I’m crazy about fonts. My favorite part of any text editing software is the drop down menu for picking fonts. When I look at any text, I try to identify the font. Roboto is my favorite font.

我為字體瘋狂。 在任何文本編輯軟件中，我最喜歡的部分是用于選擇字體的下拉菜單。 查看任何文本時，我都會嘗試識別字體。 Roboto是我最喜歡的字體。

I wanted to write an article describing how fascinated I am by typography, and how much I care for good typefaces when I do my design work. This fascination is not recent, in fact, I’ve liked experimenting with different fonts and text styles ever since I could operate a computer. I wanted to start with a story, to show you how I got started. It’ll be a trip down memory lane for most of you as well.

我想寫一篇文章，描述我對版式的著迷，以及在我進行設計工作時，我對好的字體有多大的關注。 這種迷戀并不是最近，實際上，自從我可以操作計算機以來，我就喜歡嘗試不同的字體和文本樣式。 我想從一個故事開始，向您展示如何開始。 對于大多數人來說，這也是一次記憶之旅。

I was eight years old and already hooked to computers at that age. I remember sitting in front of the Windows XP boot screen, waiting for the wallpaper with the green hill and blue sky to appear on the monitor. After hearing the sweet login sound and hitting Refresh a couple of times for good measure, I would open the DOS Games’ folder and play Doom.

我八歲，那時已經迷上了計算機。 我記得坐在Windows XP啟動屏幕前，等待綠色的山丘和藍天的墻紙出現在監視器上。 聽見甜美的登錄聲音并按幾次“刷新”后，我將打開DOS游戲的文件夾并播放Doom。

When I was not IDKFAing and killing Imps, I would be on Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint was my playground. My canvas and my toy set. The best part about PowerPoint was the WordArt feature. All day I would just click the WordArt button and make all sorts of text. Crazy rainbow-colored ones, 3D ones and text that looked like fire, grass, and metal. I perceived them in 3D because WordArt gave me an option to draw text with all sorts of texture and perspective effects.

當我不使用IDKFAing并殺死Imps時，我將使用Microsoft PowerPoint。 PowerPoint是我的游樂場。 我的帆布和玩具套裝。 有關PowerPoint的最佳部分是藝術字功能。 一整天，我只要單擊藝術字按鈕，然后輸入各種文字即可。 瘋狂的彩虹色，3D文本和看起來像火，草和金屬的文字。 我用3D感知了它們，因為藝術字使我可以選擇繪制具有各種紋理和透視效果的文本。

I wasn’t studying Physics at that time obviously, but there are some simple laws of physics that your brain applies quite intuitively. I still remember thinking while playing around in 3D WordArt, that certain fonts looked “stable”, while with others I felt like they would tumble down in the wind, or rock unsteadily because they had weird bottoms.

顯然我當時沒有在學習物理，但是有一些簡單的物理定律可以讓您的大腦直觀地運用。 我仍然記得在3D藝術字中玩耍時會想到某些字體看起來“穩定”，而與其他字體相比，我感覺它們會在風中跌落，或者因為底部怪異而不穩定地搖擺。

I grew up, but my interest in PowerPoint did not diminish easily. I made quiz games in it. I made animations. Still, despite all the new improvements in the sleek Ribbon interface or the new 3D transitions, the font selection dropdown was the feature I interacted with the most. I noticed that I was picking fonts based on the text that I had written. If the text was serious, I had a set of fonts that made it feel serious. If I wanted to be crazy, there were fonts that suggested a more exciting nature. Typefaces started to become more fascinating to me.

我長大了，但是對PowerPoint的興趣并沒有輕易減少。 我在里面做了問答游戲。 我做了動畫。 盡管如此，盡管在時尚的Ribbon功能區中進行了所有新改進或在新的3D過渡中進行了字體選擇，但下拉菜單仍是我最常與之交互的功能。 我注意到我是根據我寫的文字來選擇字體的。 如果文字很嚴肅，我有一套字體會讓我覺得很嚴肅。 如果我想發瘋，那么有些字體暗示了更令人興奮的性質。 字體開始變得更吸引我。

Try this. Look at these images, and pick out the font that you feel goes nicely with the message.

試試這個。 查看這些圖像，然后挑選出您認為與該消息配合得很好的字體。

You most likely chose the images on the left. Did the creepy ‘Trust me’ on the right make you feel like it has sinister motive?

您最有可能選擇了左側的圖像。 右邊令人毛骨悚然的“信任我”是否會讓您覺得它有陰險的動機？

How is it that the arrangement of shapes imparts an emotion or ‘feel’ to a message?

形狀的排列如何給信息傳遞情感或“感覺”？

Well, I am not going to make a deep study into why exactly, but share some concepts that I strongly feel apply to how we see fonts, among other things.

好吧，我不會深入研究其確切原因，而是分享一些我強烈認為適用于我們如何看待字體的概念。

對稱 (Symmetry)

One of them is symmetry. We humans are wired to perceive symmetry. We like things and faces that are symmetrical.

其中之一是對稱性。 我們人類渴望感知對稱。 我們喜歡對稱的事物和面Kong。

Also, there is a lot of physics we apply as part of our visual perception of nature. We can predict how an object may interact with forces, for example due to wind, gravity and touch, based on its shape, texture, transculency and other visual aspects. We intuitively apply concepts of mass, and gravity pulling on a structure downwards. The structure will most likely tilt in the direction of the side with more mass. With a structure that has bottom symmetry, it will not happen. The structure stands strong.

另外，我們將許多物理學應用為對自然的視覺感知的一部分。 我們可以根據對象的形狀，紋理，透明性和其他視覺方面，預測對象如何與例如由于風，重力和觸摸而產生的力相互作用。 我們直觀地應用質量和??重力的概念將結構向下拉。 該結構很可能會以更大的質量沿側面方向傾斜。 具有底部對稱的結構將不會發生。 結構堅固。

You can split this vertically in half from the center, and get two very similar pieces.

您可以從中心垂直將其拆分為一半，并獲得兩個非常相似的片段。

But with this:

但是與此：

It has a bias. It does not have symmetry.

它有偏見。 它沒有對稱性。

清晰度 (Sharpness)

Look at the edges and corners of this serif font (serifs are the line like strokes at the ends of a letter) They look sharp. The lines are straight, and the tips feel like they can puncture. Imagine making one with real life materials. They look like they’d be made using accurate machining equipment, by an expert chiseler. Any tiny imperfection, like a serif broken off or bent, and it will lose its quality. You cannot replicate the print of such a typeface using handwriting tools. It imparts that kind of serious, perfect, professional feel to the text. The text will feel more genuine, like a lot of work has been put into it.

查看此襯線字體的邊緣和角落(襯線是字母結尾處的線條，如筆畫)。它們看起來很清晰。 線條是筆直的，筆尖感覺像是可以刺破。 想象一下用現實生活中的材料制作一個。 它們看起來像是由專業鑿子使用精密加工設備制造的。 任何細微的瑕疵，例如襯線折斷或彎曲，都會失去質量。 您無法使用手寫工具復制此類字體的打印。 它賦予文本那種嚴肅，完美，專業的感覺。 文本會感覺更真實，就像已投入大量工作一樣。

Look at a handwriting font. The ends are often rounded, soft and safe. The curves look hand drawn by humans. It is alright that the curves look irregular because it has a very organic, personal feel to it. The strokes may also resemble the strokes that a real writing instrument like a pencil, pen or marker makes. If you read something written in handwriting font, it will feel like a letter that someone has written by hand. The text will have a more personal meaning, and bring out the emotional nature of the opinions and thoughts expressed within it.

看一下手寫字體。 末端通常是圓形的，柔軟且安全的。 曲線看起來是人類手工繪制的。 沒關系，曲線看起來不規則，因為它具有非常有機的個人感覺。 這些筆劃也可能類似于鉛筆，鋼筆或記號筆之類的真正書寫工具所產生的筆劃。 如果您閱讀用手寫字體寫的東西，那會感覺就像是別人親手寫的一封信。 文本將具有更多的個人含義，并帶出其中表達的觀點和思想的情感本質。

類似于現實世界的效果 (Resemblance to real world effects)

If you write something with wet paint, some of it will drip, and give it a melting effect. If you tear or shred something, it will have rough, inconsistent edges. Big and shiny objects bring excitement. Regular, geometric shapes do not occur frequently in nature, and most of the items that have a strong consistent geometry are produced with refined machinery, a luxury that science and progress has given us. Strong consistent geometry represents the future. It takes a great deal of work and skill to make elaborate, complex structures, and the calligrapher must be committed and experienced in his craft to maintain his consistent, elaborate strokes. Just like art styles, text styles are also influenced by their time period, and their history is as long, diverse and true like the evolution of languages and accents.

如果您用濕的油漆寫東西，其中的一些會滴落并融化。 如果您撕裂或切碎某些東西，其邊緣會變得粗糙，不一致。 大而有光澤的物體帶來興奮。 規則的幾何形狀在自然界中不經常出現，并且具有堅固一致的幾何形狀的大多數物品都是用精致的機械生產的，這是科學和進步賦予我們的一種奢侈。 堅固一致的幾何形狀代表著未來。 制作精致，復雜的結構需要大量的工作和技巧，而書法家必須在自己的Craft.io上執著和有經驗，才能保持一致，精致的筆觸。 就像藝術風格一樣，文字樣式也受其時間段的影響，其歷史與語言和口音的演變一樣悠久，多樣且真實。

Fonts use shapes and fine detail that represent those qualities I listed above. Here, take a look:

字體使用的形狀和精細的細節代表了我上面列出的那些品質。 在這里，看看：

Yes, typefaces are classified into many groups based on many factors, and all of this has been scientifically grouped and studied. This article isn’t about the technical anatomy of typefaces. It’s about how we connect to fonts, intuitively.

是的，字體是基于許多因素而分為許多組的，所有這些都已經過科學地分組和研究。 本文與字體的技術解剖無關。 關于我們如何直觀地連接字體。

Designers know the importance of good typefaces. It’s a very useful study, as typefaces can influence people’s emotion, and therefore plays a very important role in Poster Design, Logo Design and branding. Typefaces are a reflection of culture and style, as real and distinct as fashion in clothing.

設計師知道好的字體的重要性。 這是一項非常有用的研究，因為字體會影響人們的情緒，因此在海報設計，徽標設計和品牌推廣中起著非常重要的作用。 字體反映了文化和風格，與服裝中的時裝一樣真實而獨特。

I like how astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson describes our desire to make things beautiful. In a Hot Ones interview, he says that humans have a desire to bring pleasure to the senses. There’s beautiful art and architecture to see with our eyes. There’s beautiful music for our ears’ pleasure. We enjoy eating refined, tasty, flavorful foods.

我喜歡天體物理學家尼爾·德格拉斯·泰森(Neil deGrasse Tyson)博士描述我們使事物變得美麗的愿望。 他在接受Hot Hots采訪時說，人類渴望為感官帶來愉悅。 我們的眼睛可以看到美麗的藝術和建筑。 有美妙的音樂讓我們耳目一新。 我們喜歡吃精致，美味，可口的食物。

As part of visual expression, we do the same to our words.

作為視覺表達的一部分，我們對文字進行相同的處理。

Typography is an art. It imparts emotion to text. They are a persistent method of retaining personal expression, as they carry emotional information while their ASCII or Unicode sequences encode textual information. There is a reason why there are thousands of fonts out there. If we did not value the emotional side of visual design, all our text would be in Courier.

排版是一門藝術。 它賦予文本情感。 它們是保留個人表達的一種持久方法，因為它們承載情感信息，而它們的ASCII或Unicode序列編碼文本信息。 有一個原因為什么那里有成千上萬種字體。 如果我們不重視視覺設計的情感方面，那么我們所有的文字都將在Courier中使用。

Also, in a very beautiful way, it’s a science too! Every time you browse through fonts in the drop down menu, your brain performs all these different processes, it applies those intuitive concepts and associations with real life experiences, to influence your selection of fonts!

而且，以一種非常美麗的方式，它也是一門科學！ 每次您在下拉菜單中瀏覽字體時，您的大腦都會執行所有這些不同的過程，它將這些直觀的概念和與現實生活中的體驗聯系起來，從而影響您對字體的選擇！

Fonts are fascinating, aren’t they?

字體很有趣，不是嗎？

(Hope you enjoyed this short read. I’d love to hear from you. Let’s talk design!)

(希望您喜歡這篇簡短的讀物。我希望收到您的來信。讓我們談談設計！)