My fiancee and I both fell in love with a poster we found at a thrift store yesterday. The poster depicts a caricature of a horse in lion tamer's garb with a whip, holding a top hat in one hoof. He looks ornery. The background sans serif type reads “CYRK.”
We all learn from our mistakes. In an ideal world, we may even learn from the mistakes of others and then not make our own.
In this light, I want to tell you a story about choosing paper for a brochure print job I designed about twenty years ago. My boss, the Director of Publications, suggested that I print the brochure on a warm coated custom printing stock to differentiate it from other marketing materials we had been circulating. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I would encourage you to use Google Images (as well as Google Web) to find samples of each type characteristic or category. Type "Google Images," then search for "Modern" Type, for instance. You can find detailed images and descriptions in this way.
Understanding color and using it well in your commercial printing and web design can be a major challenge for some and a natural, intuitive process for others. For me it took a lot of study, but I was fortunate to have found many useful books on color over the years. I would encourage you to do the same. When done with a critical eye and observant personality, learning about color can be a rewarding life challenge.
Here are a few more facts and suggestions regarding fonts, a topic about which volumes could be written.
More Type Distinctions
“Regular,” “Bold,” “Semibold”--the list goes on. The best way to acquaint yourself with the font choices available to you in InDesign (or any other page composition software package) is to select “Font” under the “Type” menu and review the pop-up font listing menu (or you can do the same thing if you have a font management utility such as Suitcase).
I heard some affirming words from a custom printing client a few days ago (even though I didn't get the work). I had suggested that she consider the prices of a printer in the Southwest who had just bid on a small saddle-stitched booklet. His price for printing the 5.5” x 8.5” 12-page booklet was a bit high, but his combined printing and mailshop prices were very attractive.