COM

COM 422
422
CHAPTER
CHAPTER 33
TYPOGRAPHY
TYPOGRAPHY
 TYPOGRAPHY

Typography is the art and process of arranging type on a page, nowadays mostly
produced on a computer. Simply changing the typeface, size, colour, weight and
placement of type in your design can add extra emphasis to your words and
enhance the visual appeal of your message.

Type Anatomy
A good place to start to learn how to control type on the page is being able to
name the major parts of type. Each part of a letterform has a specific name.

Typefaces
Each letterform in our alphabet has a particular style and form that makes it
unique. A typeface is a set of letterform, numbers and symbols unified by a
common visual design. Some computer programs use the word fonts.
Technically the word font means a complete set of type in a typeface, weight and
size.
Type Anatomy
Type Styles and Type Families
Each typeface may also have a variety of related type styles which are modified
versions of the original typeface such as italic, bold, condensed or extended. These
type style variations are specifically created to extend the uses of the type while still
retaining the essential visual character of the original face. The whole related group
of type styles based on a single typeface is called a type family.
Type Size
Type is traditionally measured in points. The larger the point size, the larger the
type. Small point sizes such as 6,8,9,10,11 and 12 are considered body text sizes
whereas larger point sizes such as 14, 18, 20 and higher are considered headline or
display sizes. A general rule of thumb is that a headline should be 1.5 times larger
than the body copy. (12 point body copy = 18 point headline).
6 picas (a traditional layout measurement) = 1 inch
12 points = 1 pica
72 point = 1 inch
Weight
The letterforms in typefaces are made up of strokes. Letterforms with thin strokes
have a light and airy feeling, whereas letterforms with thick strokes seem bold and
heavy. The thicker stroke, the bolder and heavier the letterform will appear. A well
develop type family often contains a range of weights such as light, regular, semi-
bold, extra bold, or may be even poster black.
Letterspacing, Leading and Word Spacing
Letterspacing is the space individual letters and characters. The term leading refers
to the vertical space between lines of type. Type with tight letterspacing and leading
is difficult to read. Increasing the amount of space between letterforms and opening
up the space between lines of type can impact the legibility of your message.

Adding leading between lines of type also makes typeface appear lighter and airier,
while extreme amount of leading make it difficult for reader to track down the next
line especially when there is a background image involved.

Word spacing is the space between words. Adjustment to word spacing typically
occur to either tighten up the space between words or to stretch out to fill up more
space. Very wide and very tight word spacing decrease legibility.

Line Length
Line length is an important component of designing readable text. Long lines of type
are hard to read because the eye has difficulty tracking back to the beginning of the
next line. Really short lines of type are tedious to read, especially if there is a lot of
hyphenated words. For best legibility, line lengths should be no more than
approximately 50 to 60 characters long.
 CATEGORIES OF TYPE

With all of the thousands of typefaces available, and more popping up all the time it
is difficult to pigeonhole every single typeface into categories. Generally, typefaces
can be divided into five major categories; serif, san serif, square serifs (also known
as Egyptian), script and decorative (also known as occasional or novelty). Each
category has distinctive letterform and stress features that determine which
category a typeface falls into.

Serif
Roman serif typefaces typically have thick and thin variations in their letter strokes
and serifs range from moderately to extremely pointed. Over several millenniums,
this style of typeface evolved into a wide range of serif typefaces that can be further
subcategorised into old style, transitional and modern typefaces.

Transitional typefaces were the next evolution in typographic form and in 1757
John Baskerville an Englishman started the publishing industry with a new and
innovative typeface design named ‘Baskerviille’. What made this typeface distinctly
different from the Old Style typefaces was the increased contrast between the thick
and thin strokes in the letterforms and the sharp serifs.
Modern typefaces further increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes
in the letterforms. Thin strokes are virtually hairline thick, whereas thick stroke
are big and blocky. Modern typefaces evolved from Old Style and Transitional
typefaces because of improvements in technology.

The serif typefaces including those of the Old Style, Transitional, and modern
subcategories are extremely easy to read in both headlines and body copy and
these typefaces convey a sense of dignity, history and reserved style.

Square Serif
In square serif typefaces, the serifs at the end of the letter strokes appear to end
in blocks or slabs. Some typographers name this category Egyptian or Slab Serif
because many of these typefaces had Egyptian-sounding names to capitalise on
the fad popularity of anything Egyptian in the early 1800s.

Advertisers during 1800s used square serifs in any and all page designs
although square serif typefaces work best in headline or display type. Today
square serifs are most widely used in children’s books because of their simplicity
and unfussy clean appearance.
Sans Serif
Sans serif means ‘without serifs (sans in French mean ‘without’). During the 20th
century, many more sans serif typefaces were designed because the streamlined
form conveys a modern appearance. Sans serif fonts because of their simplicity
and clean look, work well for headline type and display type.
The advantage of serif is that help the reader identify the letterforms faster than
sans serif font. Without the serifs, there are slightly fewer characteristics for the
reader to identify, hence a slower reading speed. Medium weights of familiar sans
serifs faces such as Helvetica, Futura, and Gill Sans are among the less risky
choices for body text.

Script
Script typefaces convey the feeling of handwritten designs. Depending on the
design of the script, the typeface can seem formal or very informal. Formal
appearing scripts are commonly used in wedding invitations while informal scripts
can lead an air immediacy and dynamic action to a design.
Many script typefaces are hard to read when set in block of text or in all capital
letters. Script faces are best use sparingly in limited amounts of text such as in a
wedding card or for headlines. Avoid using them in body copy because it hard to
read. Examples of script typefaces are Brush Stroke, Mistral, Vladimir, and
Commercial Script.
Decorative

Those typefaces designs that are hard to categorise are by default dropped into
the decorative category. Many of these typefaces are extremely difficult to read
and are best used for display or headline copy instead of body text.

Choosing the wrong decorative typeface can shoot down an otherwise well
thought out design. The advantage of using the right decorative typeface is that
you can quickly establish a mood and style.
Popular typefaces
Some typefaces are more readable than others. When looking for readable
and attractive typefaces, consider these;

For a modern impression:

For a classic impression:

Digital type fonts are defined as typefaces that are represented and stored as
digitised electronic data.

Bit-map Typefaces
This is the original type format created for the computer. Bit-mapped typefaces
use the screen resolution of 72 dpi to display on the computer screen. To
display correctly on screen, the computer requires a bit-map of each point size
of the typeface that will be used, otherwise the computer will just enlarge the
pixels, leaving a jagged screen image of the type.

Postscript Typefaces
Postscript type fonts use both the bit-mapped font and a special postscript file
containing information that describes the outlines and fills of the typefaces. The
postscript file work together with the bit-mapped file, and both necessary for
proper screen display and printing.

Programs such as Adobe Type Manager (ATM) interpret the postscript

Truetype fonts may also result in printing errors with some postscript printers
and generally not used for professional design projects.

Stroke Fonts
Stroke fonts are sometimes referred to as vector fonts. Character vectors are
the paths that a pen would follow along the spine of a character to generate a
specific letter or symbol.