Monday, June 8, 2009

10 Favorite Font & Type Sites

10 Favorite Font & Type Sites I certainly am not the most knowledgeable on the subject of typography, but my interest in the subject is something I pursue enthusiastically and earnestly. This interest in typography extends to our modern-day applications; I of course am interested in web typography, font faces and the design of them as well.

With that said, hopefully it is understood that just because I make fonts, I do not consider myself an expert on any level, in any aspect of typography, (Though I have had to "school" a few on the dafont website, politely on a comment or two.) I share this list not only as a resource but moreover just to state the facts, these are some sites I have found useful in my pursuit of fonts and typography. The "personal experience" I do have, along with my genuine interest in the subject, leaves no doubt in my mind, that I do know a good resource when I have found one.

I collected ten such links pertaining to typography, be it art or illustration, the history of, fonts, web type, and anything in between. For the sake of sparing everyone the boredom, I have left ilovetypography off this list, because I wouldn't feel like I am really sharing a resource. We all know of and love that site right? Right.

In no particular order/loosely ordered starting with my most favorite, here are the ten:

1) dafont.com

This site is a wonderful resource to me as a new "font designer" and is still my favorite site to submit my newest creations. Through dafont I was able to get a ton of exposure I otherwise would not have. My experience with dafont has been and still is positively pleasant. Perfect atmosphere for a designer's-debut in the font world. Oh, and not to mention, they have a couple thousand fonts that are free to download too.

2) My Ink Blog

A site for freelance designers and "professionals," typography articles related to web typography and standards. I just like this site, it comes across as information that you can trust to be accurate and top notch.

3) The Design Inspiration

A site where you can submit your works to be placed in their "showcase," for all to see and possibly find inspiring. One showcase category happens to be "Fonts." I like this site because as a "little guy," it feels welcoming, and doesn't seem to have a better-than attitude common in other similar gallery/showcase sites. (Granted some of the better-than attitude is warranted, my designs have font sizes set to a fixed pixel, a practice frowned upon by some who say a good designer would not have to do this, and they are right, he he he)

4)Code Style: Font Stack Builder

Like the name implies, this is a nifty little tool that helps you create a font stack for your web designs with percentages from lists of fonts standard to primary operating systems. Similar services can be found at many sites on the web, but this is the one in my bookmarks.

5) Samantha Warren's Blog

A lovely blog on "design, typography, culture," that I visit and find some really informative articles, wonderful typography inspiration and other related content. Just one of my personal favorites to read/peruse.

6) About.com - Desktop Publishing

Whenever I am in need of a quick refresher on type terminology or basics, this is one of my first stops, the information is broken down to the most basic of terms and is easy to understand.

7) TypOasis

A font site from the good days. Download fonts by established/well-known/respected font designers from various categories and themes. Just a fun font site, that has been around for quite some time.

8) High-Logic

I couldn't make a list of my favorite font resource sites without giving High-Logic a mention. They of course, are the makers of a variety of font design/management software, namely FontCreator, the software that I have been using to make fonts. You can download a free trial version of the program from the site.

9) Abstract Fonts

Have grown to like this site. The site has a smart and unique interface, with thousands of fonts neatly organized for free download. Their forum is quite popular for those seeking to identify fonts and typefaces, and for good reason. Identification requests are usually solved promptly, and occasions where the identity cannot be solved are far and few between.

10)The Font Thing

This doesn't really qualify as a resource site I "frequent" or a "favorite haunt," but it is a resource non-the-less. The Font thing is a freeware font manager by Sue Fisher that I use and find quite handy. Simple, nothing too complex, but it does the job of sorting, viewing, and managing fonts effectively. I use it daily.

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