I guess this title isn’t really applicable maybe but I think there are some very good, if not perfect, fonts.
I have been looking in a lot of books lately and found some really interesting and very good fonts. Yes, besides Helvetica there are other fonts that will work in a different context.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Helvetica. That is one of the perfect fonts, in my opinion. It’s clear, it works, it’s readable. That is what a font is about mostly, right? Yes, a font should always be readable in order to deliver the “message” to your audience.
During some research, I came across some very pretty and readable fonts which I wanted to share. These designs are coming from the book Typography Sketchbooks, made by Steven Heller & Lita Talarico. A book well worth looking through if you need some inspiration.
This is a very simple example of using nature in your font design. You can still read the letters and it looks pretty. Maybe not useful but I could imagine it on a wedding invitation/announcement where the two initials of the newlyweds are printed on.
Fun and colourful
These two fonts are completely different from each other. The one one the left (the alphabet) is fun, colourful and readable (important!) They could work well in context of a circus or something cartoonish. I like the bright colours. They make the typeface happy. On the righthand side, the Ampersand, is what I call a beautiful and perfect typeface. The use of colours, flowers, everything in this letter is astonishing. The details on the flowers, the use of shadows and you can still see very clear that it is an ampersand. Beautifully done by Katie Lombardo.
Swirly
I confess, I have a soft spot for curly, swirly and calligraphic typefaces. These fonts, created by Ross Milne, are my favorite of this book. The way those curls kind of connect with each other is beautiful. I love the fact that these typefaces have different kind of thickness. The lines are thin, letters thick. Really well done.