Free Font Friday!

Friday is already a great day, but why not make it even better with some great free fonts! For designers a great font can make a huge difference in a design, a font can make or break your design. There are tons of free fonts all over the internet, but truthfully a lot of them aren’t great and probably not worth the download. Many of us spend hours searching the web for the perfect font. I thought I would save you some time and share some great free fonts that I’ve found myself.

Behance is a great place to find unique and beautifully designed free fonts, and that’s exactly where I found these 8 typefaces. You’ve got to admire these designers for their hard work and dedication to create an entire typeface. It can be difficult enough to find a typeface you’d like to use, but I can’t even imagine where I would begin to design my own. I must note that all of these typefaces are free to download for personal use, otherwise the full versions are available to download for commercial use at a fair price.

Coco gothic is a contemporary geometric sans serif typeface family available in 6 weights. The typeface is full of open type features including ligatures, small caps, old style numerals and more. This typeface is similar to traditional grotesque typefaces, but made softer and contemporary.

Stellar is a free typeface with 4 different weights, designed by Mathieu Desjardins from Montreal. This is a slightly condensed sans serif typefaces with a taller x-height to give the font legibility and personality.

Audrey would work well in fashion editorial or beauty design. This elegant sans serif typeface was designed by Cristina Pagnotta in 3 weights and two variations: regular and oblique. Audrey works well in both headers and body copy.

Moderne Sans is a clean sans serif typeface by Marius Kempken, inspired by 1920s typography and based on upper case letters.

This typeface was inspired by the sea and creatures within it found deep on the ocean floor. Aquatico is a geometric, rounded typeface designed by Andrew Herndon.

Alcubierre is a geometric sans serif typeface by Matt Ellis. The font is clean and minimal, making it easy to use for numerous applications.

Nickainley is monoline script font brought to you by Seniors Studio. This handwritten font has a touch of classic and vintage.

Pier is another typeface designed by Canadian Mathieu Desjardins. This sans serif typeface has 4 styles. Pier is a modern and structured type, it is slightly geometric and looks great whether it is used in a large or small format.

The Met Announces Controversial Rebrand

New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States, as well as one of the most iconic and visited museums in the world. Recently the museum better known as The Met announced their plan to rebrand the museum, beginning with the unveiling of a new logo.  Like many new logos, this one has stirred up some controversy, and many people are upset.

The new logo, designed by the London based firm Wolff Olins, is not set to be unveiled officially until March 1st. The logo features bright red letters forming the words “THE MET” stacked on top of each other, embracing the museum’s famous nickname. The design firm and museum directer have said that the connected letters within the new logo are meant to signify the idea of making connections.

Here it is, the new logo set to be unveiled on March 1st.

For me, the announcement of this redesign came as a shock, as I have come to love the beautifully designed M. I’ll never forget my first trip to New York City, and the experience of visiting The Met. I’ve kept my infamous Met button after all these years, which features the iconic M and beautiful logo that The Met has used since 1971.

The old logo had reminded me of Leonardo DaVinci and his famous Vitruvian Man. I discovered, coincidentally, while researching The Met’s previous logo that it was actually based on a design piece from the museum’s collection by Luca Pacioli, one of DaVinci’s collaborators. This old, signature M had over time become associated with history and art. It was a classic logo designed perfectly for a classic museum full of history. I, like many, will be sad to see the old logo disappear.

Whenever a popular brand designs to rebrand with a new logo, the decision tends to invite negative criticism. Such is the case with this one, many calling the design a typographic disaster. Famous designer and typographer Erik Spiekermann wasn’t shy to voice his opinion, saying the new logo “forces a T to be as wide as an M or an M to be as narrow as a T. Cannot possibly work. Weird gaps, forced curvy shapes.”

This is the old, original and historic logo. Say your goodbyes to this beautiful design!

Personally, it’s not so much the new logo that bothers me, but the decision to let go of such a beautiful and historic design. It’s like that old saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Was this redesign really necessary? Generally, we redesign logos to improve on the brand, I’m not sure in this case that the brand needed to be improved upon. The museum is all about history, and there isn’t anything historic about a brand new logo. My first impression is that the new logo doesn’t let us know that it’s a museum of art, but instead relies on the audience recognizing it based on the popular nickname.

What do you think of this brand new logo? Feel free to share your opinions in the comment section below! Did they need to redesign it? Are people being too critical of the new logo?

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Designspiration: Summer Typography by Yonito Tanu

While doing research for my beer branding design, I came across this beautiful typography project designed by Yonito Tanu with the help of Jessica Chapiness, and had to share! Yonito Tanu is an art director based in Madrid with a special talent for design 3-D art. Summer Vibes is a glossary of 3-D typography inspired by the summer holidays. The world “float” and “play” along with their definitions are illustrated in scenes that are sure to have you craving some sunshine.

I love the contrast between the bubblegum pink and the water. This project is really inspiring and a great example of illustrated type. This project left me wanting more, I would love to see more summer words illustrated this way. I imagined a word carved into the sand on a Miami beach. To see more visit Tonu’s behance.

Designer Puns Guaranteed To Make You Smile

Happy Monday! Today is not a favourite of many, and certainly not the highlight of my week. Mondays can be rough, so I thought I would start the week with a little humour. Here are some really punny (haha) illustrated type posters for your viewing pleasure. Any graphic designer is sure to appreciate these and probably relate. I had a lot of fun making these so I hope you enjoy!

 

Thanks for reading!

Romana 🙂

A reminder I needed this week, as stress and fatigue started to get me down. The original text was hand rendered by yours truly, followed by some photoshop editing to turn it pretty, and digital. I’ll show you how to do something similar in a tutorial coming soon! 🙂