So how can you choose the best fonts for your banners?

Just like we mentioned in one of our article How do famous brands choose their fonts, there are fonts that have the power to generate some emotions in the mind of the viewer. So our advice is to know at least the basic notions before proceeding to creating a banner design.

Helvetica

Let’s start with an all time classic!

Helvetica is probably one the most widely used fonts by graphic designers. Why? Because of its simple and unique shape, the message can be very easy to see and read.

Futura ND Alt Cond Light font

Just as we mentioned above, legibility is super important when it comes to banner and advertising in general. If you have many things to say but don’t have much available space, then the best choice for you is Futura. You will get enough freedom to say more than you would say with other fonts.

Roboto Light

Initially, Roboto was designed by Google itself. Its design transmits simplicity and elegance. It is one of the most used fonts in all industries that require text. This makes it one of the best banner fonts, so choose it if you want to portray elegance and simplicity.

Walkway Black

This font is innovative, easy to read and has a modern and trendy look. Creative industries are already using Walkway for their marketing materials. If you what you look for is novelty and freshness, then use this font for your banners.

Rubika font

This font can make quite an impression, mostly due to the round shapes of the letters and heaviness added to them. Knowing that your message may come across as bold and create a longer lasting effect on the audience, it makes it the perfect choice for your banners.

If you want to try other fonts and bring something new to your banner designs, then check Whatfontis. There are so many fonts to choose from, that all you need is inspiration, passion and time!

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Alien League

First things first. Aliens! The Alien League font is a contemporary sans serif design and contains more humanist characteristics than many of its predecessors. It looks minimalistic and in sync with last decades of the twentieth century. This font will work perfectly for creating futuristic space age designs, posters and various branding projects.

Blade Runner Movie Font

Let’s move on to another futuristic, sci-fi movie inspired script, very similar to the official Blade Runner Movie Font, designed by Phil Steinschneider. We believe the white line throughout the fonts gives it a unique texture and makes it look very fancy. Remember that if you want to attract Replicants, you can use this font on a poster and they will reveal themselves to you.

Death Star Regular Font

In a distant galaxy far, far away the numerous fans of this epic series had very few options when trying to find a font for their projects. Patience they had and thank later they did! The font was designed by Sharkshock and it features all caps and a classic 80’s style. The geometric, rounded curves and limited strokes, as well as the width variation bring the retro feel that will fit perfectly into your logos, T-shirts or your Star Wars inspired blog.

Galaxy 1 font

Another fonts that look out of this space that we found is the Galaxy 1 font. With its sci-fi and funky design, it is the perfect choice for pretty much anything, if you want to catch some extra attention. The Galaxy 1 font makes us remember of Dave Bowman’s final words as he entered the monolith in the book 2001: A SpaceOdyssey. The design brings back a piece of the galaxy, along with many, many shining stars.

 Prometheus font

The Prometheus font makes us think of a cryptic signal received from a abandoned alien spacecraft. It is inspired by the prequel series Prometheus and its design looks very sci-fi, as if created by an advanced civilization. We know for sure that it’s not a weapon which could drive the human race extinct. Instead, it will make a lot of creative humans happy.

System Glitch otf

System Glitch otf font is a detailed style font designed to work at large type sizes in titles and headlines. It can be used to create glitchy sci-fi art, distorted VHS effect and simulate digital interference text effect. It would be right for a lot of logos, in the gaming industry and even on clothing items. Hope you like it as much as we do!

In conclusion, we hope you liked our selection of sci-fi fonts and that you will go binge on science-fiction movies. We know that many of you have secretly been wishing to be astronauts when little! If you want to check more sci-fi fonts, go on Whatfontis.com. With over 550,000 available fonts, you’ll definitely find what you are looking for.

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If you’re new in the world of graphic design, you might not know very much about Gestalt’s principles and their major importance. Based on certain psychology laws that date back in the ’20s, these principles explain how humans perceive chaotic stimuli around them and how they group similar elements for better understanding. Basically, as humans, we constantly search a sense of unity in everything we see. We perceive images as a whole, sometimes forgetting that they are made of lots of different elements. This characteristic of ours simplifies complex images and creates recognisable patterns that help us better understand things that surround us.

Why are Gestalt’s principles so important for graphic designers?

A really good graphic designer should bear in mind that psychology plays a crucial role when it comes to visual perception. In order to really understand how people perceive their work, graphic designers should be aware of how the human mind works. If they make use of these principles, they will be able to:

• combine different elements that can turn out to be effective in various given situations;
• put emphasis on certain ideas, leading to awareness, action and behavioural change;
• design certain products that serve a particular need.

With no further ado, let’s talk about some of those principles!

Principle 1: similarity

According to this principle, things that are similar appear to be grouped together.

Principle 2: proximity

Based on this, things that are closer to each other tend to appear more related than things that are placed appart.

Principle 3: continuity

The continuity principles teaches us that elements disposed in a straight or curved line are smoothly connecting between them.

Principle 4: focus point

As you probably expected, this principle teaches us that the element that stands out in a design will be the first to capture the viewer’s attention.

Principle 5: closure

Last, but not least, let’s talk about closure. According to this principle, the human mind succeeds to perceive forms and figures in their final form. Even though they are incomplete, we are able to intuit the missing parts and to mentally complete the form.

If you want to find out more about Gestalt’s principle, check out this short video. And now that you have read this, you might want to expand your creativity. Go on WhatFontIs.com and check out some of our most creative fonts. You’ll surely love them!

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In need of inspiration when it comes to the best graphic design trends this year? Here are 11 elements to focus on to implement current design trends that will render your clients speechless in 2018:

Responsive Logos

The responsive logo is the next step, unthinkable until recently, in today’s epoch of responsive design that made digital branding possible and efficient in the context of mobile browsing.

With devices of all screen sizes and shapes browsing the internet, companies have increased their efforts of implementing flexible designs that make their websites visible on any screen space.

The usability issues of a traditional website have been overcome through the development of the responsive design.

Today, much like responsive design, responsive logos can adapt to any screen size and shape and still look mind-blowing and efficiently reinforce corporate identity.

Gradients

There was a time when gradients ruled the world of graphic design from website buttons to PowerPoint presentations, but that reign had ended when flat design took over in 2007.

With the transformation of flat design into a contemporary semi-flat design or flat 2.0, gradients are experiencing a comeback of their own in the form of color transitions.

Color transition is the flatter, smoother, and more vibrant application of the old gradient. It as it is defined in modern graphic design suits better the current aesthetical needs of the semi-flat design.

Color transitions can be implemented in many aspects of cool graphic designs, from overlays and backgrounds to illustrations and branding.

Depth

When minimalist and 2D designs have become the new trends adopted by top graphic designers, website design has lost its depth. Designers used to achieve depth with shadows, but shadows were disregarded along with realistic and skeuomorphic objects.

In 2018, depth is once again recognized for what it is: a valuable tool that enhanced visual hierarchy, allowed visitors to determine input fields and ascertain CTAs. The modern graphic design is re-embracing shadows as Google Material Design reinstated shadows as a boost to their user interface.

Contemporary graphic design artists felt encouraged to reintroduce a new type of shadows that they had been experimenting on for some years. These new shadows, so-called long shadows, are soft, substantial, and colored even adding dimension and subtle depth to flat designs.

Long-shadows come to demonstrate the depth is compatible with the new development of the semi-flat design. Depth can enhance usability and achieve simplicity, which is two of the values that define the flat design. Within this context, designers have started to shadows are increasingly used in websites, as well as illustrations, print designs, icons, or app interfaces.

Duotones

Duotone represents a halftone replica of an image utilizing the placement of one color halftone over different color halftone. This technique is employed to reveal highlights and middle tones of an image. As the name properly suggests, duotones are two-color images.

Inspired by one of the essential printing processes, designers have begun to generate duotones using imaging software.

Their creativity has allowed them to create variations within the same sphere, which resulted in dashing tinted images, or fake duotones, monotones, tritones, or quadtones.

The 80’s & 90’s Color Schemes and Patterns

Just as eras of fashion can be identified by glancing at a piece of vintage clothing, the graphic design creates and follows trends over time. Trends tend to reinvent themselves in any trade.

The modern graphic design is now looking into incorporating the color scheme and textures of the 1980s and 1990s in an effort to steer away from extreme flat designs. Latest graphic design news reinstates the patterns and palettes inspired by the 80s and 90s.

It may be that the electrical hues, pretty pastels, and abstract and geographic patterns of the year have become popular trends in modern graphic designs simply because those who have been growing up in that era have become today’s target audience, thought leaders, or brand leaders.

Microinteractions and Animations

When it comes to a movement as a feature of the modern graphic design, micro interactions and larger animations have grown to be almost an industry standard.

Already coined among the most prominent user experience trends and practices, micro interactions represent miniature animations designed to assist users to complete specific tasks when your website.

In this context, micro interactions, as the name properly suggests, are also extremely efficient communication tools establishing a particular bond with the users. On the other hand, GIFs are larger animations have a dual role and embody a trend of their own.

A graphic design icon, the larger animation, including SVG, appeals to users captivating their attention and interest and having them interact with your website in a more efficient, almost natural manner.

GIFs and SVGs, as larger animations, make communication with your users possible, conveying ideas and processes. Today, GIFs are an integral part of any modern graphic design that aspires towards excellence.

One of the most popular trends in 2018, the slick, ingenious, and attractive GIFs have the power to make your logos, ads, illustrations, newsletters, and icons more interesting and engaging than ever before.

The Digital Art Glitch

The glitch effect or the art of corrupted images, has grown into one of the most well-liked visual arts and graphic design trends. What is the glitch effect and what does it do for web design?

The industry has developed image glitch tools that allow you to deliberately corrupt digital data for aesthetic purposes. The art of glitching has been inspired by a technical error occurring in software, video games, images, videos, audio, and other digital artifacts.

The modern graphic design has transformed an annoying effect into much more than a much-desired effect. Glitching images is now considered an outstanding form of visual art that has secured a top position among the most popular design trends in 2018.

The Art of Destroying

It seems that 2018 is the year where people simply love broken looks. In addition to the glitching effect, graphic design trends 2017 had to offer included the ruined effect, where designers play with tools that destroy the aesthetical harmony of any composition.

There are many graphic design articles that try to explain the appetite for ruining the appeal of various forms of digital art by splashing, ripping off, scratching, or breaking effects.

Authentic Images

Another trend that is encouraged by modern graphic designers in 2018 is the use of authentic photos rather than stock photos when it comes to social media sharing.

To reinforce your brand, you need to show your social media followers that you care enough about your work to put in a lot of effort into adding authenticity and therefore uniqueness not only to your marketing and design strategies but also to your social media shares.

Why do people use social media? To see the same irrelevant stock photos that everyone else can pick up in two seconds from the internet? Is that what you want your brand to be identified within 2018? The answer is a definite no.

People need to see that you are willing to go a long way and make great efforts to prove the value of your work, whether it is a service or a product, and an authentic photo can do wonders.

Risky Colors

As far as modern graphic design is concerned, 2018 seems to be the year of taking chances with unconventional design effects. The glitch and ruined effects are gaining rave reviews of popularity, but using risky colors is also a widespread trend.

Lots of companies, some truly famous, have tampered with their long-standing color palette that used to be identified with their brand. Such an approach may be a bit drastic, but you can simply stick to an infusion of risky colors that will brighten your graphic design projects in 2018.

Color Channels Effects

Another technique that gets rave reviews is the color channel effect, where designers play with color channels to generate impressive illusion-like effects that can include hallucinations, holographs, or distorted realities.

These effects resemble the work of an illusionist, a magician, and appeal to users in a most compelling manner, which places the color channels effects among the trendiest graphic design techniques of 2018.

Ending thoughts on graphic design trends

Today is a fascinating time for modern graphic designers who have a chance to be part of the movement that revives graphic art in an effort to resist the dominance of extreme flat designs.

As the focus is shifting towards emphasizing unique brands that target distinct audiences, the world of graphic design becomes an even more interesting scene for branding purposes and getting more business.

It is a time when designers are breaking patterns by intermingling the old with the new to create a harmonious, original style, unlike anything seen before.

As far as graphic design is concerned, 2018 is the year when you must allow your creativity to tell you how to target your audience and convert those users into clients.

If you enjoyed reading this article about graphic design trends, you should read these as well:

• Good Magazine Ads to Take as Example
• Color theory: what you need to know as a designer
• Make your own font: A guide on how to create a font

The post Graphic design trends that your colleagues are using appeared first on WhatFontIs.com Playground.

Whether you’re after a gift for yourself or a graphic designer friend, or if you want to build up your studio bookshelf, here are the best graphic design books to read this year.

Paula Scher: Works

Named the most significant female graphic designer in the world, Paula Scher needs no introduction. This splendid book from Unit Editions – 2,000 copies are available for pre-order – covers the Pentagram associate’s early days in the music business as an art executive with CBS and Atlantic records, the introduction of her first studio, and her 25-year engagement with Pentagram.

The editors say the book is also a photographic record of modern New York’s urban fabric, “indelibly transformed by the designer’s innovative approach to environmental graphics and identity design: from MoMA to Charter Schools; from the High Line to Shake Shack”.

The 326-page book consists of a long interview with Scher, and sections devoted to her socially and politically inspired posters, New York Times Op-Ed artworks, and campaign work. We can’t wait to read this book.

House Industries: The Process is the Inspiration

House Industries released this 400-page book that celebrates type foundry and design studio in 2017. This book is filled with stories, case studies, and handy information. It’s devoted to answering the question: where do you find inspiration?

The book gives a captivating dive into the minds of co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat, and type designer Ken Barber.  The foreword is written by JJ Abrams, too.

The Visual History of Type

This substantial source gives a complete survey of the major prints produced since the beginning of printing with movable type, in the mid-fifteenth century, to the present day.

It’s organized chronologically, showing over 320 typefaces either through their innovative type examples or earliest printing. Each admission is supported by a brief history and account of essential characteristics of the print. This is a valuable resource if you are into this type of design.

How To

If you still haven’t read Michael Bierut’s brilliant book, How To, then make 2018 the year you read it. Protégé of design legend Massimo Vignelli and a partner at New York design firm Pentagram Bierut has enjoyed one of the most effective careers of any existing graphic designer.

In this book on graphic design, he discloses his viewpoint of graphic design, explaining how to use it to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh and cry, and change the world.

The book features more than 35 of Bierut’s projects, providing perceptions into his imaginative process, working life, affiliation with patrons and the distinctive struggles confronted by any designer trying to bring groundbreaking ideas into the world. Inspiring and educational. This book is a must-read for any graphic designer.

Draplin Design Co: Pretty Much Everything

Aaron Draplin is the man behind the marking of Esquire and Ford Motors. This book looks back on Draplin’s astonishing career.

Pretty Much Everything tracks Draplin’s career back to day one. Readers follow his life story as he goes off to university and makes a name for himself on the graphic design scene. With graphic design talk, there comes plenty of delightful personal stories which give readers a sincere perception into the mind of the designer. This one of the best books for graphic designers.

As with any good graphic design book, there’s plenty to enjoy visually. Pages are filled with limitless samples of his work, consisting of everything from snowboard graphics to logo designs. Pretty Much Everything is a treasure chest of work and knowledge that any design studio could profit from possessing.

Logo: The Reference Guide to Symbols and Logotypes (mini)

Michael Evamy’s distinguished logo bible was published in 2015, presenting more than 1,300 symbols and logotypes in a pocket-sized format.

This massive assortment includes the work of iconic masters like Paul Rand and Saul Bass, as well as some of the most exhilarating work from modern and developing designers, plus a series of short texts deliberating recent growths in logo design.

The Way To Design

In his book, entrepreneur and former Ideo design engineer Steve Vassallo shows how designers can start up their businesses and how creators can make design the foundation of their action. One of his tactics? Move beyond compassion. This book is one of the top graphic design books.

Interaction of Color

Interaction of Color has been an expert on palettes and colors for over 50 years. First, this book was devised as a teaching tool, this helpful manual demonstrates philosophies such as relativity and intensity and is critical for any artist who wants to make knowledgeable selections. This book one of the best design books of all time.

Megg’s History

Now in its sixth edition, Megg’s History is an extensive contribution that assists as the definitive reference tool for both students and professionals. Modernized to be applicable in the digital age, it consists of quizzes, flashcards, and inspects movements from all over the world.

Symbols: A Handbook

Symbols: A Handbook is a collection of over 400 images obtained from ancient cultures, nature, government information, etc. This book examines the meaning and implication behind each image and will have you viewing advertisements in a whole new viewpoint.

Grid Systems

A computer-assisted creative artist will find Grid Systems beneficial. Great for beginners, this book lays the groundwork for how to organize your work by telling the basic ideas and growing on more cutting-edge ideas with plenty of examples and exact directions.

The Non-Designer’s Design Book

This book is best graphic design book for beginners, The Non-Designer’s Design Book offers the fundamental stepping stones for making persuasive visual art. This book is written with a friendly tone, it provides practical advice, recommends projects to attempt, and is filled with applicable samples.

Super Graphic

This book is written by award-winning art director Tim Leong, Super Graphic is a captivating visual interpreter of the comic book universe. It’s full of every type of chart possible, extensively detailed, and pleasantly amusing, not to mention a boundless supply of data analysis. One of the best visual design books out there.

Show Your Work!

Show Your Work! uses insightful leadership and intricately organized images to inspire artists to contribute in shared creativity and find their voice at the office and in their personal lives. This creative book design gives practical words that will reassure anyone facing self-doubt.

New Perspectives in Typography

New Perspectives in Typography is a typographic pleasure for designers and typophiles. This new design book takes an A-Z tactic to modern type design, it shows the work of more than 100 designers – including David Peardon, Philippe Apeloig, Anthony Burrill and some more astounding admissions too.

Collated by Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams, founders of independent typographic studio A2/SW/HK, the book features 500 beautiful full-color graphic examples, together with thought-provoking essays discovering the past and future of type design.

Logo Modernism

An essential reference for any artist, Logo Modernism is an immense volume that inspects some 6,000 trademarks from the 1940s to the ’80s. This logo design book is written by the renowned Jens Muller, this complete collection claims a treasure of information in a clear-cut layout. This is one of the best logo design books there are.

Ending thoughts on graphic design books

When it comes to looking for motivation and education, graphic designers have the abundance of books to choose from. There is a wealth of literature at our fingertips, all waiting to be discovered and appreciated, helping us to progress and improve our graphic design skills.

If you enjoyed reading this article about graphic design books, you should read these as well:

• Make your own font: A guide on how to create a font
• Graphic design portfolio: How to create a great one for yourself
• Free graffiti font examples that look amazing

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