Shoutout to the guy at the print shop who called my font choice 'a fight'

Last month I was designing a flyer for a local art show in Portland. I spent hours picking what I thought were two cool fonts, a really fancy script for the title and a blocky sans serif for the details. I brought the file to the print shop on 3rd Avenue, and the guy behind the counter just squinted at it for a second. He said, 'These two fonts are having a fight on the page, and the script is losing.' He wasn't mean about it, just blunt. He showed me a sample he had printed where the script looked messy and the blocky font looked too heavy next to it. I swapped the script for a simpler serif font, and suddenly everything looked clean and professional. It made me realize I was picking fonts I liked individually without seeing how they worked together. Has anyone else had a print shop worker save their design from a bad font pair?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_mitchell573d ago

Sometimes a messy clash is the whole point. That script losing to the blocky font could have been a cool, grungy look for an art show. Not every design needs to be clean and professional.

the_sage3d ago

Ever read that old book "The Design of Everyday Things"? It talks about how breaking rules on purpose can make something feel more human. A messy font clash for an art show poster is a perfect example of that. It sends a totally different message than a clean corporate layout.