Doing panels for a gateway center. I've 38 panels to do with lots of text & photos on them. Sizes range from 40x60" to 24x96 to 48x96.. Lots of Dibond.. The panels will describe the history of our region from prehistoric to today, and will be on permanant display with a bunch of atrifacts & displays.
I'm looking for ideas for a font that is both easy to read and friendly, it must be fairly narrow and preferably include proper bolds & italics in the set. Background will be very dark, font color will be white or just off-white.
I knew this one was coming for a while, but they didn't finalize content untill yesterday, and couldn't release any material untill then- Deadline 28th June for opening.. Gonna be tight..
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Mike,
Check out Papyrus. Its an old world prehistoric cave man type face popular about 1,500 years ago.
Even fonts come back around if you wait long enough.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Have one called Jurassic. That old enough for ya? Papyrus is a cool looking font, I have it too.
What kinds of artifacts are they? Native American? Colonial?
[ June 18, 2003, 06:54 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Speaking generically, a whole gaggle of fonts include an "antique" version. These are basically rough, rustic versions of the base font in the family. Very likely, you have some of these there at your shop already.
And yeah, I like papyrus too. Classy looking antique font. I only have it in one weight, so just add a stroke to it if I need bolder.
Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
Thanks Guys...
I was looking at papyrus as well, I've given it a second look. I'm just not sure of it's legibility in large bodies of text.
This is an early draft of the first panel, I'm really only positioning things at this point.. the panel is 60" x 40". Shown is 60 point times, I'd have to step down to 48 points to use papyrus..
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
With so much body text Id stay with a classic roman face like you have. You might try Caslon instead of the Times.
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Our recommendation would be a font family from Adobe named Utopia. Look at both the regular and Expert volumes. We use them regularly for vinyl cutting as well as general print requirements. The small caps are especially nice.
I don't know if you noticed but you have a lot of double spacng going on there. I would try Papyrus only as the title copy, the boDy copy looks generic Times Roman, I agree that Caslon or Garramond would do better here. A good book on exHibit panels, type and design is "Working with Type 5-Exhibitions" by Rob Carter, John Demao, and Sandy Wheeler
the Goudy font is a huge family with blold versions and italics, even a handtool version whuch may look nice on the headings, its most importantly very readable in large bodies of text, like Times but with a bit more character, and if your gonna weed all that text, the round serif will be alot easier.
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
Cool looking panels Mike. Tell me that is going to be a digital print, otherwise you're in for some mighty sore necks and tired eyes from weeding.
Here's a condened serif font I like that comes in a couple weights and works well for body copy.
If you're cutting this, go with something sans serif:)
Posted by Carl Wood (Member # 1223) on :
What you're using now looks nice - you might try Optima - -
Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
Thanks Guys.. gotta love this place.
Did some print swatches in real size .. No problem reading 48 pt papyrus at 12 - 15 ft which will be the maximum viewing distance.. It looks good and suits the subject matter.. The governing board of this project loved the first layout, which sets the style for the rest. At this point I've got 14 panels ready to print (I might be crazy.. but not crazy enough to weed 38 large panels of dense text .. getting a little bleary eyed staring at the screen 'tho..
Here's what final draft looks like with Papyrus
... oops looks like I have to do some kerning on the title line (thought I did that...)
one of the 2'x8's
[ June 21, 2003, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: TransLab ]
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
That one looks "cooler", but the other font is simply more readable.
The earlier suggestion of Caslon is good especially for quick weeding, with it's rounded edges & what not.
That Papyrus sure does look nice though. Perhaps there is a simple serif font that will go with Papyrus being the headline copy only.
Typography studies have shown that serif fonts are easier to read.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
.. getting a little bleary eyed staring at the screen 'tho..
