One typeface that stood out to me is Baskerville due to the creative value that it offers. When first looking at the font, the first word that comes to my mind is simplistic. This is because it seems like a typical font you would find in a news article. The classification that the typeface, Baskerville, resides in is serif or more specifically transitional serif. This font seems basic, but when adjusting the weight, it seems to be more eye-catching to the viewer.
The Baskerville font was designed in 1754 in Birmingham, England. John Baskerville was a servant for a clergy who recognized his penmanship talents and helped support him to learn writing. Baskerville worked on print technology and he worked to create a black ink color from boiling linseed oil (http://idsgn.org/).
Furthermore, this font seems to be used for many professional pieces. Examples of this are spec sheets, news articles, magazines and websites. According to Fontslate.info, it is used “to add length and importance to a manuscript.” Basically, it helps to use the font because of the amount of space it takes up. Some characters are widened and made more round and there is more of a contrast between the thick and thin strokes. Some other professional pieces that you could use the font Baskerville with are: promotional signs, advertisements and flyers.
Even though this font is very professional, when looking at it, I would describe it as a professional font with a fun spin on it. Baskerville is similar to many fonts out there, but it does have a couple distinguishing characteristics that separates the font from the rest. One obvious different characteristic is the thickness of the lettering. The lettering is bulkier than other typefaces which makes it stand out more. For example, the “B” in Baskerville has a wide thickness and seems very dense. Another thing that I noticed is that the spacing between each of the letters is tight and close together. This eliminates most of the empty space between the lettering due to the type being tightly packed. Baskerville also seems to be rounded smoothly which gives it more of a casual or relaxed vibe. For example, the “a” in Baskerville has a rounded bowl on the left side of the letter. The thickness of the lettering flows equally throughout every letter as you would see in any typical typeface. Also, something else that I noticed about this font is how the lettering is close together. When saying this, I am talking about the default version of the font Baskerville. The tightness of lettering is a common pattern that I see when typing in Baskerville.
This font appeals to me because you can use it an almost any situation. It fits the style for professional documents and spec sheets, but also can be used in a fun magazine by adjusting the major principles. Some of these principles include font weight, color and direction. These principles basically alter the visual representation of every single font. They are useful to put a different spin and perspective on the font being used. Overall, this font seems to work all around due to it being used in multiple professional and casual scenarios. Baskerville has been around for a while and does not look like it is going anywhere anytime soon.
Work Cited
Baskerville, J. (1970, January 01). Baskerville. Retrieved from http://fontslate.info/typefaces/baskerville.html
Yau, C. (2010, October 26). Idsgn (a design blog). Retrieved from http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-baskerville/
Writing for Visual Media 