• 21 Apr

    Typography is often a deciding factor in the success of a design. Its importance cannot be overstated. Effective typography can be achieved in so many different ways, as demonstrated in the 17 different categories below.

    Some of the most common ways to treat type is with size, color variation, creative illustrations, and use of textures. The examples below are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the possibilities for type.

    Don’t be afraid to flip it, color it, resize it, draw it, or even design your own.

    Check out these fantastic 101 examples of beautiful text treatments and please let us know of any other great examples we may have missed.

    1. Illustration

    illustrate_salinas

    illustrate_axiom

    illustrate_tshirt

    illustrate_starbucks

    illustrate_baby_name

    illustrate_nudeday_2

    illustrate_mouth_teeth_2

    illustrate_viget


    2. Background Shape

    bg_black_white

    bg_emrialo

    combo_design_phunk

    bg_tennessee_2

    bg_ivan


    3. Color Change

    color_water

    color_elmwood

    color_tv

    color_vision_streetwear

    color_things_we_make

    color_matt


    4. Font Variations

    combo_islamic

    combo_chirag

    vary_virgin

    vary_giant_creative


    5. Handwritten

    combo_dimmett

    handwrite_propaganda

    handwrite_postit

    handwrite_logo_cranium

    handwrite_about

    handwrite_made_to_kill


    6. BIG

    big_blog

    big_news

    big_swroon

    big_post

    big_future_addy

    big_ds4

    big_alpha

    big_ahoj


    7. Textures

    texture_take_shape

    texture_rusty

    texture_africa_football

    texture_iamblog

    texture_green

    texture_fowd

    texture_farmer_chef

    texture_distortion


    8. Big vs. Small

    bigsmall_virtual_memories

    bigsmall_webdesign

    bigsmall_design

    bigsmall_brandon_muth

    bigsmall_omar


    9. Alignment

    align_mucho

    align_lion

    align_nathan


    10. Overlay/Transparency

    overlay_illusion_workshop

    overlay_archive

    overlay_365


    11. Angles and Curves

    angle_trinta

    angle_jlearn

    angle_pink

    angle_organic_grid

    angle_orange_box

    angle_changeing_cultures

    angle_line25


    12. Highlight

    highlight_matt

    highlight_happycog

    highlight_abc

    highlight_psd_to_xhtml

    highlight_monsieurlam


    14. 3-D

    3d_up

    3d_flash_summit

    3d_tangled

    3d_rob


    14. Custom & Unusual Fonts

    custom_longstreet


    custom_sugarland

    custom_stichify

    custom_sharon_flake

    custom_spoon

    custom_jan_riechle

    custom_nelly_furtado

    custom_fajne

    custom_kardo

    custom_brainwash

    perspective_blue_gray


    15. Outline

    outline_pop_stalin

    outline_twessage

    outline_wiki_lime

    outline_petrini

    outline_meshu

    outline_legwork


    16. Old Style/Western

    old_dollar

    old_zillionare

    old_moon


    17. Slashed Out

    slash_brad

    slash_nikola


    Combination of Techniques

    combo_24_ways

    combo_iesvs

    combo_windjammer

    combo_diseno

    custom_brad

    combo_africa

    combo_pop_tees



    Compiled exclusively for WDD by Michael Shelton. Michael is a freelancer web designer and runs his own website at Michaeladesigns.com

    What’s your favorite method? What other ways can you think of to handle type other than the categories listed here?


  • 61 Comments »

     
    #1
    M@U
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:26 am

    An epic post, I love this list! :O
    *Emm, captcha?

     
    1 Reply
     
    #2
    kunal
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:42 am

    Great roundup. I love some o fthose big blocky fonts. Any idea if there are any such available for free (for eg. the first one under ‘Big vs. Small)?

     
    1 Reply
     
    #3
    Jelle
    April 21st, 2009 at 10:57 am

    I enjoyed going through these, great collection.

     
     
    #4
    Patternhead
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:15 am

    Great design inspiration, thanks :)

     
     
    #5
    Almudena
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:38 am

    Always great to watch!!!

     
     
    #6
    MyTmG.net
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Very nice collection! Thanks WDD

     
     
    #7
    chirag
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Hi WDD,

    I am happy to see my website in your Text Treatments article. I am always read your blog and learn so many new things.

    Thank you so much.

     
     
    #8
    Crowd
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Very nice and useful list!

     
     
    #9
    Irene Demetri
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Great post!

     
     
    #10
    golchi
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    Original text designing, I personally loved “informal” ones like:
    http://www.psyop.tv/main.php
    http://www.adf.lt/
    http://logocranium.com/

     
     
    #11
    Martin - Sanders Design
    April 21st, 2009 at 1:03 pm

    A stunning collection of original designs, thanks for the inspiration

     
     
    #12
    webx
    April 21st, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    The best collection! Thanks!

     
     
    #13
    Borat
    April 21st, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    Very nice webpages and designs.. Hope one of my websites will be here, when I update design :-D

     
     
    #14
    Patrick L.
    April 21st, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    The second of the 6. Category (BIG) is wrong linked. :/

     
     
    #15
    Carl
    April 21st, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    Another thing is experimenting with transparency, embossing and also leading … lots to play with!

     
     
    #16
    Gianmarco Simone
    April 21st, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Great, great, great post :D

     
     
    #17
    Luis Eduardo
    April 21st, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Great source of inspiration, and treatment of typographie, with soo many diferent kind of styles, colors and everything, I hope i’ll have tons of ideas, for new designs.
    Great examples
    Other cool way could be like text and photographie, or substraction, or grid based.

     
     
    #18
    haniemaj22
    April 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    This one really helps and I LOVE IT! Thanks! ^-^

     
     
    #19
    Jack
    April 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    These are fatanstic!!!! Very nice list. Thanks a lot.

     
     
    #20
    Jack
    April 21st, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    Awesome collection – really inspiring!

    The very first one I thought looked a bit out of place – not the same visual quality as the rest at first glance but having looked again and visited the website (to actually see how it works) it is very impressive. National Television site has some very interesting and colourful works though less typographical than the rest.

    Thanks for putting this together – going to use this as a resource and a point of reference for some work.

     
     
    #21
    Pradeep CD
    April 21st, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Awesome list…

    I have never seen designs like these before…

    really inspired… thanks

     
     
    #22
    jeraldo
    April 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    am i the first one to comment here? haha!
    what an eye candy! very beautiful pieces of art.

     
    1 Reply
     
    #23
    bs kishore
    April 21st, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    Truly an awesome list !

     
     
    #24
    Wedding Photographer
    April 21st, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Wow, It will take me a week to go through all these designs but I already have a few really good ideas from it.

     
     
    #25
    Navdeep
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    Beautiful!

    @3drockz

     
     
    #26
    Denver Web Designer
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    Now that is a list! Great inspirational stuff here.

     
     
    #27
    Zábávná videa
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    Very nice and inspiration gallery! Thank, respect+

     
     
    #28
    Osvaldas
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    Great feeling to see my site (osvaldas.info) on the list. Thanks a lot!

     
     
    #29
    om ipit
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    typography make me feel free….
    i love this showcase…
    thankz WDD…

     
     
    #30
    Iztok
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    I’m kinda jeleous of people being so creative in visualizing their ideas. Great stuff.

     
     
    #31
    Tim
    April 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 am

    Very creative and clever use of the alphabet!

     
     
    #32
    Ron
    April 22nd, 2009 at 11:22 am

    Wow great post – i like the type on the inmeres homepage just above the car. Indexable flash, nice.

    http://www.inmeres.com

     
     
    #33
    alex
    April 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    great collection

     
     
    #34
    aledesign.it
    April 22nd, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    wow wow wow, amazing..fantastic!

     
     
    #35
    photo retouching
    April 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    what an impressive collection of fonts and how to use them. I am bookmarking this page as a permanent source of inspiration!

     
     
    #36
    Design was here
    April 23rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Wow! Really great post!

    Made me realize of so many impressive use of type in web design.
    Great post! :)

     
     
    #37
    Rahul
    April 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    Too good. A super article.

     
     
    #38
    Sklep Zoologiczny
    April 23rd, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    Great examples. Indeed typography is essential to succeed in designing.

     
     
    #39
    Dan o.
    April 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Typography, implemented correctly, is one of the most important design elements on a website. Thanks for the article, it reveals many of the modern techniques that are being used recurrently.

    I am intrigued by the background shapes (#2) because occasionally I will have text that will blend in with a background. It frustrates the heck out of me when this happens, especially if it is text over an image. Often times I will add an outer glow or a stroke but that style is getting old. I specifically like the technique used by Designphunk. The text clearly stands out and is easy to read and the transparency effect is still preserved.

     
     
    #40
    Sean Baker
    April 24th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    Thanks for including me on this list, especially with such esteemed company! Much appreciated. Keep up the stellar articles and resources for the community!

     
     
    #41
    sama creation
    April 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    impressive collection thanks

     
     
    #42
    imsraaia
    April 26th, 2009 at 12:06 am

    nice article… thanks…

     
     
    #43
    andy
    April 26th, 2009 at 8:26 am

    This post is worth a favorite.

    Thanks!

     
     
    #44
    joshua
    April 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Great work! thanks a lot.

     
     
    #45
    Brad
    April 28th, 2009 at 7:58 am

    Great stuff. Thanks for the inclusion.

     
     
    #46
    Adam - Creare Engine
    April 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    That’s given me some great inspiration, I might bookmark this page. It’s amazing what colour and shadow can do to bring out text on any website. Those illustrations are beautiful.

     
     
    #47
    Karl
    April 28th, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    That was super. What I find was many of these samples allowed me to re-visit places, times, and experiences I had had.

     
     
    #48
    Andrew
    May 4th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Great examples!

     
     
    #49
    masheko
    May 4th, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    wow… the great collections. It gives me inspirations. Thanks.

     
     
    #50
    matt parsons
    May 5th, 2009 at 11:59 am

    that’s one big heap of inspiration up there /\

     
     
    #51
    tamuir
    May 6th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    Thanks for featuring our website.

     
     
    #52
    Marcelle
    May 9th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Nice !

     
     
    #53
    Yogesh Mhatre
    May 17th, 2009 at 3:40 am

    Amazing Concepts.. I should consider using them at my site!!!

     
     
    #54
    Rajdip Mitra
    May 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Beautiful thought. Realy its very good. It wll help us more and more.

    Thanks,
    Rajdip

     
     
    #55
    virtual tour company
    August 13th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    A really good example of creative text!

     
     
    #56
    mushroom website design
    August 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Thanks for compiling all this. An inspirational collection undoubtably! Brialliant!

     
     
    #57
    webtechnepal
    August 21st, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    Great Example collections. thank you so much.

     
     
    #58
    Vikram Singh
    September 11th, 2009 at 2:25 am

    Well It is Very Inspirational article I don’t have any idea about designing but after reading this article i think i should better start designing…………….

     
     
    #59
    Svetainiu kurimas
    October 13th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Easy when someone shows you how. Thanks and keep it up.

     
     
    #60
    Colon Cleanse
    November 21st, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    wow…i cant believe this…this is amazing

     
     
    #61
    Arun Krishnan
    December 12th, 2009 at 12:36 am

    nice….very inspirational…

     
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