![Typography is the appearance and style of text. It holds importance due to the impact it can have on
the audience as it can make them feel a certain way, or give them the preferred reading [Hall] of the
album, or entice them into the purchase of the album as a persuasive device.
The font has to suit the genre of music in order to be interpreted the intended way. This can be done
by choosing the typeface, which will either fall into the serif or sans serif category. As my chosen
genre is EDM, sans serif would be most appropriate as it is used informally, whereas, serif would be
used for a more formal context, such as classical music and opera.
Sans serif is a typeface with rounded letters.
Serif is different as the letters have strokes on them.
Examples of albums using the serif typeface are
shown here. In pop, it’s more common for serif to
be used due to the femininity is connotes. This is
because the text tends to be aimed at a female
dominated target audience so the font appears to
be sophisticated and elegant.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/14-171104220248/85/Font-Practices-1-320.jpg)
Font Practices
- 1. Typography is the appearance and style of text. It holds importance due to the impact it can have on the audience as it can make them feel a certain way, or give them the preferred reading [Hall] of the album, or entice them into the purchase of the album as a persuasive device. The font has to suit the genre of music in order to be interpreted the intended way. This can be done by choosing the typeface, which will either fall into the serif or sans serif category. As my chosen genre is EDM, sans serif would be most appropriate as it is used informally, whereas, serif would be used for a more formal context, such as classical music and opera. Sans serif is a typeface with rounded letters. Serif is different as the letters have strokes on them. Examples of albums using the serif typeface are shown here. In pop, it’s more common for serif to be used due to the femininity is connotes. This is because the text tends to be aimed at a female dominated target audience so the font appears to be sophisticated and elegant.
- 2. Albums which use the sans serif typeface tend to be male orientated genres, such as indie, rap and EDM, due to the careless vibe the music carries. In another area of typography is the line spacing. This is also important to consider as it is part of the layout of the text as a whole. Conventionally, for most albums no matter the genre, the line spacing between the artist and album name is kept very close to that it can be seen all at once. This also helps define an image for the album as it’s easy to see and the audience can figure out the information quicker when it’s together. Also, line spacing enables the audience to simply read the text clearer. It would be difficult to read the text, for example, if the spacing was very close together for a lot of text, such as with the track list. However, it would still need to be close enough so the audience can tell it’s all part of the same thing.
- 3. The mix of EDM mastheads and fonts show it to be conventional for the typefaces to be in bold, when displaying either the album name or artist name. This makes them eye catching to the audience as it stands out. They also tend to have close character spacing, appealing to the male audience mainly as it seems more together and bulked up. Additionally, they are all in the sans serif typeface which is trendy and appeals strongly to the target audience for EDM, being younger people due to the connoted informality it holds. This makes the letters visually interesting and attractive as they don’t seem boring, like the younger audiences may interpret sans serif to be. The appearance of this typeface is simple yet still noticeable as they tend to be written in block capitals. This makes the album memorable due to it being easy yet effective to read. The writing is in a white colour, making the names stand out amongst the dark backgrounds, which appears to be conventional for the genre. The artist Example, however, has his name written in the same typeface over every album, acting as a logo and branding to his name. He also chooses not to follow conventions and has his name in lowercase letters to seem unique and different. However, this choice doesn’t take away from the appeal factor due to the boldness it holds, meaning it’s still noticed and memorable. It would give his audience a sense of familiarity when they see this elsewhere.
- 4. Examples other work shows that he mainly sticks to conventions due to the use of all uppercase letters in the majority of his work. However, his titles tend to small in size in comparison to the rest of the album, so his main focus is on the image rather than the fonts. He predominantly uses white font aswell, although black and yellow have been used, which are still conventional EDM album colours to use. These fonts would be seen as appropriate for the genre as the music tends to be upbeat, represented through the use of capital letters. It’s also laid back, in terms of the stereotypes associated with the fans of EDM, shown by the appearance of the simple sans serif typeface.
- 5. I looked further into EDM typefaces here. The typefaces tend to be recognisable for that artist. For example, the Tiesto typeface is an exception to the all caps text, due to the lowercase ‘e’, being used as a logo within the name, as shown to the right. This typeface has a mix of serif and sans serif, making this album different to the rest because of it’s mismatched style and quirkiness. The ‘Listen’ being in a different font could be because the artist wanted that imperative to stand out to the audience and draw them in as an act of persuasion. The Avicii typeface is different as the album name is a larger text size than the artist name. This could be because Avicii felt like he was established well enough already within the music game and so wanted the focus to be on the album name. The typeface of ‘True’ is conventional as it is in all capitals and follows the sans serif typeface, also coloured white. However, it has a unique style compared to the others as it has a ‘drawn on’ style, connoting to art and individuality, which EDM fans would appreciate and warm towards. Similarly, the Jack U album has the sans serif typeface, conventional for the EDM genre due to the informality it connotes. The text is also unique to the artist as it appears ‘handwritten’, giving the album a personal feel and so the audience feels it is something special and can tell by looking at the album, that a lot of hard work has been put into it so they can expect it to be good.
- 6. EXAMPLE COMETASTETHE RAINBOW EXAMPLE COMETASTETHE RAINBO EXAMPLE COMETASTETHE RAINBO EXAMPLE COMETASTETHE RAINBO I searched for font styles using the ‘fontspace’ website as well as ‘dafont’, and came across sans serif typefaces which I think would be appropriate for the EDM genre. I wanted to make sure the fonts were legible and clear yet still fun and unique so that is could stand out. I chose a couple of the simpler typefaces to be conventional, as shown below. I liked this font as it is very clear to read and looks straight to the point. I think this is a good font to use for the genre as sans serif and stands out against a dark background due to the colour choice. However, a potential weakness is that is may seem boring to my audience but if paired with interesting imagery, it could be effective else too much would seem to be going on in a small space. The same font is shown below but I added coloured shadow to the font to make it seem more fun, without being overpowering as I kept the shadowing minimal. I slightly prefer this one as it gives a sense of distortion, relating to the song within the album and with the theme of drugs and not thinking straight. A weakness of this one is that it may be hard to read for some people so I may apply this effect to an image, rather than to the text depending on what my audience feedback is.
- 7. This font was inspired by the Jack U handwritten typeface which I like due to the personal connotations it has, as well as an amplified sense of informality, which EDM fans like more. However, it may be interpreted as unprofessional due to the childish look some people may interpret it to have, which may create oppositional readings. The next one was a potential choice as I like how clean and easy to read it is. In comparison to the one above, I would prefer this due to the professionalism it connotes. It reminds me of the Calvin Harris typography as the character spacing is equal, as well as the height and width of all the letters, making it visually pleasing. It’s relatable to EDM due to the laid back appearance it has however it would look better if it was in bold as it would stand out more. Also, this font was found on a website where you have to pay for the download so I had to disregard this option.
- 8. The last font I considered is shown below. I chose this one because it connotes to EDM fans interests outside of music. This is because of the graffiti style the typeface is in. Therefore, they would be drawn to this as it is of interest to them, as well as looking interesting aesthetically. Also, it is a bold font in all capitals meaning it stands out. A downside to this font would be how some letters are more separated than others. However, I am unsure if this is simply due to the fact that the song title was too long to fit into the website’s tester altogether and so the ‘w’ appears to not be with the rest of the title. My next stage is to gain audience feedback on which font to proceed with, or how to adapt them to suit the genre and album as best as I can. I will conduct a voting poll on these font to get a better understanding of what my target audience feel is most appropriate.