Wednesday, January 16, 2008

best ever "waste" of paper?

(fonts pictured, from top: wizardry, fishbowl, la hotel viver, the quiet scream, pass the chex, quick-o-meter, chic decay, tattoo ink, samarkan, sidewalk)

ok, this sounds NUTS (even by my standards!) but last year i printed out all of my fonts and put the pages into a notebook.

see? i did say, as you'll recall, "this sounds nuts"! (and you thought i was kidding?!) it's so nuts, in fact, that even *I* could see it, and resisted doing it for six months after i thought of the idea, on the grounds that it would be a gi-nor-mous waste of paper and take forever to do. as it happens i was correct on both counts: it took most of a weekend (every time i was near my computer i sat down and formatted a couple of fonts using a simple template) and used up almost a whole package of (the cheaper, thinner) printer paper.

...BUT...

every single time i sit down to design labels, announcements, or ANYTHING text-based it not only makes it EASIER...it actually saves me a ton of time and test printings and adjusting and fiddling and...well, let's just say that within a week of doing this i was convinced that it was not only NOT NUTS, in fact, for *me* this was an unbelievably helpful idea!

i divided my notebook into sections that reflect my most common font-uses: plain paragraph fonts, funkier paragraph fonts, bolder fonts for headlines, script and italics, all caps, display fonts (really fancy ones that are more of a design element than text; and generally harder to read) and dingbats.

(the basic page template, which features: uppercase, lowercase, numerals, punctuation & symbols, and a short formatted paragraph)

now i'm not saying EVERYONE should do this, but if you happen to be one of those "visual" people (the ones who, if you can't SEE what you have, you might as well not have it...!) this might just help! then there's the fact that free fonts (which constitute probably 99% of my collection) are of varying quality; some having numerals, symbols and punctuation...and some not. if you want to make address labels, the coolest font in the world is utterly useless if it doesn't have numerals, or if they were an after-thought and don't coordinate well with the text! or let's say you're making something fancy for someone called "riley"...no matter how much you love a particular font, if the "R" isn't nice...well, it's not really going to work out, is it??



one thing i definitely WOULD recommend to all font-fanciers is to print out all of your dingbats. place the uppercase and lowercase symbols in the same postion each time, and then stick your printouts in a folder. store them with your stamps or your rub-ons, or anywhere convenient, and i guarantee you will start to use them A LOT more often!

but if i see you at staples, buying a binder and an oversized pack of printer paper...don't worry...i won't tell anyone what you're up to! :)

11 comments:

  1. Hello - I must just tell you I've had a lovely time wandering through your bloggy bits after finding the linky at Vicious Chicken's place.

    I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I actually envy you that font folder. What a great idea.

    Take care :-) x

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  2. This is my first time to your blog, I came to find it through a friends blog...anyway my comment: you are not alone on the font printing, my husband thought I was crazy but I have used it a ton since doing it and find it very helpful!!! In the end not a waste at all! "E"

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  3. i think this is a WONDERFUL idea!!! not nuts in the slightest!!!

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  4. Lauren THANK YOU so much! Now I must be nuts too, as I have done this with my fonts.( and it is extremely helpful!) but I have only recently thought about dingbats,you have just reminded me that I scribbled down some notes on what my dingbats are, and that I wanted to use them! I totally forgot!! Off to print out some dingbats now! xx

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  5. not a bit nuts
    at all
    i would like to do it cos i am one of those visual people - outta sight outta mind. i hate the way i have to pull them all up every time i wanna choose one.. total pita!

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  6. What a brilliant idea .... thanks for the tip.

    And I love those Dingbats .... so cute!

    :)

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  7. I think its genius!

    Have I told you lately what a rockstar you are?

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  8. Hey Lauren! What a specatular idea. I am in awe of your paper capability.

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  9. Hey Lauren I found your blog through mypaperworld. And WOW boy would i LOVE to do this!
    Although i have a question that may sound stupid. What are dingbats? :)
    I think i will be visiting your blog alot more often, you are VERY helpful!
    xx

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  10. Lauren, if you're nuts, so am I. I did this awhile back with the sad number of fonts that I had.

    Now I have like a trillion (alright that might be a *slight* exaggeration) and really need to consider doing it again, but oh the time it takes. I remember that part, and I have more than DOUBLE what I had before. Except you're right - you do use them more when they are easily seen.

    Thank you for the incredibly sweet comments on my cards I made. You make awesome things too, I've spent a great deal of time looking through your blog! Thank you for stopping by and I know I will be back here. :D

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the *BEST* part of blogging is the comments, dontcha think? thanks for taking time to leave one! ~♥~