Ah type, what would we do without it? For some designers type is something that needs to go somewhere on the web page and they would rather not think too much about it. For other designers type is an exciting design element which is intrinsic to the look and feel of the work.
Here are nine web sites where bold letters are clearly celebrated. These sites have not been chosen because the designer puts “Hello” in a size 200 sans serif, these sites are a little bit different …
Nivard Thoes is a graphic designer whose website uses a grid of rollover images. The text is big and black on white and bold and white on black.
Grip Unlimited’s site is Flash-based with sliding panels and big type reminiscent of old printed posters.
WHIT is the fashion website of Whitney Pozgay. Huge black letters on white space with the letter I replaced by a model.
Journey To Zero is a little unusual in terms of navigation but has beautiful type throughout.
Carsonified is regularly featured on web design showcases because of their nicely designed site which features big slab fonts combined with interesting illustrations.
The Girl Effect is a beautifully designed and illustrated site dedicated to education and awareness of female poverty worldwide. There is a hand-drawn feel to both the images and the lovely use of typography.
I have to admit I found the navigation on this flash website to be intensely annoying, but I do like the use of type and the designer has some excellent work well worth checking out in the portfolio section.
Pieoneers, a web design company combine colorful illustration with big hand-drawn typography to produce interesting headings on each page.
Silly Poems For Even Sillier Kids uses large brightly colored type to appeal to their target audience of … silly kids.
What do you think of these sites and their use of bold typography? What other sites have you seen using large type to good effect?
Jennifer Farley is a designer, illustrator and design instructor based in Ireland. She writes about design and illustration on her blog at Laughing Lion Design.