Book Font Research.

In this blog I will research 1950's children's illustration font styles, so that if the need of adding text arises, I can pick the right style, that will go with my illustrations straight away, with no delay.

1950's illustration as we know now, tends to contain pastel tones, so if I used for example, a blue background for a piece, or as the book cover, I will need to use a font colour that stands out on the page. A strong colour for blue, is yellow and certain shades of red.

http://image0-rubylane.s3.amazonaws.com/shops/timemachinecollectibles/7552.1L.jpg?30 < image reference at this link.

The example of books above, shows a selection of font types, and also how colour is used. As you can see, yellow text is used on the colour red, it is also used on the colour blue. This technique of using colour really allows the wording to stand out, which is what you need on a book, of any kind. So before I go into detail about my font, I just thought I'd mention font colour, as this is a very important aspect too.

This link > (http://www.acefreefonts.com/c-1950s.html) really offers a great selection of different 1950's style font-types. Some of them in my opinion are more suited for use in a children's book than others however, so I am just using this research as reference.

http://www.acefreefonts.com/c-1950s.html < screenshot of image, reference at this link.

Out of this particular webpage, the font style that seems to appeal to me most, are the ones that I detail below.

http://www.acefreefonts.com/font-12007-Floraless.html < screenshot image reference, at this link.

http://www.acefreefonts.com/font-12007-Floraless.html < screenshot image reference, at this link.

After looking for relevant books on 1950's illustration in the library here, I found this book (below). It is a very helpful book, that is based entirely on 1950's illustrations for such things as books and magazines. I will include some sample images from the book's pages here.

Image reference - Book: the 1950's scrapbook, Author:

I was also thinking about using my own handwriting, if I just make certain letters more rounded, however I would like to try and emulate an existing typefont, to be accurate with the 1950's style.


I will update when I decide on a font type.

Update:

The font type I will be using on the front cover of my book, will be the font entitled 'Floraless'. An example of this text, is toward the top of this blog page. I am still unsure of which font I will use inside, as I would like it to be different to the front cover font.

Update 2:
I have made the decision, to eliminate the use of typography and letters, except in the case of my final obviously. I feel that the inclusion of text around the letters created for learning, will act against the simplistic theme, and distract the reader from the key letter.
Also as for the front cover, I feel this would perhaps take the attention away from the illustration on the cover, and the way it looks right now, to me is enticing. It catches the viewers attention, and draws them into further examination of the book, something front cover text would lessen.

Thomas.