Casino Typography

Fonts for a casino marquee

Typography is more than an art—it’s actually a science. In fact, research on the subject has revealed that choices in font style, letter spacing, font size, font color, and line spacing sparks various reactions from readers. According to Voltage New Media which published the study, typeface affects readability, comprehension, and reader’s mood; a business establishment must therefore convey the right message when it comes to logos, ads, product labels, letterheads, or any virtualization by the company. This principle did not escape casino owners, as evidenced by the powerful and bold marquees in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. One tries to be flashier than the others, while some stand out in their simplicity and classic elegance. Typography styles in casinos, like other businesses in different industries, target a specific market, and creativity plays a crucial role in drawing people in.

Places like Sin City are more than just a gaming haven; they’re also a place design enthusiasts can get lost in. Admittedly, patrons choose a particular casino not only for the offered table games or slot machines, as these will most probably be the same all throughout the block—for this reason, casinos strive to up the ante by being uniquely designed and virtually engaging. Since the marquee is the first one seen by potential clients, it should grab the most attention. Let’s take for instance the famous Atlantic City casino, the Trump Taj Mahal. Aside from its recent partnership with online gaming platform casino.betfair.com, another move worthy of acclaim is its design, specifically the typography. It veered away from the traditional ostentatious casino signs by incorporating an Indian vibe, with the “Trump” insignia as a banner. This complements the total structure of the casino resort, while at the same time maintaining a formidable look by itself.

Since it has become known as an effective design, many want to add casino typography to their websites. Photoshop Tutorials & Resources gave a step-by-step procedure on how to achieve casino style typography, as follows:

Step 1:
Select black background, then type text using “Impact” font.

Step 2:
Layer style: tick drop shadow (opacity 100%, angle 95 degrees).

Step 3:
Tick inner shadow box, with opacity at 87% and angle 95 degrees).

Step 4:
Select bevel and emboss option and adjust accordingly.

Step 5:
Add stroke to the font; remember to make it lighter than the one used as font for main text.

Step 6:
Make light bulbs using the Ellipse tool.

Step 7:
Add a backdrop using a textured image by bringing it in the canvas.

Step 8:
Add depth by selecting “overlay” in the blending options.

Step 9:
Add a Gaussian blur. Go to Filter, Blur, then choose Gaussian blur effect.

Step 10:
Add final touches.

Darren Nguyen created a flyer that goes along with the folding theme of the 20 FOLD BFA Graphic Design Show. The idea was to connect all the information together by creating one simple fold. This flyer has two folds (front and back) and has four different views, all with different information.

Fonts used are Futura and Verlag.

UPrinting Flyer Printing can help you design and print your own flyers online.

 

 

Luca Barcellona is a very skilled calligrapher from Milan, where he owns his studio and teaches calligraphy with the Associazione Calligrafica Italiana. His work really embraces the talent of an ancient art, making it coexist with our digital era, in a fresh and reliable approach.

Fraktur writing for the Legacy of Letters italian tour, organize by Paul Shaw, NYC.

Luca Barcellona session during the festival Illuminating York – Wall of Light, wit tagtool.org artists.

http://vimeo.com/25355020

Neal Street, London

 

MA Contemporary Typographic Media is a one-year, full time postgraduate course at the London College of Communication. It offers the opportunity to investigate visible language through the intensive study of typography. The programme is nationally and internationally unique in its provision, taking a broad multi-disciplinary and exploratory approach to both the design of type and its typographic implementation.

The course is centred on the development of extensive independent student research projects which are informed by a programme of related practical and theoretical studies. These provide opportunities for gaining new knowledge and developing a valuable range of transferable skills.

The course builds on LCC’s longstanding and widely acknowledged reputation as an international centre of excellence for typographic design education.
The history of Postgraduate provision within the College (formerly the London College of Printing) begins with the advanced typography course instigated by Anthony Froshaug and Ernest Hoch in 1972 and is represented most recently by the MA Typo/graphic Studies which was revalidated as MA Graphic Design in 2004.

For further information, please go to: matypo.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Yoi5rvT1k

In this video by 2 ESAD students, Célio Pires e Katherine Silvestre, you can see a glimpse of RIcardo Santos process on typography.

“Unique Types is a special collection of fonts inspired by children suffering from physical disabilities. Each font is created under the Creative Common license and is free of rights and limitations on use.”
The idea of this project is to inspire designers, typographers and digital artists challenging them to create unique fonts inspired by children suffering from physical disabilities.

We would like to thanks all the participants, visitors and collaborators for the work that they’ve done until this moment, a special thanks to Hype For Type for the collaboration in the typeface competition that was a very nice surprise. The winner was Shane Bzdok which you can a small biography  in the next lines.
Please keep send us news about your works or interesting typography related stuff, we will try to keep the pace and post them here.

Shane Bzdok works as an art director, designer and web developer at BBDK, Inc. ( http://www.bbdk.com/ ) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His relationship with owners Duane King and Bob Borden began back in 2000 when he joined King at focus2 to help develop award winning print, packaging and interactive solutions for national and overseas clients. He now applies his talents to developing solutions for both clients and the contstantly evolving internal endeavors of BBDK. Part of those endeavors include writing the occasional article and contributing other content to BBDK’s passion project, Thinking for a Living™ ( http://www.thinkingforaliving.org ).

Here is my first attempt with typographic stop motion.
Hope you like it.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/9VS4SsBl9oQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

This is a project of Evan Stremke, a poster where he lays down the Rules of Typography, not only this is a great reminder to have on any design studio but it’s also free for download.