Casual Friday: the ground rules

In the workplace Friday is usually the most laid back and casual day of the week. Few people meet with clients on Fridays and the focus is usually on wrapping up the loose ends from earlier in the week. Many companies have adopted some form of lower standard for workplace attire on Fridays and this can be problematic for some people. 

What is business casual? Can I wear jeans? Shorts? T-shirts? Well, if you have to ask... the answer is likely NO!

Sure, you can lose the tie on Fridays (in most work environments) but this is not the time to wear a sweatshirt and jeans. Basically, the standards are relaxed a bit... maybe the shirttails can come out, or you can sport those new driving mocs but that is about as far as you want to push the limits. 

The thing to keep in mind is that a casual work day is still a work day. So sneakers, and sports jerseys are inappropriate unless you are a professional athlete.

Instead wear that stylish shirt that you haven't been able to pair with a tie. Put on those slightly tighter slacks that look odd when you tuck a shirt into them. Wear those funky Robert Wayne half boots. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to throw on that Dsquared2 sport coat with the ticket pocket.

Buttons: to button or not?

Jacket buttons are a source of confusion for many people. Depending on what style jacket you are wearing you should button some of them but not all of them. Here are the basic rules:

One button jackets - button it

Two button jackets - button the top but not the bottom button

Three button jackets - button the top, your choice on the middle, don't button the bottom one

Four button jackets - button the top one, your choice on the middle two, don't button the last one

Five button jackets - don't buy them, if you have one don't wear it

More than five button jackets - see above

Working buttons on jacket sleeves - also known as surgeon's cuffs, leave the button closest to your hand unbuttoned on each sleeve and button the rest.

When you sit you should unbutton all your jacket buttons (obviously this does not apply to sleeves) before you sit. If you can't button any of your buttons you should buy a new jacket.

Outerwear: completing the look

Most people spend a fair amount of time considering what they are going to wear each day. Choosing the right shoes for a meeting or the tie that perfectly compliments both our shirt and our mood are common morning decisions. This process seems to stop when it comes to outerwear. For example, "Oh, it's raining... I'll grab my plastic rain slicker with the hoodie." This is not acceptable for anyone over the age of sixteen. 

Outerwear is fundamental to projecting your image, after all it is the first thing that people will see. If you have a fleece zip up on over a great looking shirt and tie, you are effectively committing fashion suicide. 

Pea coats, car coats, and even trench coats are regaining popularity and the overcoat and traditional men's raincoat have never gone out of fashion. These give you additional options and can make it seem as if you own more clothes than you actually do. For instance in spring you can pair a lightweight raincoat with a shirt and tie for a hip high-style look. In late fall throw the same raincoat over a blazer or suit jacket for a more formal structured look. 

The key when choosing outerwear is picking pieces that can do more than one job within your wardrobe. Removable liners help make overcoats more practical for winter, spring, and fall. Lighter weight outerwear adds versatility in that they can be worn over sweaters, and even other jackets. 

Take these thoughts into consideration the next time you reach for that winter coat your mom bought you for college, you know the one that makes you look like the kid from 'A Christmas Story.' Does that thing really go with any look?

Typography Tips: more than two is too many

Modern typography is blessed with an embarrassment of riches. There are literally millions of different typefaces out there from which to choose. However many of them serve very little purpose.

I recently ran across a font where the letters were formed by cartoon versions of Pittsburgh Steeler fans and the numbers were designed to look like players' jerseys. How many uses does this font have? It serves a niche market to say the least. 

Because there are so many different faces to choose from it is becoming more common to see fonts used inappropriately. Display fonts, those with bold designs or detailed decoration, should never be used for body copy. Likewise, san serif fonts should never be used for paragraphs or large areas of body text. 

The most prevalent problem is the use of too many typefaces on one project. Good typography requires either a concordant typographical design, meaning one font family is used throughout, or a contrasting typographical design, meaning two contrasting font families are used throughout the project. You see contrasting design in newspapers where they use a bold san serif typeface for headlines and other short bursts of information, and a more modern font with serifs for the body copy.

It is never good typographical design to use more than two font families on a given project. Look for examples of designs that break this rule and make sure you don't break it in your own work.