Typography Notes

Typography

typography |tīˈpägrəfē|

noun

the style and appearance of printed matter.

• the art or procedure of arranging type or processing data and printing from it.

 “Fonts are the clothing that our ideas wear.”

Legibility

When deciding a font, legibility is key. Serif vs Sans Serif. A serif is the little foot at the end of a letter. Serif fonts feature these and sans serif fonts do not. Serif fonts are easier to read at small sizes and sans serif fonts are more recognizable at a large size.

Too many fonts spoil the design.

Also, don’t use fonts that are too similar and indistinguishable from each other. Fonts should contrast each other and add emphasis.

ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE NOT AS EASY TO READ AS using lowercase font.

Serif fonts without all caps are much easier to read for body text.

Alignment

Type can be justified left,

Justified middle,

Or justified right.

The rag is the uneven edge of the body type, the less variation there is in the rag, the better. Don’t have lonely words or big chunks missing.

To add emphasis, you can use italics or bold fonts. Underlines can be used too but they generally look unprofessional. Color and text size can also add emphasis. As a last resort, changing the style of the type can work.

Arbitrarily distorting fonts compromises their integrity. When scaling, make sure to use the shit key to keep fonts consistent.


Balance

Is a font heavy or light?

A document needs to have balanced font, this may not require symmetry, but it needs to have a good feel and weight to the correct fonts.