Creative Cut: The Power of Type

For text pulled from a database, such as product copy, Goodman continues, one must use HTML fonts. “So keep it large enough to be readable, and don’t reverse type out of colors unless absolutely necessary and [unless] the type is still large enough to be readable.”

Helen Bartley, vice president of advertising (responsible for Web, retail and catalog) at The Territory Ahead, says the typeface Goudy “in all its incarnations” has been the signature typeface for the catalog since inception. “It’s dignified. It’s not a nostalgic catalog, but we wanted an elegant typeface, so we picked an older one.” While serif typefaces are considered more readable, Bartley points out that serifs have their drawbacks deriving from the printing and readability issues with “thicks and thins.” Serif is not always so readable when run small, especially when it’s “knocked out” (reversed)— “You’ll have better luck with a sans serif in those cases.” The “postcards” (see above) in Territory Ahead’s Indian Summer catalog employ the Cohin typeface because the black-and-white photos and captions are considered editorial content—set apart from the rest of the body copy. The catalog issue’s title, “The Lost Coast,” is printed in a font developed from the actual handwriting of artist Edward Hopper (not shown). For the Isabella Bird catalog, also published by Territory Ahead, the Optima font is used.