Plaque Fonts

[Steve Clarkson]

I have to do my first plaques.....what are the standard plaque fonts that should be used? Just Ariel and Times New Roman?

[Mike Null]

Steve

Take a look a suppliers web sites to get an idea. One thing you shouldn't do is use more than two fonts--sometimes three. The other thing to remember is to allow a margin all the way around on the plaque. You do not give the customer a better value by making everything as large as possible.

Be sure to note the fonts in the customer's file for future reference. (yes the file will open with the right fonts but what if you've lost the font, changed pc's etc.)

Sometimes a flourish will add to the look.

Victory, Tropar and JDS are good sites to check.

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Null]

Steve

One important thing I forgot.

Learned it from Roy Brewer and use it everyday.

Let's say you type your name, then highlight it using the text tool, press control, shift, k. and voila, you have upper and lower caps.

[Jacob Hebert]

For plaques that I do, I usually use Goudy Handtooled with upper/lower caps for names. It gives it that extra flourish that our customers love.

Other fonts that are nice for use on plaques are Invitation and Zapf Chancery. People seem to love those somewhat "fancy block" fonts.

Also, a good border for a plaque can sometimes go a long way. I have a simple corner-cut setup that I made for use with our notching/hole tool.

I hope I helped a bit. :D

[Steve Clarkson]

You guys did help alot.....thanks!

I know I have goudy, but I'll look for the other two you mentioned.

It's for Boyscouts, so I was thinking about doing a border of fleur de lis.

[Dee Gallo]

Steve-

Whenever I'm designing for an existing company which has its own logo, I look at the logo for which typeface THEY chose first, and then know what family of fonts to choose from.

There are Roman (thick and thin- tends to look more formal) and Monoline (all the same thickness- tends to look more casual). Then you have serif and sans serif. Script and Text ("Old English") can be either Roman or Monoline, with corresponding flourishes and swashes.

It's not "good form" to mix the types (Roman-Monoline) and probably safest to use only two fonts on one page. You can use different forms of the same font such as italic, bold, outline, etc. for variety.

Just a few guidelines for ya, dee

[Scott Shepherd]

Steve

One important thing I forgot.

Learned it from Roy Brewer and use it everyday.

Let's say you type your name, then highlight it using the text tool, press control, shift, k. and voila, you have upper and lower caps.

Excellent tip, thanks Mike, and thanks Roy! I've been doing this visually and manually. Nice to do it in one pop now.

That was worth my $6 right there :)

[Jacob Hebert]

Wow, I've been doing this using the Character Formatting docker for the longest time. It's nice to now know the shortcut! Thanks for making this one step easier. :D

[Scott M Smith]

In X4, you push shift +F3 and select sentence case.

[Steve Clarkson]

There are Roman (thick and thin- tends to look more formal) and Monoline (all the same thickness- tends to look more casual). Then you have serif and sans serif. Script and Text ("Old English") can be either Roman or Monoline, with corresponding flourishes and swashes.


I know that there are alot of rules....written and unwritten,,,,,about choosing which fonts to use.....whether it be for a plaque, a sign, an advertisement, etc.......that's exactly why I thought it best to ask!

Thanks!!!!!!

[John Noell]

I think it is the same in X3. BUT, you only get the small caps if the entire thing is already in upper case. If you have type all lowercase, Sentence Case simply caps the initial letter. Shift-Ctrl K works a bit differently. It toggles between what you typed and what Mike described (initial big cap followed by the rest in small caps).

[Mike Null]

Steve

Some people are fond of saying "you need to think outside the box", I'm not one of them but here's an example of where it can literally pay off.

Standard thinking is that plaques should be laid out with a more or less rectangular form or in a diamond shape but sometimes letting your creative juices flow pays off.

The award shown is a plain glass award with a stainless support that I had the supplier paint and blast to my design. The design uses the customers colors and an element of their logo which has been blacked out for security purposes. (I love you guys but I'm not giving my customer list)

This is the fourth year the customer has used this award.

All the black actually is the frosted color of sandblasted glass.

[Dee Gallo]

Mike,

I love the concept of glass for a plaque. Is it painted on the back or do you maintain the clear glass and metal look...which I think would be so cool. The shot of colors is just enough but not overpowering - very nice job!

cheers, dee

[Mike Null]

Dee

Thank you. The colors are screened on the back and the blasting on the front.

[Mike Null]

Here's from the supplier's catalog--another idea.

[Dee Gallo]

I like your layout a lot better!

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks for the ideas Mike.......and I like your layout better too!