Okay, you know how you’re making a recipe and there will be a little aside saying, If you want this to be lower fat, substitute this for this? Or, If you don’t have this ingredient, use this instead? Recipes work that way, right? I wouldn’t know for sure; I haven’t seen the inside of a cookbook in, like, twenty years. Heh. But I’ve been told substitutions are made in recipes all the time, particularly if the normal recipe won’t give you the desired result.
For the next few Font Fridays, I’m going to make a list of what people DO use in their print and design work (their RECIPES, if you will) (see, full circle!), and what they SHOULD be substituting instead. Are you guys ready? GOOD.
Today’s offender:
I’m going to be fair here, because I have kids, and I KNOW. I know there are all kinds of things you swear you won’t do when you become a parent, and you do them. Your car will not have Cheerios crushed in the seats, you will never put a movie on to make them go to sleep, and you will not put one of those obnoxiously twee pregnancy tickers on your FaceBook.
I GET IT, trust me. This is how child handwriting fonts found their way into use to begin with: they’re so cute! They look like your kid’s actual writing! Except not at all, really, because most kids have their letters backwards and upside down for the first couple years. Still. The idea is so adorable that you want to plaster it on birthday invites, on Christmas letters to the grandparents– even teachers use this as a header font when sending home notes.
I don’t hate this as much as I’m kind of tired of it. It was like a mildly charming idea that got taken to insane popularity heights and now I just– I can’t. This is the Silly Bandz of fonts.
SUBSTITUTE WITH:
It depends why you got sucked into the cutesy handwriting to begin with. If you’re a teacher, I would recommend this for your classroom letters to parents:
Quicksand is absolutely free for personal and commercial use, and it comes in a number of styles. I’m really in love with the dashed look. I think it’s school-appropriate, fun, clean, and legible.
For invitations, it really depends on the style you’re going for. Unless your child’s birthday is taking place in a Crayola factory– which is an awesome party, I won’t lie– crayon handwriting isn’t your best choice. We usually stick to a font based on the party’s theme. Here are invites to our last two parties:
First invite: FancyPens. Second invite: Assorted Super Mario Brothers fonts. There are typefaces for almost every video game, franchise, TV show, Disney character, whatever– and the vast majority of them are free. Google is your best friend here. Go nuts. (Really– this a perfect time to be a little wild and creative… Kid’s parties are the best.)
And for Christmas letters or cards: have them actually scribble something down. It keeps them involved, and there’s nothing more precious than your kid’s real handwriting; particularly to distant family.
Alright! That’s it for now… Feel free to hit me up with any of your typographical pet peeves, or tell me if you think I’m completely off the mark. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, cool weather, and beautiful creations.
I can’t believe you went to all that work to create those birthday invites! They look so professional. Wish I had more time to just mess around with these types of things…
this is such an odd column but i’m really enjoying it. i have always been a font nut and just can’t believe there is someone else out there who thinks fonts are great, too! can you please tell people that olde english styles are not meant to be ALL CAPS? now _there’s_ a pet peeve! 🙂