To ensure I achieve this I have done some research on the internet and for a website that gives you key tips and rules when it comes to pairing fonts.
The first heading was about how many fonts you should use within a page, or in our case a digipak panel. There was no conclusive answer but said that no matter how many you chose they should ALL work well together. In the page they used a particular way of explaining this which although was pretty quirky really explained the importance. They talked about how each font was a personality and when pairing them together you should think about the idea of seating arrangements at a wedding. One entertainer is usually enough as too many strong personalities can make the atmosphere overpowering and usually ends up in tears, like an episode of Big Brother.
However make sure there is some charisma in the group as eight people with very little to say quickly becomes awkward and results in a toe-curling wait for speeches..
They then go onto say that although there are no rules it is far more challenging to have more fonts so finding one that has a lot of alternatives and weights help considerably as you already know they are harmonious.
The next point was about whether or not to pay for fonts, however due to the fact that this is a student project I feel that paying would be unnecessary as within the site they showed the difference between a payed and free font and in my personal opinion I preferred the free so I think its all down to personal opinion and the actual font itself.
Something that was helpful is they gave a few names of sites that offer free fonts which will definitely help and something I will look at when it comes to choosing ours.
Once the introduction was over, the website then actually begun to explain exactly how to pair fonts and introduced us to three terms; concord, contrast and conflict saying that good pairing relies on concord or contrast but never conflict. This means that fonts can work well by sharing particular qualities or being completely different but can easily conflict for a number of reasons, being too a like is one of them.
The first point they started to tell us about was concord (concordance) which is the idea that two fonts share similar traits. One way of achieving concordance between fonts is to pair two from the same family.
With these two examples they share subtle characteristics such as the one on the right's proportions are the same in the 'o' and the 'e'. Also the one on the left all the lines within both fonts are really soft (this also works with harsher lines)
Contrast between fonts can also often lend a winning combination, but in what ways can fonts contrast? This is the list that the website then gave me;
- Style
- Size
- Form
- Weight
- Colour
A classic way of pairing fonts is to use a decorative font with a no-nonsense style. To then be able to show which one is 'boss' use weight or size, for example in our case the title of the album could be in a fancy font bold with the name of the artist in a simpler one without using bold showing a clear dominance on the cover.
(A tip they also dropped into this part of the site was saying that 'Condensed fonts always work well to get your attention, as they take up a lot of vertical real estate' This is something we should definitely take into consideration when making our cover as this is the panel that will have to catch peoples eye. An example shown on the left)
Finally they gave us brief look-in to what conflicts with examples of fonts that are too similar and some that are too different.
The one on the right's proportions are all wrong the letterings x-heights were far too different with the top font being a lot longer. Yet they share weight and size, and both share those odd spurs on the end of each character.
Therein lies the problem. By sharing those last three details (weight, size and decoration) they’ve become too alike. They’re performing very similar roles, but the small differences are conflicting which makes for an awkward overall effect.
They finalized by saying that pairing fonts can not be put down to facts and figures its all tips and conventions and what you personally like and don't, but find out why you don't like it or why its not working and this will allow you to make decisions quicker.
The link for the website is below and has far more examples but the ones above were what I thought showed the points the best.
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/typography-articles/a-beginners-guide-to-pairing-fonts/
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