typeface for fashion magazine logo

dumitru
5.Aug.2008 5.08am
dumitru's picture

Dear all,
I want to welcome you warmly from a small amazing country - Moldova, where i currently work and live.

In the last 2 months i’ve been working on a concept for a fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine (size: 230mmx290mm) for women and in the last days i came back to the issue of typeface for logo.
Check the attached image and tell me what word do you read? Are there some letters that you hardly understand? Some people say the typeface i used (bodoni poster) is too bold for a magazine for women but i tried to stand out and do smth different from magazines like vogue, elle, l’officiel, bazaar, plus you can see that the magazine name is way long and strange :) that pushes me to search for a good readable typeface.
Any other suggestions of typefaces?
What typefaces you think about when i say women, fashion, beauty, lifestyle?

namy thanks,
Dumitru

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J Weltin
5.Aug.2008 5.43am
J Weltin's picture

Why always Bodoni if it is for fashion? Try something contemporary!


bobbybobo
5.Aug.2008 6.25am
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I like the feel, but I’m curious about the concept behind it.
Can you tell something about that?


terminaldesign
5.Aug.2008 6.38am
terminaldesign's picture

If you are going to keep that approach, I suggest you make it much more contrasty. Thin down those thin strokes till it hurts!

JamesM


poms
5.Aug.2008 7.00am
poms's picture

I could imagine that this was a packaging from a household supply store in the early 1960s, where grandmum bought some quite expensive tableware. No direct connection to a cliche fashion mag, right now. Is that what you want?

PS
I read “Stiluette” and i understand it as a combination of “Stil” (style) and “Siluette” (silhouette)


naoiseo
5.Aug.2008 3.38pm
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This might be pushing the boat out a bit here but Wyld by Subtype is a stunning contemporary face, clearly designed with fashion magazines in mind. Definitely worth a look I think even if it’s legibility isn’t great.

Otherwise you could try a different tack altogether. Affair by Alejandro Paul has a very feminine feel and with it’s huge set of ligatures I’m sure you could create something very exiting indeed.

Here it is put to great use on a business card by Conor & David.

Fell
5.Aug.2008 11.24pm
Fell's picture

My initial intuition tagged it for the early ’70s.
I am fond of the typeface, however.

What really matters is a) who the audience is and b) what you’re trying to convey to them. Define that, and you’ll narrow your search down for an appropriate typeface.


dumitru
6.Aug.2008 1.07am
dumitru's picture

@J Weltin
Agree, but Agilita is good for inside pages, now for a magazine title.

@bobbybobo
What i am doing now it supposed to be a redesign of the magazine. Attached is the previous logo, that is more about silhouette, and less about style. They asked for smth more readable, bold and stylish.

@terminaldesign
Thin down those thin strokes till it hurts! What do you mean?

@poms
:)
I guess you took the whole image I attached as a design. I tried to show there just the type of the logo and how it looks on the shape of the cover, because as you see the margins of the logo are cut by the margins of the cover.
PS. Indeed, it is about style and silhouette :)

@naoiseo
Wyld looks great, and could be a gooood contrast with the bold magazine title.
Sure i will try to use Affair in the concept, i just bought it :)

@Fell
a) Women, 20-40 years interested in fashion, beauty, lifestyle.
b) trying to show them that we have fashion in our country :)


dumitru
6.Aug.2008 1.09am
dumitru's picture

Old logo:


poms
6.Aug.2008 1.30am
poms's picture

Another inspiration perhaps, Giorgio by C. Schwartz.
http://christianschwartz.com/giorgio.shtml
Ok it’s not bold, but has a certain power and charme.

What terminaldesign probably meant, put the stroke contrast to an extreme. Make the Thins so “hairline” that it hurts, nearly invisible. Tension-filled.

I guess you took the whole image I attached as a design. I tried to show there just the type of the logo and how it looks on the shape of the cover, because as you see the margins of the logo are cut by the margins of the cover.

Yes, i thought something like that, but couldn’t resist to tell my first impression … :)


dumitru
6.Aug.2008 2.15am
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Thanks poms, thanks everybody


dumitru
6.Aug.2008 6.19am
dumitru's picture

there is a cover sample bellow.
i had in mind to use Helvetica Neue for this magazine and have a look how it works with magazine title and Affair font.


bobbybobo
6.Aug.2008 6.51am
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Nice touch, but to be honoust … I don’t see what is different between this and already existing magazines. But again. Nice job.


terminaldesign
6.Aug.2008 9.12am
terminaldesign's picture

What I mean is that the thin strokes of the letterforms should be made thinner than they are now. Increase the contrast by making all of those thin strokes thinner. I don’t know how to say it any clearer.


dumitru
6.Aug.2008 11.52pm
dumitru's picture

hm, i can’t go thinner with Helvetica Neue, that’s the thinnest they have (Ultra Light).
Anyway, thanks a lot, i will show you more when it’s done.
best,
Dumitru


Urquell
7.Aug.2008 1.07am
Urquell's picture

I don’t know how to say it any clearer.

Not easy, but I’ll try make it clearer :-)

Dumitru, James is trying to tell you to increase the contrast in Stiluette. Contrast is about the difference between thin and bold parts of a character, not the weight of the typeface (so Helvetica Ultra Light has naearly no contrast and modern typefaces as Didot, Bodoni has it plenty). See images below. BTW I quite like your cover sample.

before:

after:

Best,
A.


bobbybobo
7.Aug.2008 1.10am
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I learned something new here too.
;-)


poms
7.Aug.2008 2.25am
poms's picture

Bodoni Poster italic shows something which is to prissy, to nice in my opinion. And maybe i’ve seen it too often …


dumitru
7.Aug.2008 5.14am
dumitru's picture

@Urquell
thanks, i got it now :)


naoiseo
7.Aug.2008 7.54am
naoiseo's picture

The gold really seals it Dumitru. I assume this will be printed in a gold pantone? Affair looks great. Looking at it now my earlier suggestion of Wyld wouldnt suit at all. Nice work!


bobbybobo
7.Aug.2008 9.08am
bobbybobo's picture

Nice job indeed!


dumitru
8.Aug.2008 12.47am
dumitru's picture

thanks to all, couldn’t make it without your help


Stefan Seifert
8.Aug.2008 7.14am
Stefan Seifert's picture

Hi Dumitru,

I appreciate the classic look, records Valentino’s work.
In general I find the title very nice, even it is very classic and not that new (doesn’t hurt in my eyes that it is so).
But would be better if you would find another solution for the „first number“ button.
Makes the whole title look cheap somehow in my opinion.
Seocnd I did like the Helvetica in black more. More elegant and classy.
Thinner hairlines in the title: Much better!
Did you try Didot faces instead of Bodoni?

salute
Stefan

Don’t forget to abolish this button!! ;-)


dumitru
9.Aug.2008 2.45am
dumitru's picture

@Stefan Seifert

I tried Didot and my conclusion was that Didot is not for this long title - Stiluette.
Thanks for remarks about the button :)

D.