bad?

Georgia is your friend. Really, it is. It took me a while to realise it though!

I may sound like I’m contradicting myself here, but the point I’m trying to make is about how, where and when typography is used on the web. In my opinion body copy and general headlines should stick to web-safe fonts. But feel free to go typocrazy with main headlines, banners, logos and general big bang visuals – hell we’re designers – let’s have some fun!

Taking typography seriously

Whether you’re a print designer or web designer or both – please never overlook the importance of typography. Imagery, colour, composition, copy, layout, usability, accessibility and cross-browser compatibility are all essential building blocks of the design process but typography should never by any means be considered the quiet kid in the corner, it should never be overlooked.

But hey – you already know that, right?

Bucking the trend

Design trends come and go. Some stick around for longer than others. Some typography predictions for design on the web (and print in some cases) in 2009 include letterpress/embossing, large font-sizes on intro copy, semi-transparency, handwriting fonts and organic/grungy typography. But for the love of god don’t take these for rules. Experiment, have some fun, try new and interesting approaches! In some cases look to the past for inspiration for the future.

As suggested by Mike Kus – “Buck trends & break conventions – look away from the web for inspiration and become a trendsetter.” I agree – do that.

A few typography resources for you. If you’ve got a couple of hours spare, spend it cruising through these links:

• Fantastic typography blogs for your inspiration
• 13 typefaces for graphic designers
• Free type classification eBook
• 8 Simple ways to improve typography in your designs
• 35 truly original type experiments
• Tools for better web typography
• Graphic Design – the forgotten web standard
• 30 inspiring flickr groups on typography

So what are your opinions? How important do you feel typography is to your designs? And any great resources or sources of inspiration you’d like to share? That’s why there’s a comments section – let’s hear from you!