Digital Image Editing (WK3) - Design Blog

We've gone over a lot of typography lessons in the past few months, yet it's still the thing I struggle with the most. That being said, I went to an event this weekend and saw this shirt at one of the merch booths, where I immediately turned to my friend to say, "The typography choices don't look cohesive." Band merch should do two things instantly: grab attention and communicate a vibe. In this example, the type choices work against the message, rather than supporting it.

The shirt features multiple typefaces that don’t seem to have a shared visual language. There’s a bold, rounded sans-serif for the band name at the top, a softer script-like type for the “are you feeling LOST?” line, and then another blocky sans-serif for the location at the bottom. None of these styles complement the other, so the eye has no clear path. Instead of creating hierarchy, the design feels visually scattered.

The biggest issue is that the typography competes with the imagery rather than framing it. The distressed graphics in the center lean gritty and nostalgic, but the rounded headline font feels almost playful...completely at odds with the mood. The script type chosen for “LOST?” adds another stylistic direction, making the composition feel chaotic rather than intentional. I actually read it as "LOS7" at first, which was confusing and added to the overall feeling that the words were competing with the images.

I've learned from these classes that a better approach would have been to choose one type family (or at least fonts with shared characteristics) and let that single personality guide the whole design. For a shirt themed around angst, hometown frustration, or emotional heaviness, a condensed sans-serif with sharper edges or a roughened texture would have aligned with the tone of the artwork. Even using weight and size variations within one family would have created hierarchy and cohesion without the current visual dissonance.