Typography blogs and galleries are a splendid source of inspiration for graphic designers from all backgrounds. Designs and projects live and die based on the graphic designer’s choice of fonts. Typefaces are critical to design because they relate to the most direct form of information that a designer has control over: written communication. Depending on your exact type choice for any given project, you can greatly affect the clarity of what a logo, website, brochure, business card or an entire brand wants to communicate to its target audience.
In order to get a sense of where graphic designers get this inspiration, we asked various designers at top agencies around the country what they regularly peruse to get inspiration for their font designs.
Here are their favorite typography blogs and galleries:
Jon Sorrentino — Wellfed Creative Podcast
Favorite Typography Blogs or Visual Galleries: Fonts in Use
One of the biggest hurdles graphic designers face is where to get inspiration that isn’t cliché or repetitive. The web is replete with typography resources, so that begs the question, where do you go to find typography inspiration that isn’t just ordinary?
Talk to Jon Sorrentino–a New York City-based freelance designer who also produces the Wellfed Creative podcast, where he talks to creatives about their struggles and careers–and he’ll tell you about two resources right off the bat.
“One of my favorite resources to look at for inspiration is Fonts in Use. It’s a really good website to find a variety of typefaces used for branding and print projects. Whenever I’m looking for something that strays away from the current trends, I go there.â€
Jon’s love for typography was instilled at an early age, explaining his passion for type as a designer.
“During school, I had a professor who made typefaces, and he really taught me the fundamentals of typography. Ever since then, I’ve been head over heels in love with type and have recently looked into learning how to make my own,†he said.
Michael Mohr — Logo Coast
Favorite Typography Blogs or Visual Galleries: Dribbble
Choice paralysis is something that graphic designers can easily encounter on their projects. After all, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of design inspiration on the Internet. That’s why it’s sometimes best to narrow down your source of inspiration to just one and stick to it.
That’s what Michael Mohr, who swears by Dribbble’s visual gallery, of Logo Coast has done.
“For typography inspiration, Dribbble is one of my favorites. Even though the site isn’t 100% dedicated to typography, it’s all about quality over quantity. The mockups presented are often incredibly detailed, which not only showcase the beauty of the font on display, but also hint at an ideal niche and target audience. This goes a long way in terms of helping me visualize potential applications and generate new ideas on the spot,†he said.
Here’s a short walkthrough of how Michael uses Dribbble to get great results for his projects.
“If you look at Tropiline, for example, the artist instantly sells me on the functionality of the typeface when used for display or packaging purposes. You can even take this one step further and bookmark the font family for a café-, travel-, or coffee-related branding project down the road (just brainstorming). The possibilities are endless, but hopefully this gives you an idea of the direction.
As far as actually discovering new fonts, I usually start with a broad search such as ´typeface.’ From there, it’s easy to filter down and explore specific tags depending on your project needs.â€
Steve DeCusatis — Steve DeCusatis Design
Favorite Typography Blogs or Visual Galleries: A lot!
What works for some graphic designers may not work for others. We’ve just mentioned how some enjoy working with only one, primary source of inspiration for projects. Others are polar opposites and get their inspiration from an entire lineup of typography blogs and visual galleries.
One such designer is Philadelphia’s own Steve DeCusatis, a 15-year veteran of the industry. His philosophy is simple: take inspiration from wherever you can get it. In his case, that’s a lot of places on the Internet.
“I love working with type and making custom typography/lettering when working on logo, identity and branding projects. There are so many talented designers, typeface designers, and letterers…â€
Here’s a rundown of Steve’s favorite resources, with some of his commentary:
- Work By Land
- Instagram – Aaron Draplin
- Brand by Hand – Contino Book — “New book out, which is incredible — Brand by Hand.â€
- Sagmeister Walsh — “Always breaking boundaries and creating work that balances graphic design and fine art, as seen in the Happy Film titles, etc.â€
- Efdot Studio — “Lots of awesome murals, etc.â€
- GOODTYPE — “One of my favorites to follow on Instagram.â€
- Andrea Pippins – Art & Illustration
“And, of course, there are many fellow Philly creatives doing awesome work…a small sampling includes:â€
- True Hand Society
- Mario Zucca – Illustrated Type
- Instagram – Grayhood — “He also does typefaces for Lost Type Co-op.â€
- Instagram – Grace Duong — “Scroll down to the large, animating letterforms.â€
- Mary Kate McDevitt – Lettering and Illustration
This just goes to show you that, in design, there are numerous ways to get from point A to B when you’re in need of inspiration and ideas for your next project.
Pablo Ferrero — FWCAdvertising
Favorite Typography Blogs and Visual Galleries: Behance, Pinterest, Google Images, Webby Awards, NAVIS Magazine, and Blue Vertigo
The farther you get into your career as a graphic designer, the more you realize that good typography resources are essentially any blog or gallery that can help you by giving you guidance, inspiration or an idea or two. As a result, you’ll likely develop an eclectic assortment of resources.
That’s certainly been the case with Pablo Ferraro, CEO of FWCAdvertising, a graphic-design and marketing agency. The project type typically dictates what process he and his team use when it comes to sourcing inspiration.
“Digital gives us a broader perspective of what is happening in the world in terms of design and typography. Behance is one of our primary sources. Usually, we start every project at FWC Advertising with a moodboard, and this website offers an excellent place to begin our research. Pinterest is also used for research and, of course, Google Images. When facing digital projects, the WebbyAwards is an excellent place to start an investigation,†he indicated.
Visual galleries can be found both online and offline with print materials. Pablo’s team has use for magazines, too, especially when they’re working on projects in various niches.
“When we are working on projects for specific niches, we usually start the research through magazines in those niches. For example, at FWC, we work a lot in the maritime and yachting industry, and NAVIS Magazine is an amazing, if not the best, source of inspiration. As inspiration, we used to be subscribed to several magazines, but today, the only one we maintain is Communication Arts. We are turning more to digital sources of information.â€
Finally, they also make good use of extensive, curated lists of design resources, with a little-known source that’s been known to provide good results.
“When we need to go beyond this, we research through BlueVertigo’s (a website that acts as a link repository to all sorts of design-related, including typography, resources) links to find some hidden gems,†he said.
Matteo Bologna — Mucca Design
Favorite Typography Blogs and Visual Galleries: Many!
It benefits graphic designers to know when to go to and use a specific blog or visual gallery for typography inspiration. This way, you’re able to organize yourself and prioritize your needs for whatever project you’re working to complete.
Matteo Bologna–graphic designer, founding partner, and creative director of Mucca Design in Brooklyn, New York–gets this better than most folks. His list of typography resources is long, but all of them have a specific role to play when it’s project time.
Here’s Matteo’s list, along with some commentary from him:
DESIGN / TYPOGRAPHY
- The Type Directors Club — Great source of New York City-type related events. They advertise their weekly gatherings that are open to everyone. There is also a juicy archive with videos of past talks.â€
- I Love Typography — “Very academic and exhaustive articles about type. Who wouldn’t want to miss a post about the first printed math books. Pure design nerdery!†(Note: I Love Typography also includes showcases of different fonts and links to other typeface resources all over the web)
- Fonts in Use — “Just an incredible resource to see how typefaces get used, with links to the foundries and the fonts’ creators.â€
- Design Observer: Writings on Design + Visual Culture — “The child of two of the most prolific voices in the design world: Jessica Hefland and Michael Beirut.â€
- The Dieline — “When we have to get inspiration for packagingâ€
- Designinspiration — “When we really are at a loss of ideas…â€
- Brand New — “The equivalent of the New York Times for branding, with the best commentaries from Armin Vit.â€
- Art of the Menu – “We use it to check competition and to get depressed because the work is sooo good.â€
- AIGA Eye on Design “The only reason to be an AIGA member.â€
- It’s Nice That
- her
- typetoken | Showcasing & discussing the world of typography, icons and visual language
- The Box SF
- Dark Side of Typography
TYPEDESIGN Specific
- TypeDrawers “Very nerdy type design forum. Useful for professionals and for type-design novices.â€
- Tutorials | Glyphs “For people who want to learn type design.â€
Designers take note: it makes sense to be able to designate each typography resource for a specific purpose. That way, no matter what kind of project you’re working on, you already know where to go for guidance and inspiration (instead of doing blind Google searches).
Nathan Durrant — Elixir Design
Favorite Typography Blogs and Visual Galleries: Luc Devroye’s On Snot and Fonts
In the plethora of typography resources on the web, sometimes you come across a rather obscure one that turns out to be quite helpful and comprehensive. So is the case with this next resource, happily discovered by Nathan Durrant, art director and lead designer at Elixir Design in San Francisco.
Nathan is unique among the designers on this list because looking online for font inspiration isn’t something he usually does, but he does appreciate certain typography publications.
“I’ve reached the point in my career where I rarely look for inspiration, especially online. I still love the Type Director’s Club annual award publications, along with the comparatively newer Communication Arts Typography Annual,†he said.
Even so, to his surprise, he recently stumbled upon a professor’s online font project while doing research and got great inspiration.
“A few months ago I was looking for historic Italian typefaces and happened across Luc Devroye’s Homepage. Not sure if you are familiar with this site, but it was not terribly rich visually, yet it was a useful and comprehensive resource. I think Luc Devroye is a Canadian professor.â€
It turns out that Professor Devroye’s On Snot and Fonts is a veritable encyclopedia with some 90,000 webpages full of information about type design, designers, the math of type design, choosing fonts, type software, and general info on typography. Started all the way back in 1993, this online resource is a project of McGill University’s School of Computer Science.
It’s not every day that you find a hidden gem, but when you do, it’s gratifying.
John Clifford — Think Studio
Favorite Typography Blogs and Visual Galleries: Typeroom, Fonts in Use, Typewolf, Web Typography, A List Apart, NYC Type, Vernacular Typography
Having a true passion for fonts in the first place as a graphic designer goes a long way toward finding those high-quality resources that can help take your next design from good to spectacular. John Clifford enjoys looking at all sorts of type, which is why his go-to typography sources are the result of much time spent perusing a multitude of sources…until finally discovering those that you know are a cut above the rest. As the creative director/designer and founder of New York City’s Think Studio, he understands that being able to recognize excellent typography separates great designers from the rest of the pack.
“Sometimes, I’ll check out the typography hashtag on Instagram for pure eye candy. Usually, though, I want more. In addition to visual inspiration, TypeRoom features news, interviews and articles about type design and use. I prefer something like this, which provides more substance than a gallery. Recent topics for articles include Giambattista Bodoni’s historic typographic manual, Beyonce’s typographic branding, and the end of the New York Times Magazine’s Behind the Cover videos,†he revealed.
“If I’m considering using a font, I can check out how they work with real examples at Fonts in Use and Typewolf.â€
A discussion on fonts today isn’t complete without successfully applying it to the web; for that, great resources exist, too.
“With so many changes in web and interaction design, I have been learning more about the possibilities and constraints. Web Typography is Richard Rutter’s take on Robert Bringhurst’s classic book The Elements of Typographic Style and applying it to the web. The site led to his book, Web Typography, which is a great handbook on the topic. I also regularly check out the web typography articles on A List Apart.â€
Finally, it’s also vital for designers to see and understand how type applies to palpable, outside world.
“I love to see type in the real world. Sites like NYC Type and Vernacular Typography show great examples of new and vintage signs and ephemera. Seeing these encourages me to look around and notice my surroundings more.â€
Typography Makes Stellar Design
Graphic designers work in different ways. Some are fond of only one or two main resources while others have an entire arsenal of resources they consult from project to project. At the end of the day, it’s whatever works best for you, but it’s always fascinating to see the unique routes that graphic designers take to create their works.
We hope you’ve found this roundup of the best typography blogs and visual galleries useful since great design isn’t possible without type.
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Marc is a copywriter and marketer who runs The Glorious Company, a marketing agency. An expert in business and marketing, he helps businesses and companies of all sizes get the most bang for their ad bucks.
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