Trying Things: A Font for the Thoughtful Editorial Designer
The decision is never just about aesthetics. It’s about the silent conversation a typeface initiates with a reader before a single word is comprehended. I was deep in a redesign for a long-running literary newsletter, wrestling with the header. The existing one felt too austere, a bit cold for the personal essays and reflective poetry the publication featured. I needed something that whispered elegance but spoke with a warm, human voice. That’s when I found Trying Things.
A Visual Character Built for Connection
Trying Things is a script font that masterfully balances charm with a refined elegance. Its strokes possess a deliberate, flowing rhythm—not the frantic haste of some handwritten styles, but the considered pace of a thoughtful note. The personality here is inviting and sophisticated, perfect for crafting an editorial mood that feels both premium and approachable. It avoids the overly whimsical or rustic, settling instead into a space that suits serious creative work without being solemn. For publications aiming to build a identity rooted in authenticity and quality, this typeface offers an immediate visual shorthand.
In my tests, it looked stunning as the newsletter’s masthead. It transformed a simple title into a statement of intent, setting a calm, curated tone for the entire issue. This appeal extends far beyond headers. On a wedding guide PDF, it lent chapter openers and section titles a soft, celebratory authority. In a recipe ebook, it turned dish names into graceful invitations. For a lifestyle blog redesign, it provided the perfect font for post titles and pull quotes, elevating the content’s visual structure without overpowering it.
Structural Support in Editorial Layouts
A font’s true test is how it supports hierarchy and guides attention. Trying Things excels as a display font for prominent, standalone elements. It is ideal for titles, subtitles, and cover text where its character can shine. Its elegance commands focus, making it excellent for logos, business cards, and key branding graphics. Within a layout, it works beautifully for pull quotes, drawing the reader’s eye to a resonant passage and giving it a weight that feels authored, not just typeset.
However, its strength is in accent and emphasis, not in extended reading. Using Trying Things for dense body copy, small captions, or lengthy paragraphs would undermine readability, especially on screens. Its expressive nature is meant for moments of visual punctuation within a layout. This is where smart font pairing becomes essential. For long-form content, pairing Trying Things with a highly readable serif font for body text creates a harmonious contrast—the personality of the script for engagement, the clarity of the serif for comprehension. A clean, neutral sans-serif can then handle captions, footers, and any navigational elements, completing a tiered, professional system.
Readability Across Mediums
In practical application, Trying Things performs reliably across the mediums modern publishers use. On screen, in blog headers and newsletter graphics, its forms remain clear and legible at generous sizes. In mobile layouts, it’s crucial to ensure ample spacing around it to prevent visual crowding. For print materials—like printable planners, coaching workbooks, or digital magazine covers—it exports cleanly, retaining its delicate details. For PDFs and course materials, it adds a layer of polished, human-centric design that distinguishes your content from templated defaults.
A note for digital product creators: always verify the technical specifics. Check that the font files include the styles and alternates you need, and confirm multilingual support if your audience is global. Ensure the commercial licensing covers your intended use—whether for ebooks, client publications, paid newsletter templates, or downloadable printables. These practical steps are part of treating typography as a serious design asset.
Where Its Charm Finds a Limit
An expert review must also consider boundaries. Trying Things, while versatile within its domain, is not a universal tool. Formal reports, technical documentation, or any context requiring absolute neutrality and maximum readability at small sizes would be poor matches. Its charm is intentional, and forcing it into roles where clarity is paramount would be a misapplication. Reserve it for the elements where mood and identity are the primary goals: the titles that beckon, the quotes that resonate, the accents that personalize.
In my literary newsletter project, it became the cornerstone of a renewed visual identity. It supported a publication identity that was consistent across the header, the promotional graphics, and the featured quote layouts. It engaged the audience by making the publication feel more personally crafted, more thoughtfully presented. The mood it set was one of calm refinement, which perfectly matched the content’s tone.
A Final Consideration for Your Next Project
If you’re building a blog, crafting an ebook, designing a magazine layout, or creating any content that needs to balance elegance with a human touch, Trying Things deserves a place in your typographic palette. Approach it not as a default, but as a specialist—a font for those key moments where you want to whisper quality and invite connection. Test it on your next cover, your next header, your next pull quote. See how its flowing rhythm can structure your content’s visual hierarchy and support your publication’s unique voice. In the world of editorial design, where every detail contributes to the reader’s experience, a typeface like Trying Things is not merely a decoration; it’s a quiet, powerful participant in the story you’re telling.
