Discussion of the Week: Tiny Text

Dragonfly

Dragonfly

~Queen of Sarcasm~
Moderator
Welcome to the fan art forums newest feature!

We'll have a different discussion topic each week. The current discussion will be sticked, and then unstuck when a new topic is posted, but will always stay open for the discussion to continue. We may not stick strictly to a weekly schedule, we'll have to see how it goes. Ad of course, we're always open to suggestions for topics! You can either post it in the current thread, or PM either Kat or myself.

So, for the first discussion, I thought we'd start with Tiny Text.

Do you like seeing tiny text on icons?
What's the best way to use tiny text?
How should you not use tine text (what looks bad?)
Where is a good place to find tiny text brushes?
Are there any good fonts that can be used as tiny text?

You don't have to stick to these questions, they're just something to get conversation going.

Have fun!
 
As someone who has not always been a fan of tiny text, I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say on this topic. It used to really annoy me, even tho I knew it was supposed to be unreadable. :lol: But I've come to appreciate it more and have started using it myself sometimes. And I'll admit...I haven't used brushes for it, just tiny-fied my own fonts. :lol:
 
Do you like seeing tiny text on icons?
Very much so! I like it a lot better than normal text, actually.

What's the best way to use tiny text?
This is definitely all in my icon-making opinion. I love to use tiny text on an icon with a lot of negative space. Which is probably weird to some people because if there's a lot of negative space, there's a lot of room for normal text. But I think it looks cool to just have a bit of text there, with nothing else. I just like the way it looks. :lol: I also like to use tiny text over top of the subject of the icon, especially if there isn't much room for any text in the rest of the icon. You're not covering up too much of the subject with it, and you can even see through it easier. So it helps with adding a little something, and not too much, to the icon without covering the main subject of the icon.

How should you not use tine text (what looks bad?)
I'm not even sure. If I can't figure out how to make an icon better, I run to my tiny text. :lol: To me it works with just about anything. Close ups, far away shots, dark icons, light icons. I guess it really depends how much tiny text you're gonna put on the icon. If it's a close up of someone's face, you don't want half of their face to be taken up by tiny text. You only need a little.

Where is a good place to find tiny text brushes?
I have no idea. I like these two resource communities on LiveJournal for all my resources. ResouceLove and textures_r_us. I use tiny text textures. Those communities are for all and any textures, but a lot of people post tiny text. It seems pretty popular with resource makers. Or you can always make your own. ;) It's really easy.

Are there any good fonts that can be used as tiny text?
Whenever I make my own tiny text, I usually just use Times New Roman, or Arial. I definitely wouldn't use any "cartoon" fonts or fonts that are better used on larger things like banners and wallpapers. :)
 
Do you like seeing tiny text on icons?
Actually, I hate using tiny text and seeing it on icons. To me, icons generally look better with regular text and the fact that there's so many different types of text out there makes all of the icons unique. I feel this way because if you're using your creativity, you should do just that and be creative and think of something on your own for your icon, opposed to just cutting and pasting something already made.

What's the best way to use tiny text?
I rarely use them like I said above, but I do think that tiny text looks alright if the artist is doing a close crop to the subject's face.

How should you not use tine text (what looks bad?)
To me, when someone chooses 'readable' tiny text, what the text says should have something to do with the subject.

Where is a good place to find tiny text brushes?
There's various communities on Livejournal or check out deviantart.

Are there any good fonts that can be used as tiny text?
Usually the smaller fonts would look best, maybe something like Carpenter maybe :)
 
Do you like seeing tiny text on icons?
What's the best way to use tiny text?

it's depends on situation.
sometimes there are free place on an icon and you don't know, what to put on it, textures and/or brushes don't look normal, so maybe tiny text could make the icon not so empty. Also it can make more interesting the text, which have some meaning
smth like this
Where is a good place to find tiny text brushes?
http://www.deviantart.com/
Are there any good fonts that can be used as tiny text?

I don't know, sorry

p.s. hope, there aren't any silly mistakes)
 
Can someone tell me how to do/use tiny text? I have photoshop elements and I don't understand. I would like to learn as I think it looks good on some icons.
 
Well, as has been discussed, there are different ways to do it.

You can use regular text, and shrink it down until it's small enough (which I've never done).

You can also use brushes or textures. Brushes would be done just like any other brush. Textures, well, I suppose that depends on the texture itself. If it's a back texture with white writing, you can set the layer to screen, and the black will disappear. If it's a white background with black writing, you can set the layer to color burn, and the white will disappear.

I suppose different things work for everyone. You just have to play around until you find a method that you like.


As for me, I'm on the fence about tiny text. Most of the time I like it, but there are also a lot of times when I think it's just out of place or distracting. I tend to judge it on an icon to icon basis :lol:
 
^^ I agree. Tiny text can be a curse or a blessing...

As luf said, I really like tiny text on icons with a lot of negative space, because that adds that little something to it. I haven't used it in quite some time, but when I used it, it was either a tiny text brush I got from somewhere or I made it myself.

You shouldn't use fancy fonts because then it just looks dull. Something plain, like Arial or Lible Suit, will do nicely. And I'm not a fan of tiny text textures that cover the whole canvas because that's overpowering. Tiny text should be kept tiny and just be the last touch added to the icon.
 
Just about any font; decorative, serif, sans serif, slab serif, old style, modern, grotesque, whatever you've got can be really effective if you've got good control of the letter forms!

I <3 typography! ^__^
 
Wow, I fail at organization lately.

Anyway, this one is being unstuck, and a new one will be posted. Feel fee to continue posting in here if you so desire :)
 
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