What Type to use and how to use it?
Generic Typefaces are typefaces that will complement most content. These are the solid building bricks of most graphic design projects and smart designers all over the world know to stick to these as much as possible (link 01). There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a typeface even though it may have been used millions of times before you did and the originality of your design truly does not depend on the amount of "funky" typefaces that you use, but on the relationships you establish and the combinations and contentual associations that you make; as we shall see in later links. The reason that generic typefaces are used as often as they are has to do with the fact that they do in fact work extremely well with very diverse styles and subjects and that they set up very strong visual matrixes within a layout. The type in the links below (link 02, 03, 04) is entirely generic and yet the design, as well as the content of these three websites is entirely different from one another. The typeface in all three layouts is Arial and complements Simian's "tortured" imagery (link 02) as much as it does the POTD website, where it is used in alias form (link 04).

The "Modest Star" syndrome is one of the hardest things to grasp when designing with type: In the introductory link (01) of this site I said that type is the star of any visual communication design project. This does not mean that the type you use has to be fancy, funky, colourful or large. What it means is that the type that constitutes the headline has to stand in the primary/focal area of the layout; all subtexts, secondary headlines and body text have to be arranged in such a way so as to refer to it, either by alignment or by directional axes, i.e. by "pointing at the headline(s)". Only after the type has been thus correctly placed can non-typographic elements be introduced to the page. There will be more on this later, in fact an entire link will be devoted to type placement, but since we are dealing here with the issue of how to select appropriate typefaces this seems a good time to make this point. The best analogy to make to this will be from real life: Imagine a firm where the "boss" is a small and puny guy who only wears single buttoned grey costumes. No matter how brightly attired his staff and secretaries might be he is the boss and anyone walking into the office will immediately identify him as such. They will do this by the fact that all others in that office will place themselves in reference to him. So where you stand and how others stand in relationship to you determines how high you are on the pecking order - not your fancy clothes and the fact that you are 2 meters tall! The same exact condition applies to type placement: Type is the boss but can be small, generic and drab coloured to boot - so long as it has the best spot on the page and all other elements are set up in relationship to that placement (link 01).

Type Combinations
A lot of the success of type design lies in the way you combine typefaces with one another. There are 2 basic ways in which you can go: Harmonies and contrasts.

Harmonies: Essentially when we talk about harmonies in typography we mean the usage of one typeface and its fonts, usually but not exclusively in the same point sizes. The best examples of harmonious design belong to the design school Swiss Style, where Helvetica is used almost exclusively. The following websites are excellent examples of harmonious type design:
http://www.aeriform.co.uk
http://www.wireframe.co.za
http://www.yugop.com

Contrasts in typography occur when different type categories (link 01), fonts (link 02, 03), sizes (link 04) and typefaces (link 05) are used together. A rule of thumb is that the higher the level of contrast the more powerful the effect. Thus a contrast comprised of category, font as well as size (link 04) will usually work better than one where only a category contrast is used (link 01). The website that can be accessed below (link 06) is designed on a category contrast between sans-serif and script typefaces.

Demi-serif typefaces will not readily lend themselves to category or typeface contrasts with serif or sans-serif typefaces. The contrast values will be insufficient to create truly good contrasts since demi-serifs fall between categories. The best approach, when using demi-serifs is to stay within the typeface used and only implement size and font contrasts.

Bitmap Type, at least as far as I am concerned, is Generic type par excellence in that most bitmap typefaces seem to adapt themselves to whichever design they are embedded into with great ease (link 01, 02). This makes a lot of sense in that they are designed with the utmost simplicity in order to attain legibility at extremely small sizes and simplicity is the hallmark of the generic typeface. Some bitmap typefaces do show non-generic traits (link 03) and will suit themselves only to contemporary or high-tech content but by and large most these typefaces (link 04) can be used pretty much along the same lines as the generic typefaces.

Non-Generic Typefaces will add a lot of character to design, however you have to be fully aware that these typefaces have very powerful personalities and wrong usage can have disastrous results. Go to SFS to become fully aquainted with non-generic type and how, when and where to use it.