What’s your type?

[Ed. Note - Sorry for not posting in forever. Clients get priority over blogging, obviously. I'm not going to fight being busy with projects, though!]

Speaking of writers learning about graphic design, here’s a nice resource for learning about typography – “Type 101″ on Fonts.com

I admit that I know enough about typography to be dangerous. However, as I get into it, I find it more and more fascinating. In the competitive world of freelance writing and design, it’s a valuable skill to acquire. As I discovered with search engine optimization, the more I learned, the more I realized I didn’t know. It’s humbling, but constantly learning new things is what makes writing fun.

Most of the time when you submit work for publication in some market, they don’t care one wit about what you think the font should be. They have their own standards, and you should follow them, of course. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered an instance where they didn’t require submissions to be in a generic font like Courier or Times New Roman. I know the former seems antiquated, but it’s the default for many story manuscript submissions.

If you are writing a brochure, web site, or something similar for a client, your suggestions often will be somewhere between useful and essential. If you do any amount of this kind of work, start learning.

Make sure you look under “About Fonts” and “Useful Links” (in the top menu bar at Fonts.com). You’ll find much more information worth reading. I don’t know a thing about the quality of their products and services, but I found the information they provide very helpful. So check it out!