What's your favorite font to use on decals?

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lcorinth

lcorinth

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I'm about to build a couple rockets that are not from kits, and I'd like to create a decal with the name of the rockets, running down the side,

V
E
R
T
I
C
A
L
L
Y

I assume I'd use a program like Illustrator or something to get everything aligned just right. But I'm not sure what font I want to use for the lettering - there are so many!

Do you have a favorite? I think I'm going to keep it simple - just the name of the rocket and maybe a tiny flag or something. My group (we're not a formal "club" as such) has a logo I designed, which is also my avatar here on TRF, based on the Indiana flag, so that's what I plan on using.
 
I have quite a few actually. I use vinyl cut lettering and some of it can get kinda artsy. Here's a pic of some I had my buddy Sean cut for me.

IMG_20130924_141207_872.jpg
 
lcorinth said:
I'm about to build a couple rockets that are not from kits, and I'd like to create a decal with the name of the rockets, running down the side,

V
E
R
T
I
C
A
L
L
Y

I assume I'd use a program like Illustrator or something to get everything aligned just right. But I'm not sure what font I want to use for the lettering - there are so many!

Do you have a favorite? I think I'm going to keep it simple - just the name of the rocket and maybe a tiny flag or something. My group (we're not a formal "club" as such) has a logo I designed, which is also my avatar here on TRF, based on the Indiana flag, so that's what I plan on using.
Click to expand...

I use a bunch of fonts... I'm a font fanatic. Browse fontfreak.com for what you're looking for and it should be easy. Let me know what you're going for and I could suggest a font or two.
 
CzTeacherMan said:
I use a bunch of fonts... I'm a font fanatic. Browse fontfreak.com for what you're looking for and it should be easy. Let me know what you're going for and I could suggest a font or two.
Click to expand...

I think I'm looking for something classic, reminiscent of what you would see on a NASA or SpaceX rocket. I'm building a couple of payload boosters from a new book I'm reading called Make: Rockets: Down-to-Earth Rocket Science (on Kindle - it comes out in paperback on the 22nd, I think) with the cool, classical name of "Ceres."

I played around in Word a little bit, and Arial Black looks kind of close to what I'm thinking of, but I think I'd like some other options.
 
lcorinth said:
I think I'm looking for something classic, reminiscent of what you would see on a NASA or SpaceX rocket. I'm building a couple of payload boosters from a new book I'm reading called Make: Rockets: Down-to-Earth Rocket Science (on Kindle - it comes out in paperback on the 22nd, I think) with the cool, classical name of "Ceres."

I played around in Word a little bit, and Arial Black looks kind of close to what I'm thinking of, but I think I'd like some other options.
Click to expand...

Check out Gary's link and I'll get back to you tonight
 
Also something of a font geek myself. I actually have a background in graphic design, and fonts are one of "my things". I get a bit.....ummm, "weird" about font choices sometimes - folks around me tend to not get what I'm so worked up about when I see bad design or font choices. Oh well.

First thing - play with the actual word that you are going to use. Different fonts lend themselves better or worse to different words or applications. The word "Ceres" might look great in one font, but awful in another. But the word "Icorinth" might react the opposite. Type out the word in question, and then just copy it a whole bunch of times with different fonts. Use a wide range and just see what happens. Then scan the whole group and either eliminate the ones you don't like, or isolate the ones you do. Narrow it down to 3 to 5 top choices.

Then play around with those a bit - try it out in all caps, or larger size on the first letter, or bold/outlined/italic/etc. Keep honing in on what looks good to you, and eliminate what doesn't. It's all digital so don't worry about wasting anything - just try out lots of options until you find the one that's best for you.

Once you get a font you like, don't forget that you can play with the letter spacing a bit. Some letters will be better with more space between them than the default, and some will be better squeezed together a bit. Oftentimes a small subtle change can have a big impact.

Please don't use "Papyrus". I have a thing about this font. I actually really like it - it's a great looking font - but it's WAY overused. It's frigging everywhere and I'm so sick of it. So....no "Papyrus". Unless you want me to get weird.

Show us your results!
s6
 
I thought I had a thing about fonts, but s6 takes it to a whole new level. I use Comic Sans MS for my posts here, but never used it on a rocket. Most of my rockets have Stickershock vinyl, and no two are alike, except for Duke and Reduke Nukem, they are clones.
 
Wayco said:
I thought I had a thing about fonts, but s6 takes it to a whole new level. I use Comic Sans MS for my posts here, but never used it on a rocket. Most of my rockets have Stickershock vinyl, and no two are alike, except for Duke and Reduke Nukem, they are clones.
Click to expand...

No one should ever use Comic Sans for anything, ever.

https://bancomicsans.com/main/

With that out of the way, I suggest that all model builders should have AmarilloUSAF available at all times. See:

https://www.tlai.com/med_des/amusaf.html

James
 
My "favorite" is the one that best suits the work it's being used on/with.

What do your rockets look like and what are their names? That will be how you should determine what font to use and how to use it. The more decorative the font, the more limited it's uses will be. A good font choice will suggest and imply what message/idea/mood it is you're trying to convey, even if it doesn't spell it out.

A lot of folks think typography is easy, but I assure you good typography is not.

I will say that Helvetica is one of the most useful and used type faces on the planet. With good reason.
 
Last edited:
Helvetica is good for a sort of inoffensive elegant officialness. I'm recently becoming a fan of Univers for general work as well -- similar, slightly more angular. Interstate, Droid Sans, and DejaVu Sans are ones I regularly look check for goodness.

But, yes, ultimately there will never be one typeface that works for anything, or even more than an occasional thing. Good typography is a difficult task. I second what people have said -- demo the font you want for the lettering you want to use it for. Also I recommend searching on a size similar to how it will appear. Some look good small but not big, and vise-versa.

I still have no idea how to get the kerning to not suck on vertical lettering.
 
Zeroignite said:
I still have no idea how to get the kerning to not suck on vertical lettering.
Click to expand...

If by chance you have Corel Draw, you can highlight the text, and in the "ARANGE" drop-down, you can select "Break Artistic Text". This allows you to move each letter to adjust your kerning. When you move the letter of choice, you can press the Ctrl key at the same time and it will move straight up and down or from side to side. I've had to do this many times.
 
stealth6 said:
Also something of a font geek myself. I actually have a background in graphic design, and fonts are one of "my things". I get a bit.....ummm, "weird" about font choices sometimes - folks around me tend to not get what I'm so worked up about when I see bad design or font choices. Oh well.

First thing - play with the actual word that you are going to use. Different fonts lend themselves better or worse to different words or applications. The word "Ceres" might look great in one font, but awful in another. But the word "Icorinth" might react the opposite. Type out the word in question, and then just copy it a whole bunch of times with different fonts. Use a wide range and just see what happens. Then scan the whole group and either eliminate the ones you don't like, or isolate the ones you do. Narrow it down to 3 to 5 top choices.

Then play around with those a bit - try it out in all caps, or larger size on the first letter, or bold/outlined/italic/etc. Keep honing in on what looks good to you, and eliminate what doesn't. It's all digital so don't worry about wasting anything - just try out lots of options until you find the one that's best for you.

Once you get a font you like, don't forget that you can play with the letter spacing a bit. Some letters will be better with more space between them than the default, and some will be better squeezed together a bit. Oftentimes a small subtle change can have a big impact.

Please don't use "Papyrus". I have a thing about this font. I actually really like it - it's a great looking font - but it's WAY overused. It's frigging everywhere and I'm so sick of it. So....no "Papyrus". Unless you want me to get weird.

Show us your results!
s6
Click to expand...

I think what I'm looking for is something bold, official and serious looking, and where all the characters are the same width. I had a look at the NASA fonts, and while I love NASA, they're not what I'm going for, I guess. Arial Black (I currently only have Word to play around with) and probably Helvetica look OK, but the rounded letters (C, R, S) are slightly wider than the straight ones (E).

Bear in mind, I have no graphic design experience, although I do know a couple people who do.
 
lcorinth said:
I think what I'm looking for is something bold, official and serious looking, and where all the characters are the same width. I had a look at the NASA fonts, and while I love NASA, they're not what I'm going for, I guess. Arial Black (I currently only have Word to play around with) and probably Helvetica look OK, but the rounded letters (C, R, S) are slightly wider than the straight ones (E).

Bear in mind, I have no graphic design experience, although I do know a couple people who do.
Click to expand...
The word you're looking for is "monospace" -- a lot of fonts where the lettering are equally sized have "mono" in the name.

I suggest trying Droid Sans Mono and DejaVu mono. Both are free but not included with MS Word -- a little googling should get them installed on your system.
 
I found some cool ones on dafont.com I'm playing with.

Now I just need to figure out what program I should use to arrange decals on a printer sheet.
 

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