The document discusses typography and font choices for album covers in the EDM genre. It explains that sans serif fonts are most appropriate for EDM as they connote informality, while serif fonts imply formality. Specific EDM album covers are analyzed, noting trends like bold uppercase fonts, close character spacing, and white text on dark backgrounds. The author considers different font styles and seeks audience feedback to choose one that appeals to EDM fans but also clearly conveys the album title.

1. Typography is the appearance and style of text. It holds importance due to the impact it can have on
the audience as it can make them feel a certain way, or give them the preferred reading [Hall] of the
album, or entice them into the purchase of the album as a persuasive device.
The font has to suit the genre of music in order to be interpreted the intended way. This can be done
by choosing the typeface, which will either fall into the serif or sans serif category. As my chosen
genre is EDM, sans serif would be most appropriate as it is used informally, whereas, serif would be
used for a more formal context, such as classical music and opera.
Sans serif is a typeface with rounded letters.
Serif is different as the letters have strokes on them.
Examples of albums using the serif typeface are
shown here. In pop, it’s more common for serif to
be used due to the femininity is connotes. This is
because the text tends to be aimed at a female
dominated target audience so the font appears to
be sophisticated and elegant.

2. Albums which use the sans serif
typeface tend to be male orientated
genres, such as indie, rap and
EDM, due to the careless vibe the
music carries.
In another area of typography is the
line spacing.
This is also important to consider as it is part of the layout of the text as a whole. Conventionally, for
most albums no matter the genre, the line spacing between the artist and album name is kept very
close to that it can be seen all at once. This also helps define an image for the album as it’s easy to see
and the audience can figure out the information quicker when it’s together. Also, line spacing enables
the audience to simply read the text clearer. It would be difficult to read the text, for example, if the
spacing was very close together for a lot of text, such as with the track list. However, it would still need
to be close enough so the audience can tell it’s all part of the same thing.

3. The mix of EDM mastheads and fonts show it to be conventional for the typefaces to be in bold, when
displaying either the album name or artist name. This makes them eye catching to the audience as it
stands out. They also tend to have close character spacing, appealing to the male audience mainly as it
seems more together and bulked up.
Additionally, they are all in the sans serif typeface which is trendy and appeals strongly to the target
audience for EDM, being younger people due to the connoted informality it holds. This makes the letters
visually interesting and attractive as they don’t seem boring, like the younger audiences may interpret
sans serif to be. The appearance of this typeface is simple yet still noticeable as they tend to be written in
block capitals. This makes the album memorable due to it being easy yet effective to read.
The writing is in a white colour, making the names stand out amongst the dark backgrounds, which
appears to be conventional for the genre.
The artist Example, however, has his name written in the same typeface over every album, acting as a
logo and branding to his name. He also chooses not to follow conventions and has his name in
lowercase letters to seem unique and different. However, this choice doesn’t take away from the appeal
factor due to the boldness it holds, meaning it’s still noticed and memorable. It would give his audience a
sense of familiarity when they see this elsewhere.

4. Examples other work shows that he mainly sticks to conventions due to the use of all uppercase
letters in the majority of his work. However, his titles tend to small in size in comparison to the rest of
the album, so his main focus is on the image rather than the fonts. He predominantly uses white font
aswell, although black and yellow have been used, which are still conventional EDM album colours to
use.
These fonts would be seen as appropriate for the genre as
the music tends to be upbeat, represented through the use
of capital letters. It’s also laid back, in terms of the
stereotypes associated with the fans of EDM, shown by
the appearance of the simple sans serif typeface.

5. I looked further into EDM typefaces here. The typefaces tend to be
recognisable for that artist. For example, the Tiesto typeface is an exception to
the all caps text, due to the lowercase ‘e’, being used as a logo within the
name, as shown to the right.
This typeface has a mix of serif and sans serif, making this album
different to the rest because of it’s mismatched style and
quirkiness. The ‘Listen’ being in a different font could be because
the artist wanted that imperative to stand out to the audience and
draw them in as an act of persuasion.
The Avicii typeface is different as the album name is a larger text size than
the artist name. This could be because Avicii felt like he was established well
enough already within the music game and so wanted the focus to be on the
album name. The typeface of ‘True’ is conventional as it is in all capitals and
follows the sans serif typeface, also coloured white. However, it has a unique
style compared to the others as it has a ‘drawn on’ style, connoting to art and
individuality, which EDM fans would appreciate and warm towards. Similarly,
the Jack U album has the sans serif typeface, conventional for the EDM
genre due to the informality it connotes. The text is also unique to the artist
as it appears ‘handwritten’, giving the album a personal feel and so the
audience feels it is something special and can tell by looking at the album,
that a lot of hard work has been put into it so they can expect it to be good.

6. EXAMPLE
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I searched for font styles using the ‘fontspace’ website as well as ‘dafont’, and came across sans serif
typefaces which I think would be appropriate for the EDM genre. I wanted to make sure the fonts were
legible and clear yet still fun and unique so that is could stand out.
I chose a couple of the simpler typefaces to be conventional, as shown below.
I liked this font as it is very clear to read and looks
straight to the point. I think this is a good font to use for
the genre as sans serif and stands out against a dark
background due to the colour choice. However, a
potential weakness is that is may seem boring to my
audience but if paired with interesting imagery, it could
be effective else too much would seem to be going on in
a small space. The same font is shown below but I
added coloured shadow to the font to make it seem more
fun, without being overpowering as I kept the shadowing
minimal. I slightly prefer this one as it gives a sense of
distortion, relating to the song within the album and with
the theme of drugs and not thinking straight. A weakness
of this one is that it may be hard to read for some people
so I may apply this effect to an image, rather than to the
text depending on what my audience feedback is.

7. This font was inspired by the Jack U handwritten
typeface which I like due to the personal connotations it
has, as well as an amplified sense of informality, which
EDM fans like more. However, it may be interpreted as
unprofessional due to the childish look some people may
interpret it to have, which may create oppositional
readings.
The next one was a potential choice as I like how clean
and easy to read it is. In comparison to the one above, I
would prefer this due to the professionalism it connotes.
It reminds me of the Calvin Harris typography as the
character spacing is equal, as well as the height and
width of all the letters, making it visually pleasing. It’s
relatable to EDM due to the laid back appearance it has
however it would look better if it was in bold as it would
stand out more. Also, this font was found on a website
where you have to pay for the download so I had to
disregard this option.

8. The last font I considered is shown below. I chose this one because it connotes to EDM fans interests
outside of music. This is because of the graffiti style the typeface is in. Therefore, they would be
drawn to this as it is of interest to them, as well as looking interesting aesthetically. Also, it is a bold
font in all capitals meaning it stands out.
A downside to this font would be how some letters are more separated than others. However, I am
unsure if this is simply due to the fact that the song title was too long to fit into the website’s tester
altogether and so the ‘w’ appears to not be with the rest of the title.
My next stage is to gain audience feedback on which font to proceed with, or how to adapt them to
suit the genre and album as best as I can. I will conduct a voting poll on these font to get a better
understanding of what my target audience feel is most appropriate.