Principles of Typography. Beauty of Type.

I'm very well aware that a lot of my research is subjective. I know that people see beauty in a different way. Different designers like different styles, colours, layouts and everything. No designer is the same.
A typeface though has to be in a right setting to be beautiful surely that is the case.
As people know that Sans-serif fonts are quite difficult to read in a book publication, so if a 400 page book was created using a typeface like Helevetica would that make helevetica in that sense ugly? Or what about Garamond as a help sign? Would Garamond then become an ugly typeface.

I feel that with me narrowing down what was a very open subject might be more benefial and less subjective, as there must be set ground rules when and where to use a typeface.

research

http://www.myfonts.com/newsletters/cc/201203.html

Neville Brody

"Typefaces control the message. Choice of font dictates what you think about something before you even read the first word. Imagine Shakespeare in large capital drop shadow. Our response would be quite different towards the content."

The Origin of the Comic Sans Hate

One of the main reasons Comic Sans became the target of such hatred was its widespread usage, particularly when dealing with serious or formal subjects.

While Comic Sans was perfectly adequate in designs for children or designs related to comic books or cartoons, it had no place in business or professional work usage. It’s also ill-suited in content body text – it’s best used as a headline/heading font or short quote (such as in a comic book). But nevertheless, Comic Sans has cropped up all over the place.

The "Ban Comic Sans" Movement

The "Ban Comic Sans" movement started in 1999. It was reportedly started by Dave and Holly Crumbs, graphic designers from Indianapolis, after an employer insisted they use Comic Sans in a children’s museum exhibit.

While the group is a bit tongue-in-cheek, they do point out one of the biggest problems in amateur graphic design: disregard for appropriate typography choices. Where a professional designer will (usually) consider the impact their font and typography choices have on the overall tone of a project, an amateur will often just pick a font they like, disregarding the font’s impact on the final design.

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/comic-sans-the-font-everyone-loves-to-hate/

Feedback from my proposal

suggests to me that my area of interest is probably too subjective as what is beauty?
so I now may change this to 'Why do designers dislike comic sans?'

http://www.idesigni.co.uk/blog/typography-bilak-releases-typeface-to-balance-beauty-and-ugliness/

The proposal.

The Proposal

What is beauty in typography and what makes a beautiful type?

One question that every designer, whether a professional that’s been in the industry for years, or whether it’s a design student that has only really started designing, needs to ask themselves what makes a typeface good or beautiful. With having over 45,000 fonts on the Internet with more still being produced and developed, then we must learn where to use fonts, why to use certain fonts, and what makes a typeface worth using.

In all aspects of design, it is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For centuries, artist have strived for ultimate beauty, and all had theories. For example in the renaissance period it was said that design that had the ‘S-shape’ in it, was beautiful. Even to this day, designers have ideas on beauty. Despite people claiming and striving for individuality, all aim to look aesthetically pleasing, and during a new season retailers churn out the same style garments, changing societies perceptions on beauty, and this creates the modern day theory of attractiveness. So what is the modern day example for people working in fields such as Graphic Design and Web Design. That is based on many things, but one of the major factors would be the Typography. Typography is the garment that words wear, so designers want their words to wear this season or certainly want it to wear something beautiful for it’s particular purpose. This essay will explore perceptions of beauty in type and whether there is such a thing as an ‘ugly typeface’. It will also discover what designers should look for in a typeface when trying to communicate a certain message.

“Clever graphic designers love to use typography to explore the interaction between the look of type and what type actually says. In communicating a message, a balance has to be achieved between the visual and the verbal aspects of a design.”

Typography is used to create a reaction from the viewer/reader. We are all comfortable with signs being written in ‘Helvetica’ due to its balance and legibility, yet is that the make up to create a beautiful typeface? Could it be considered that this well known font is boring, and not beautiful at all? Moreover, this study will investigate whether there is a certain set of rules in creating a typeface that designers can learn to make sure they are using the correct typeface. This field will look into the anatomy of letterforms.

Another consideration for this essay is whether typography can change a message due to it’s aesthetic looks. Can the look of the font completely change the message that is being conveyed. It is suggested that a typeface creates a personality, a character and a tone of voice. Potentially, we could characterise a family of fonts as a certain type of person that would help designers determine what typeface should be used in projects, to make sure they are using the most beautiful font for the task in hand.