Typefaces: Serif vs. Sans-Serif
For me, “how those letters look like?” is always a question that I am considering when I do my design work. Before learning it, I know different typefaces look different and give various feelings to audiences. Even before this class, I will use different fonts in different situations.
Serif
This type of font gives me a feeling of solemnity and seriousness. I will use it in the body copy of my slides as it looks like the one from the real book. But I don’t use it a lot since “solemnity” is not my design style. The other reason might be that I think the word “book” is usually associated with “boring”.
Sans Serif
My first choice. This is the most common typeface in my design works. I like it because it is tight and neat. If you make it bold, bigger, and change another color, it will be striking and eye-catching. It meets most of my needs in my design process.
What about Italic?
I also use italic a lot in my design process when I quote from other sources. As you will notice on this page, I also use italic to separate different sections. I don’t really have the feeling of elegance from the italic. I use it because it is different, and my audience can directly notice it once they see my design works. It allows me to naturally separate different parts without inserting lots of white spaces.
Sans-Serif & Serif in Chinese
Similarly, there is also the system of “Serif” and “Sans-Serif” in Chinese.
Even though we don’t use the jargon “Serif” and “Sans-Serif” in China, we do use these two different typefaces in our daily lives. When you compare two different typefaces in China, you can find the difference, the same as the one between sans-serif and serif.
In traditional Chinese calligraphy, you can usually see serif typeface.
In modern China, “Songti” is another common serif typeface that we usually use. Similar to other serif typefaces in English, “Songti” gives the feeling of solemnity as well. Therefore, we usually use this typeface in formal occasion.
“Weiruanyahei” is the most common sans-serif typeface we use.
CM323 Design Sketchbook 