Organic/Humanist typeface recommendations?

McDung
9.May.2008 3.30am
McDung's picture

I have this project in my Graphic Design class, which is to re-design a packaging for Alice’s Stick Cookies. The cookies are great but the design on the packaging sucks (at least according to the Instructor).
http://www.magnificentgifts.com/members/821963/uploaded/ASC-8.jpg

Can you guys recommend a typeface for the company name “Alice’s Stick cookies” and maybe another face to go with the (miscellaneous) text on the box?
I’m going for something that looks contemporary, yet organic, and something that feels a bit sophisticated but not ’elitist’ since these are gourmet cookies afterall. Also, the typeface must be available in Font Folio.

The cookies are shaped-like biscotti if that helps in any way.

If you also have any other ideas on how to approach this, please feel free to chime in.

Thanks!



Nick Shinn
9.May.2008 11.58am
Nick Shinn's picture

How inconvenient of Adobe to put so many fonts in Font Folio.
Looking through them all a bit too much like work?


Miss Tiffany
9.May.2008 5.27pm
Miss Tiffany's picture

I think what Nick was trying to say was, “which fonts do you feel are appropriate given your choices?”

You might consider Cronos.

But really the choice of packaging might be a better start. If you start with the box/container it might lead you to the right direction.


McDung
9.May.2008 5.42pm
McDung's picture

Miss Tiffany,

What I think was appropriate were Humanist/Humanist Sans. It’s trying to figure out a typeface’s connoted meanings/symbolism(s) that I’m having a bit of a problem with.
I’m still learning on what makes a typeface ’contemporary’, ’elegant’, friendly’, ’neutral’, etc.- those connoted meanings.

As for the Font Folio stuff, it’s the only source I have right now for typefaces. I’m a student which means I don’t have much money to spend on fonts. I have to make do with what I have.


Nick Shinn
9.May.2008 11.04pm
Nick Shinn's picture

Mirko, you will never learn connoted meanings if you don’t try and think, feel and see them for yourself.

Sure, people ask for font recommendations at Typophile all the time, and that’s reasonable, because there are tens of thousands of them that could be “out there” at hundreds of obscure foundries. However, you have a manageable number to choose from and you know where they are, so knuckle down and plough through the Font Folio, and build a short list.


Miss Tiffany
12.May.2008 3.31pm
Miss Tiffany's picture

A lot of trial and error is a good place to start as a student. Hopefully you are not expected to show up to class with the final project in hand. Sounds like you are in the beginning stages of the project. If you were to find your packaging and mock that up then come back with samples using typeface choices of your own we can then help you fine tune those decisions.


Nick Shinn
12.May.2008 3.50pm
Nick Shinn's picture

Trial and error, right. You have to use your imagination as you’re looking through a selection of candidate faces, asking yourself not only “Does this suit the criteria?” but more importantly, “How could I make this suit the criteria?”

Typefaces certainly have connotations which typographers and graphic designers are aware of, but the reader is unaware of these. For the reader, the meaning derives from the page as a whole. Consider blackletter: what vibe does the reader pick up from such a style, Christmas or Fascism? (To name but two.) The designer decides.

Whether a typeface will be perceived as ’contemporary’, ’elegant’, friendly’, or ’neutral’ depends on how you use it. Choice of style (weight, slant, horizontal scale), size, color, tracking—these are decisive.


McDung
14.May.2008 1.16pm
McDung's picture

Miss Tiffany,
We’re supposed to come up with roughs/mock-ups this week. Next week is the final week of class. I showed my Instructor what I’ve came up with yesterday and she liked the last one the best(which I also liked the best too) then the fifth one out of 10 roughs. I’m still playing around with roughs and layouts. I narrowed it down to Cronos and Optima for my logotype.

Here are links of the original piece to be re-designed and my roughs

Original
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8761/originalid5.jpg

First Choice (Cronos)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4033/firstchoicenm1.jpg

First Choice revised with Optima
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/4738/firstchoicerevta1.jpg

Second Choice (Cronos)
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5833/2ndchoicejz4.jpg

Comments? Type too heavy, too light, inappropriate, it sucks, John McCain, etc.?
Thanks.


Miss Tiffany
14.May.2008 2.49pm
Miss Tiffany's picture

Mirko,

A few first view thoughts of “firstchoicenm1”:

- If the photo is full-color, why not have more color everywhere?
- Are the cookies beautiful enough to merit a die-cut? If they are, what color are they? You’ll want the color of the cookies to be harmonious with everything else you choose.
- Could the lemons be used more dramatically? Does it have to be a photo?

I’ll add that at this point the type isn’t necessarily bad. I like Cronos. Again, once the packaging takes on more direction you’ll know more of how/where to use the type.