Lesson 3: Assignment

1. Create a single typeface document.
   Instead of taking a document with too many fonts and trying to tone it down, you’re going to go in the opposite direction. Take the following text and format it using only one typeface. You can use the same font in multiple sizes as well as bold and italic versions but use only the same typeface throughout. Choose the margins, font sizes, and style of bullets. If you want, add color, a drop cap, a pull-quote, and even clip art. Come up with a layout — using only one typeface — that you like.

    {Headline}
    Is Freelance Design and Publishing the Right Career for You?
    {Subheading} 
   Entrepreneurship requires more than design talent
    {Body}
    So you think you want to start your own business? Friends tell you that you’ve got a flair for making good-looking business cards and fliers. You’ve got an inkjet printer and an old copy of QuarkXPress. You’re ready to start getting paid for doing something you enjoy. Wait! First, find out if a freelance business is the right move for you.
    {Paragraph}
    Successful freelancing requires more than artistic talent or software proficiency. If a desktop publishing or graphic design business are your goal those are needed skills; but, first determine that you have the personality required to work for yourself.
    {Paragraph}
    Do you work well on your own, without direct supervision? Are you willing to get away from the computer and go hustle up clients? Can you sustain the level of productivity necessary to make a living doing what you enjoy (design) while also tackling the jobs you might not enjoy (bookkeeping, sales)? 
    {Subhead}
    Running a Home Business 
    {Paragraph}
    Working from home is typically how most freelance designers start out. Home businesses require special talents too. Like any freelancer, you must be self-motivated, organized, and able to maintain a professional work environment in your home.
    {Paragraph}
    Working for yourself has many rewards. Just don’t go into it blindly. Here’s a short reality checklist: 
    {List}
    You don’t get to spend all your time doing design. 
   Self-employment doesn’t mean you keep all the money for yourself. 
   Business expenses are not money in the bank. 
   You can’t take off whenever you want. 

   
   
   
2. Add two more typefaces.
   Make a duplicate of the single typeface document you’ve created. Choose a different font for either the headlines and subheads or the body text. If you initially chose a serif font, make the headlines sans serif. Use a third font for some other part of the design — perhaps a drop cap or the bullet list or a pull-quote if you added one. Don’t alter the basic layout you created in Step 1, just change up the fonts.
   
   
3. Add even more fonts.
   Maintaining the same basic layout, throw a few more fonts into the mix — adding them to a duplicate of the document you created in Step 2.

   Don’t try to intentionally create an ugly document. Try to make it look good while you add those font changes.

   If you used a sans serif font for the headlines and subheads, choose a different sans serif for just the subheads. Use a different font than you’ve used before to throw some emphasis into the layout. For example, in the first paragraph make Wait! a different font than the surrounding text. Change the text of the bullet list items to an entirely different font than you’ve used anywhere else in the document. How many fonts can you squeeze in there and still have it look good and be readable?
   
   
4. Compare your results.
   Print out a copy of each of the three versions you’ve created. Compare them side-by-side. Ask friends and family to critique them as well. Which version is easier to read? Which version is more visually appealing?

Want to share your fontabulous creations with the rest of us? Log into the DTP Classroom and attach a screen shot or a PDF of pages. Tell us what you think and what others had to say about your use of fonts.

The next couple of lessons in this series cover text alignment. It may change the way you look at ragged edges, straight edges, and things that always line up right down the middle.

^{Found this page by accident? This is one of 12 lessons delivered as part of the Rules of Desktop Publishing free email class.}

Quotable Design

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