Typography Field Guide by Allie Feigeles

The Typographer’s Field Guide Design Survival for the Student and Professional

Allie Feigeles University of Kansas 2021

Designed by Allie Feigeles. Class project for Typographic Systems at the University of Kansas, Spring 2021. The text was compiled from the following sources: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, Getting it Right with Type: the Do's and Don'ts of Typography by Victoria Square, Mac is Not A Typewriter by Robin Williams, Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick. This book is not to be sold to the public and to only be used by the designer for their reference and student design portfolio.

Table of Contents i

Typography Rules

Typographic Color

Line Length, Column Width

Justification

Hyphenation Rules

Numerals, Figures

Words, Lines, Paragraphs

Accent Marks, Special Characters

Quotes, Apostrophes, and Primes

Hyphens, Dashes

Kerning

Typography Check Sheet

102

Typography Rules Type Crimes, typographic sins, things you should never do with type are committed everyday. How important is typographic correctness and how unforgivable are the crimes? Typographers have compiled a number of type crimes that have been labeled as “unforgivable.”

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

01. 02. 03. 04. 05.

Insert only one space after all punctuation Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, and hyphens Use proper quotes and apostrophes Use true small caps

Use copyright, register, and trademark marks properly

06. Avoid underlined text 07.

Avoid altering fonts

08. Set the body copy size 09. Find the proper line length

10.

Increase leading to improve readability in body text

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Avoid letterspacing on lowercase or body copy Do add letter spacing to capitalized text and small caps Kerning in headlines Word spacing should be fairly close Choose the alignment that fits

16. 17.

Rules of hyphenation Avoid beginning three consecutive lines with the same word

18.

Avoid widows and orphans

19.

Indents

20.

Always spell check!

01.

02.

Inserting two spaces after a period was common when using

An em is a unit of measure equal to the point size that you are

a typewriter. Monospace typefaces were designed to occupy

using. An em dash is a type of punctuation used to offset clauses

the same amount of space no matter the width of the character.

in a sentence or to indicate an abrupt change in thought. An en

Therefore, two spaces were needed to identify the end of a

dash is equal to half the length of an em dash. En dashes are used

sentence and the beginning of another sentence. With the

to denote duration (time.)

introduction of the Mac and digital type, characters are designed proportionately, which allows for the correct practice of using one space after all punctuation.

03.

04.

Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead of using inch

When setting text that contains acronyms, select a typeface with

marks and feet marks. Place all punctuations inside the quotation

small caps as a family. Selecting small caps from the style menus

marks. Straight quotes are the two generic vertical quotation

is a poor choice because the computer reduces the overall size of

marks located near the return key: the straight single quote (')

the type by 80%. This changes the stroke weight and the feel of

and the straight double quote (“). Curly quotes are the quotation

the font. Expert sets in the Adobe Type Library have small caps .

marks used in good typography. There are four curly quote characters: the opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), and the closing double quote (”).

05.

06.

The copyright, register, and trademark characters need

This was useful back in the days of the typewriter to draw

to be reduced to work with body text. At times, depending on

attention to the text. With digital type and their families, you should

the typeface, you may need to reduce the mark between 50%

not need to use underlined text.

and 70%. The goal is to match the x-height. The copyright mark should be approximately 70% of the surrounding text. Unlike the ™ symbol, the © should NOT be superscripted and should remain on the baseline. ™ is usually superscripted for the chosen font. ™ and ® are normally set higher than other marks. If you choose to superscript ®, reduce it to about 60% of the size.

07.

08.

Don’t alter the original typeface by stretching or condensing the

Body text is set anywhere from 9-12 points. When you print text,

letters improperly. Certain type families provide you with a lot of

it is usually larger than what it looked like on the screen. Do not

flexibility, so you should not need to destroy/alter text.

use the program default setting for body type or leading. Type studies will help you determine the proper size before you proceed with your layout.

09.

10.

Lines should not be too long; the reader’s eye may have difficulty

Leading refers to the space between lines of text. It is important

finding the beginning of the next line. Especially when leading

for readability and appearance. Leading is measured from baseline

is tight. Lines should not be too short. Very short lines offer little

to baseline. As a rule of thumb, allow leading that is 120% of the

flexibility for adjusting word and letter spacing. A rough rule of

point size. For sans serif, you may need 130% or more.

thumb, 45 - 70 characters per line is a good average for paragraphs. Longer lines will need more leading. For multi—column layouts the range could be between 35 - 55 characters per line.

11.

12.

Don’t letterspace body copy as it really hampers legibility. Fred

Add letter spacing (tracking) to all cap text or when using small

Goudy, one of the most prolific and well-known American type

caps. To increase legibility add tracking to headlines, subheads,

designers of the 20th century, is reported to have said, “Anyone

or any instances when you are using all capital letters.

who would letterspace lowercase would steal sheep.” So take heed! Adding space between lowercase letters is considered poor typography because it breaks up the word shapes made by upper and lowercase letters. These shapes are what the brain recognizes when we read, so this type crime severely reduces readability.

13.

14.

Adjust the space between two particular letters to allow for more

For text meant for extended reading, the amount of space

consistent negative space.

between words in a paragraph should be fairly close–about the width of a lowercase “i.” If the word spacing is too close, it appears as one giant word and legibility is decreased. Keep the spaces between words fairly thin, consistent and even!

15.

16.

Make sure the alignment chosen for all areas of text are legible

Don’t rely on the software to judge where hyphens should be

and consistent with the design and guidelines. Left-aligned text is

placed. At the end of lines, leave at least two characters behind and

easier to read and set. Justified text is harder to set w/o inevitable

take at least three forward. For example, “ele-gantly” is acceptable,

word spacing problems. Right-aligned and centered are generally

but “elegant-ly” is not because it takes too little of the word to the

not used for body copy.

next line. Avoid leaving the stub end of a hyphenated word or any word shorter than four letters as the last line of a paragraph. Avoid more than 3 consecutive hyphenated lines. Avoid hyphenating or breaking proper names and titles. Creating a non-breaking space before and after the name will ensure that the name will not break.

17.

18.

Since software programs deal with line breaks automatically

Widows are either single words alone on a line or single

based upon a number of variables, it is possible to have paragraphs

sentences alone on a new page. Orphans are single lines of copy

with consecutive lines beginning with the same word. When this

alone at the end of a page. Try to eliminate these unsightly stray

happens simply adjust the text to avoid/fix the problem.

words at the ends of paragraphs or tops of pages. They create visual holes in the flow of text. Methods to eliminate widows and orphans include inserting manual line breaks, making minute adjustments to the column width, and editing the copy to add or cut words.

19.

20.

In continuous text, mark all paragraphs after the first with an

Once you are finished with your design, spell check the text. If

indent of at least one “em” (or about the amount of the leading).

text is given to you by anyone check it. Never ever assume that

Do not use the space bar but rather create a tab for the indent.

it is correct.

01.

Typographic Color Every typeface has its own apparent lightness, darkness, or optical weight. In typography, typographic color can be describe the balance between black and white on the page of text. A typeface’s color is determined by stroke width, x-height, character width and serif styles.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Readability and legibility are two key elements of printed text that a designer should strive to maximize. Legibility and readability both relate to the ease and clarity with which one reads any particular setting of type, but they actually refer to two different concepts: legibility is related to the design of the typeface and the shape of the glyphs, while readability refers to how the font is arranged, used.

Choosing a typeface is almost like selecting a type of thread to weave into material. The tiny detail will impact the quality and feel of the finished product. When deciding between typefaces consideration should be given to the x-height.

Fonts set in the same size, same leading, and column width will produce varying degrees of color.

Fonts set in the same size, same leading, and same column width will produce varying degrees of color.

Xxh g Baskerville

John Baskerville/Arina Alaferdova and Dmitry Kirsanov

X xhg

72 point

Adobe Caslon

Carol Twombly

The evolution of plants has resulted in a wide range of complexity, from the earliest algal mats, through multicellular marine and freshwater green algae, terrestrial bryophytes, lycopods and ferns, to the complex gymnosperms and angiosperms of today. While many of the earliest groups continue to thrive, as exemplified by red and green algae in marine environments, more recently derived groups have displaced previously ecologically dominant ones, e.g. the ascendance of flowering plants over gymnosperms in terrestrial environments. There is evidence that cyanobacteria and multicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes lived in freshwater communities on land as early as 1 billion years ago, and that communities of complex, multicellular photosynthesizing organisms existed on land in the late Precambrian, around 850 million years ago.

x-height: average

character width: wide

character average

color: average-dark

color: average-light

X x hg Utopia

Robert Slimbach

Xxhg Garamond Premier Pro Robert Slimbach

x-height: large

x-height: average

character width: average

character width: average-narrow

color: darker

color: light

Xxhg Freight Text Pro

Goudy Old Style

Joshua Darden

URW Type Foundry

x-height: average-large

x-height: average

character width: wide

character width: average

color: average-dark

color: light

X x hg Bodoni URW

URW Type Foundry

Xxhg

72 point

Xxhg Mrs. Eaves OT Zuzana Licko

x-height: average-large

x-height: small

character width: average-narrow

character width: average

color: average

color: light

X xh g

Xxh g

72 point

Kepler

Essonnes

Robert Slimbach

James Hultquist-Todd

x-height: large

character width: average

character width: wide

color: dark

color: average

Xxhg Brioso

Robert Slimbach

Xxh g Expo Serif

Mark Jamra

x-height: average-large

x-height: large

character width: wide

character width: large

color: dark

color: average

X x h g X xh g

Objektiv

Degular

Dalton Maag

James Edmondson

x-height: large

x-height: small, large or average

character width: wide

character width: wide, narrow, average

color: average

color: light or dark or..

Xxh g

X xhg

72 point

Helvetica

Aktiv Grotesk

Max Miedinger

Dalton Maag

x-height: large character width: average-wide color: dark

x-height: large character width: average-wide color: average-dark

X x hg P22 Underground

Xxhg

Edward Johnston

Paratype Foundry

Futura PT

x-height: large

x-height: average-large

character width: wide

character width: narrow

color: average

color: light

Xxh g Interstate Tobias Frere-Jones

Acumin URW Type Foundry

x-height: large character width: average color: dark

x-height: large character width: average color: light or dark or..

Xxhg

X xhg

x-height: small, large or average character width: average color: dark

x-height: large character width: narrow color: average-dark

Forma DJR Text David Jonathan Ross

Xxhg

Franklin Gothic URW URW Type Foundry

72 point

02.

Line Length, Column Width Line length and column width are two typographic terms that are closely related. Line length is normally expressed by the number of characters or words per line. Column width is measured in units - be it inches, points, pixels, grid columns, etc.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Column width affects readability because of the way our eyes read. Many people don’t realize that our eyes do not read character by character or even word by word. Rather, our eyes scan a line, pausing momentarily to record groups of three or four words. Studies have found that a reader can make three or four such pauses on a line before it becomes tiring.

To determine line length for optimum readability, a good guideline is between 9 and 12 words for unjustified text. Fewer words may cause the sentence structure to break up, and may also result in too many hyphenations. Both of these reduce readability. Conversely, a line with more than 12 words can become tedious to read. Additionally, a reader can easily get lost when going from the end of one long line to the beginning of the next, and may inadvertently reread the same line, or miss a line or two.

With justified text, the number of words per line should be between 12 and 15 words per line, to avoid excessive hyphenations, uneven word spacing, and rivers of white space in the text.

Some resources will refer to line length in characters not words. A character is a letter, symbol, figure, punctuation, and space. Anything from 45 to 75 characters per line is regarded as satisfactory length for a line. 65 characters is regarded as ideal for one column of text. For multiple columns 40 - 50 characters per line is an ideal average.

The longer the line the more leading will be needed to assist the reader to get from the end of one line to the beginning of another. Shorter lines can have less leading.

Factors to consider when determining the width of a column of text are: Typeface: The width of the individual glyphs and the overall typeface design affect the word count per line.

Point size: The size of the type affects how many words fit in a line.

Average word length in the copy: You can fit a greater number of shorter words than longer ones in a given column width.

Typefaces vary in their alphabet length. The alphabet length is determined by the width of the lowercase a through z, historically measured in points. This measurement varies depending upon the type style and point size being used. Therefore, varying the font and/or point size will affect the optimum column width.

The final factor to take into account when deciding upon the appropriate line length is the nature of the actual text. For instance, some content – such as medical text – might involve many longer words, lending itself to a wider column width to avoid excessive hyphenations. On the other hand, text used for children and young readers might involve many short words, allowing for a narrower column.

Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers (formerly the superfamily “Hesperioidea”), and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies (formerly the superfamily “Hedyloidea”). Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago.

Single columns, both ragged right and justified, are too short to comfortably read. 2-4 words per line leaves the reader fatigued, not to mention the gaping rivers when justified.

8 point text taking up two columns becomes more comfortable to read. It is still below the optimal word count per line of 9-12, but it has better spacing than a single column block.

Using fewer words may cause the sentence structure to break up and result in hyphenations or awkward rivers. However, longer column widths become confusing as the reader scans across the length of the page. Keep in mind the optimal word counts for lines of text: 9-12 for unjustified blocks, or 12-15 for justified.

Left-aligned 8/12

Justified 8/12

Left-aligned 8/12

Justified 8/12

Considering hyphenation and point size can impact the text for better or worse. A balanced paragraph does not have large rivers in between words or awkward line lengths due to hyphens/no hyphens.

03.

Justification Justified text is spaced so the left and right sides of the text block both have a clean edge. The usual alternative to justified text is left-aligned text, which has a straight left edge and an uneven right edge. Compared to leftaligned text, justification gives text a cleaner, more formal look.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Justify text only if the line is long enough to prevent awkward and inconsistent word spacing. The only time you can safely justify text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page.

Justification works by adding white space between the words in each line so all the lines are the same length. This alters the ideal spacing of the font, but in paragraphs of reasonable width it’s usually not distracting.

Layout programs allow the user to set the limit values for spacing. For most fonts setting the “Desired” to less than 100% is a good idea. For the letter spacing the Maximum can be 1% or 2%, never more.

Minimum

Desired

Maximum

Word Spacing

80-90%

85-100%

90-100%

Letter Spacing

1-2%

Further Guidelines • Don’t make minimums less than 80%

• Try any range of maximum from 90% to 110%

• Don’t make desired more than 85% to 100%

• Never change the Glyph Scaling setting

8/12 Type size

Minimum 80% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Maximum 100% 0%

Caterpillars mature through a series of developmental stages known as instars. Near the end of each stage, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis, mediated by the release of a series of neurohormones. During this phase, the cuticle, a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins, is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults, the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.

Minimum 85% 0%

Desired 95% 0%

Maximum 100% 2%

Minimum 90% 0%

Desired 100% 0%

Maximum 105% 0%

9/12 Type size

Minimum 80% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Maximum 100% 1%

Minimum 80% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Maximum 100% 2%

Minimum 85% 0%

Desired 95% 0%

Maximum 105% 2%

Caterpillars mature through a series of developmental stages known as instars. Near the end of each stage, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis, mediated by the release of a series of neurohormones. During this phase, the cuticle, a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins, is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults, the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment.Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.

Minimum 80% 0%

Desired 100% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Maximum 100% 0%

Before adjusting settings

After adjusting settings

Minimum 80% 0%

Minimum 85% 0%

Desired 100% 0%

Before adjusting settings

Maximum 133% 0%

Desired 95% 0%

After adjusting settings

Maximum 105% 2%

Caterpillars mature through a series of developmental stages known as instars. Near the end of each stage, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis, mediated mediated by the release of a series of neurohormones. During this phase, the cuticle, a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins, proteins, is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults, the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.

Caterpillars mature developmental stages known as inmature through throughaaseries seriesofof developmental stages known as stars. Near instars. Nearthe theend endofofeach eachstage, stage,the the larva larva undergoes undergoes aa process called a series of neurohormones. During this apolysis, mediated mediated by bythe therelease releaseof of a series of neurohormones. During phase, the cuticle, a tough outerouter layerlayer mademade of a mixture of chitin and spethis phase, the cuticle, a tough of a mixture of chitin and cialized proteins, is released from the specialized proteins, is released from thesofter softerepidermis epidermisbeneath, beneath, and and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults, the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.

Minimum 80% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Maximum 100% 0%

After adjusting settings compared to standard settings pre-adjustment

04.

Hyphenation Rules Opinions on hyphenation vary. Some designers are uncompromising, saying for example. ‘Never hyphenate ragged right text or proper nouns’. It could be that you take the approach of avoiding hyphenation but it is better to hyphenate than have a bad rag or poor justification.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Opinions on hyphenation vary. Some designers are uncompromising, saying for example. ‘Never hyphenate ragged right text or proper nouns’. It could be that you take the approach of avoiding hyphenation but it is better to hyphenate than have a bad rag or poor justification.

Don’t rely on the software to judge where hyphens should be placed. Generally, it is better to set hyphenation specifications to a minimum of three characters at the beginning and end of a hyphenated word. That avoids having word breaks such as elegant-ly or mi-gration. Better would be elegantly or migration. The exception could be breaking a word at the prefix such as un-likelihood or de-contaminate. Hyphens in long compound works makes sense between the compounds.

The hyphenation of proper nouns, such as the names London or Lawrence, is an undesirable event though they have clear syllables. If you are dealing with a name such as Michelangelo or Baskerville, it will be better to break the name than to have an ugly rag or poor justification.

Hyphenation Rules: • Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a,

• Avoid a sequence of hyphens in a row

by..

• Avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and

• Leave a least 3 characters on the line and 3 on

proper nouns

the following line

• Avoid beginning and ending consecutive lines

• Never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid

with the same word

hyphenation in a callout

Left-aligned 8/12

Justified 8/12

The appearance of a caterpillar can often repel a predator: its markings and certain body parts can make it seem poisonous, or bigger in size and thus threatening, or non-edible. Some types of caterpillars are indeed poisonous or distasteful and their bright coloring is aposematic. Others may mimic dangerous caterpillars or other animals while not being dangerous themselves. Many caterpillars are cryptically colored and resemble the plants on which they feed. An example of caterpillars that use camouflage for defence is the species Nemoria arizonaria. If the caterpillars hatch in the spring and feed on oak catkins they appear green. If they hatch in the summer they appear dark colored, like oak twigs.

Left-aligned 10/12

Justified 10/12

The appearance of a caterpillar can often repel a predator: its markings and certain body parts can make it seem poisonous, or bigger in size and thus threatening, or nonedible. Some types of caterpillars are indeed poisonous or distasteful and their bright coloring is aposematic. Others may mimic dangerous caterpillars or other animals while not being dangerous themselves. Many caterpillars are cryptically colored and resemble the plants on which they feed. An example of caterpillars that use camouflage for defence is the species Nemoria arizonaria. If the caterpillars hatch in the spring and feed on oak catkins they appear green. If they hatch in the summer they appear dark colored, like oak twigs.

Larger text sizes in shorter columns will contain more hyphens. For leftaligned text, doing a soft return on badly hyphenated words will help. Longer words should have at least 3-4 letters before the hyphen to aid the reader's understanding of the next line. It is also imperative to watch for orphans or short words at the beginning of sentences.

05.

Numerals, Figures Numbers are a common element in text. They are used to indicate dates, times, addresses, measurements quantities, prices and other data. In typography, the symbols used to represent numbers are commonly referred to as figures or numerals.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

The uppercase alphabet came from the inscriptional capitals of the Romans. The lowercase came from the European uncial alphabets of the Middle Ages. The numerals or figures we know were invented in India. They spread westward through the influence of Persian and Arab mathematicians.

Lining figures are one of the two styles of figures, with the other being Oldstyle. Serif fonts often have goth variations figures. Sans serif typefaces typically only have Lining figures – although this is changing with the more contemporary fonts.

Lining Figures Lining Figures (also called aligning, cap, or modern figures) approximate capital letters in that they are uniform in height, and generally align with the baseline and the cap height.

They are useful in tables, invoices, content where the numbers need to align for better legibility. Lining figures are commonly offered in two spacing formats, proportional and tabular. Proportional lining figures are the preferred style for all-cap settings, such as headlines, titles, and such. They are also effective anywhere that additional emphasis is desired for the figures, even in running text. Tabular lining figures are the preferred style for columns of numbers, such as tables, price lists, financial data, and listings.

It should be noted when lining figures are used in body text they will stand out just like USING ALL CAPS WOULD. In running text this is undesirable. In this case old style figures (text figures, non-aligning figures are better suited in body text).

123 123 123 123 Utopia

Goudy Old Style

Freight Text

Mokoko

123 123 Bodoni URW

Bely

Oldstyle Figures Oldstyle Figures (also known as non-lining, lowercase, hanging, or text figures) have varying heights and alignments, as opposed to lining figures, which are of uniform height and alignment. Oldstyle figures are similar to lowercase characters in that they share the same x-height and have ascenders (the 6 and 8) and descenders (the 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9).

Unlike lining figures, Oldstyle figures blend in without disturbing the color of the body copy. They also work well in headlines since they’re not as intrusive as lining figures. In fact, many people prefer them overall for most uses except charts and tables. It’s well worth the extra effort to track down and obtain typefaces with oldstyle figures; the fonts that contain them might well become some of your favorites.

123 123 Mrs Eaves OT

FF Meta

123 123 Servus Slab

Ratio

123 123 Odile

Macho

British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement on May 14, 1607. This

colony was named for King James I of England. In 1803, the United States

acquired 828,000 square miles of land in the Louisiana territory. This land

was originally owned by France, but Thomas Jefferson negotiated a deal

to purchase it for just $11,250,000. The United States also agreed to forgive

$3,750,000 worth of France’s debts. The northern states started making slavery

illegal in 1776. In 1804, the last northern state finally abolished slavery. In 1863,

Abraham Lincoln freed more than 3,000,000 slaves with the Emancipation

Proclamation. He actually wrote the proclamation in 1862, but it did not take

effect until January 1, 1863. In 1920, women were granted the right to vote with

the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was

the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment

introduced in 1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.

was introduced in 1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.

Acumin Lining

Servus Slab Oldstyle

Utopia

Mrs Eaves

0123456789 Feb. 21, 2001

Goudy Old Style

Servus Slab

0123456789 Feb. 21, 2001

Mokoko

Macho

0123456789 Feb. 21, 2001

British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement on May 14, 1607. This colony was named for King James I of England. In 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles of land in the Louisiana territory. This land was originally owned by France, but Thomas Jefferson negotiated a deal to purchase it for just $11,250,000. The United States also agreed to forgive $3,750,000 worth of France’s debts. The northern states started making slavery illegal in 1776. In 1804, the last northern state finally abolished slavery. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln freed more than 3,000,000 slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. He actually wrote the proclamation in 1862, but it did not take effect until January 1, 1863. In 1920, women were granted the right to vote with the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was introduced in 1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.

Freight Text

Servus Slab

Acumin

Servus Slab

Bodoni

Servus Slab

Tabs Tab stops are useful in typesetting both words and numbers. They can help organize columns of information in charts, graphs and lists, as well as align figures in annual reports, invoices and price lists, including menus. Tabs are widely used to set paragraph indents as well as hanging indents, also called outdents (although many would argue that the proper way to do this is with the First Line Indent feature of your software). In any case, setting customized tabs is always preferable to simply using your software’s built-in tab stops, which are usually set to half-inch intervals by default.

Hours 12.75 x

15.10

3.00

120

.75

1056.5 x

100

Small Capitals Small caps are uppercase letterforms that are shorter in height than the capitals letters. They are designed to blend with lowercase text. When designed as part of a typeface, they are most often the height of the lowercase x (or very slightly taller).

Small capitals have been around since the sixteenth century. Small caps are relatively wide; they have the same height as the lower case x (or sometimes slightly higher). Their proportions are studier and wider than the capital letters. True small caps have line weights that are proportionally correct for the typeface.

Avoid “fake” small caps. Avoid simply resizing capital letters or using the small caps feature in some programs. Computer programs can generate small caps for any typeface, but those are not the same as true small caps. The program is taking the capital letters and shrinking them down about 80%. This changes the stroke weight and the feel of the font. Fake small caps will appear narrow and thin.

Small caps are basically used in two ways. They substitute all capital words and acronyms in side body text. They are also used as a stylistic device to add another color to the designer’s palette without having to add a different font. When using a string of small caps to replace all caps, in a title, subtitle, a label, etc they require generous tracking.

Use small caps for acronyms. Set acronyms such as NASA or NASDAQ in small caps when they appear in body text or headlines. Example in Mrs Eaves Small Caps: nasa or nasdaq.

Use small caps for common abbreviations. Set common abbreviations such as AM or PM in small caps so they don't overpower the accompanying text. Use small caps for A.M. and P.M.; space once after the number, and use periods between and after the letters.

Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to venture outside the

International Space Station to finish installing a European science

platform and complete long-term battery upgrade work. NASA will

preview the work during a news conference at 3:00PM EST. The FBI,

preview the work during a news conference at 3:00P.M. EST. The FBI,

CIA and NCAA have no jurisdiction on space walks.

Uncorrectly set Mrs Eaves

Correctly set Mrs Eaves

Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to venture outside

the International Space Station to finish installing a European

science platform and complete long-term battery upgrade

work. NASA will preview the work during a news conference

at 3:00PM EST. The FBI, CIA and NCAA have no jurisdiction on

at 3:00P.M. EST. The FBI, CIA and NCAA have no jurisdiction on

space walks.

Uncorrectly set P22 Underground

Correctly set P22 Underground

06.

Words, Lines, Paragraphs Typography deals essentially with the arrangement of words, lines of word and groups of lines to form paragraphs.

Researchers believe that we don’t read words letter by letter, but that we tend to identify words by their outline. This is particularly true of type set in upper and lowercase. An exit sign on a highway is easier and read more quickly than the exit is in upper and lower case. The differentiation of heights of the x-height, ascenders and defenders helps produce distinctive and recognizable word shapes. It is generally considered that words, lines, paragraphs set in uppercase (all caps) is less readable. Setting large amounts of text in all caps should be avoided.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Paragraph Alignment Paragraph text can be set justified, or ragged left (also known as flush right), ragged right or centered. (Make an example optional). As with all layouts, alignment depends on the purpose of the piece, the audience and its expectations, the fonts, the margins and white space, and other elements on the page. The most appropriate choice is the alignment that works for that particular design.

No matter what alignment you use, remember to pay close attention to hyphenation and word/character spacing as well to ensure that your text is as readable as possible.

The differentiation of heights of the x-height, ascenders and defenders helps produce distinctive and recognizable word shapes. A ragged text block can integrate with the layout and add visual interest to the page.

Rags In typography, “rag” refers to the irregular or uneven vertical margin of a block of type. Usually it’s the right margin that’s ragged (as in the flush left/ rag right setting), but either or both margins can be ragged.

The text block set Rag Right (unjustified text) as uneven line endings on the right side of the paragraph text and is set with normal letter and word spacing. Because of the even word spacing the text ragged text will have an even texture – no large spaces between words. The lines will naturally vary in length. A ragged text block can integrate with the layout and add visual interest to the page.

The difficulty is making the ragged edge have a pleasing silhouette. When the first line in the text is longer than the second, it becomes separate from the layout and creates a box-like shape. This destroys one of the advantages of unjustified text. The ragged edge needs to have a life, but a narrow column can be less active. Another advantage to ragged text is less hyphenation is needed. Therefore, names, dates or words which are normally read together can stay together.

A good rag goes in and out from line to line in small increments. A poor rag creates distracting shapes. Don’t rely on the line breaks generated by your software application; get in the habit of spotting and correcting poor rags by making manual line breaks or by editing your copy. Slight adjustments in point size or column width might work as well.

Word Spacing Word spacing is an important aspect of creating inviting, easy-to-read typography. This seemingly small detail plays a key role in establishing the color, texture and readability of a typographic communication. The word space is suitable for text in most typefaces, but it is work looking at especially in display type. In larger type the word space can be less.

Overly-tight word spacing causes words to appear to run into each other, making it more difficult for the reader to distinguish one word from the next. Conversely, word spacing that is too open – the more common occurrence – creates oversized blocks of white space between words, forcing the reader to read individual words rather than phrases or blocks of copy. This dramatically slows down the reading process, reducing reader comprehension and increasing the risk of distraction.

How much word spacing is the right amount? Assigning appropriate space between words is more of an optical determination than an exact science, but certain factors have a definite influence. Word spacing will be affected by the proportions of a typestyle, letter fit, and point size of the setting. One rule of thumb is that the word space should be around the character space of the loser case “i”.

Wordispaceishoudibeiaboutithatiofiailowercaseii Word space should be about that of a lowercase i

Although the word spacing of any given font is predetermined, it can be adjusted in most design and page layout software via the justification settings. Changing the “desired word spacing” setting is the best method for text.

For headlines, the kerning feature is the better tool – and yes, you can kern a character to a space, and vice versa!

Proper word spacing is not noticed by the reader, but is a major factor in creating text that appears even, inviting and easy to read; the copy should just flow.

Hanging Punctuation, Optical Alignment Hanging (or hung) punctuation refers to the practice of extending certain punctuation marks into the margin of a flush edge of text, to give the appearance of a more uniform vertical alignment. Punctuation marks that are typically hung include periods, commas, hyphens, dashes, quotation marks and asterisks. These, and any other mark that does not have a continuous vertical mass, can cause a visual “hole” or indentation in the flush edge. Hung punctuation should also be applied to headings, subheads, pull quotes and can be used for body text.

Tremendous advances in the typographic capabilities of design software offer an effect similar to hung punctuation, by visually aligning the margins of flush text. Enabling and applying the Optical Margin Alignment feature will not only hang the appropriate punctuation outside the text frame, but also adjust other characters that can disturb alignment, including A, T, V, W, Y, and in some instances the numeral 1. This feature is adjustable in most design software, allowing fine control of the amount of overhang – from punctuation being completely extended into the margin, like traditional hung punctuation, down to any lesser degree of overhang.

Optical alignment in text is a mixed blessing. It solves so visual problems but can cause others. It cures the visual indent caused by quotation marks but can also give them too much prominence.

“Typography is two-dimensional architecture, based on experience and imagination and guided by rules and readability” – Hermann Zapf “Typography is two-dimensional architecture, based on experience and imagination and guided by rules and readability” – Hermann Zapf

“In the beginning we got rid of nineteenthcentury storybook realism. Then we got rid of representational objects. Then we got rid of the third dimension altogether and got really flat (Abstract Expressionism). Then we got rid of airiness, brushstrokes, most of the paint, and the last viruses of drawing and complicated designs”. After providing examples of other techniques and the schools that abandoned them, Wolfe concluded with Conceptual Art: “...there, at last, it was! No more realism, no more representation objects, no more lines, colors, forms, and contours, no more pigments, no more brushstrokes. Art made its final flight, climbed higher and higher in an ever-decreasing tighterturning spiral until it disappeared up its own fundamental aperture and came out the other side as Art Theory!” —Tom Wolfe

Rivers In typography, rivers, or rivers of white, are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though they are most noticeable with wide word spaces caused by either full text justification or monospaced fonts.

“In the beginning we got rid of nineteenthcentury

storybook realism. Then we got

rid of representational objects. Then we got rid of the third dimension altogether and got really flat (Abstract Expressionism). Then we got rid of airiness, brushstrokes, most of the paint, and the last viruses of drawing and complicated designs."

Widows and Orphans Never leave widows and orphans sad and lonely on the page. Avoid both of these situations. If you have editing privileges, rewrite the copy, or at least add or delete a word or two. Sometimes you can remove spacing from the letters, words, or lines, depending on which program you’re working in. Sometimes widening a column or margin just a hair will do it. But it must be done.

Widow: When a paragraph ends and leaves fewer than seven characters (not words, characters) on the last line, that line is called a widow. Worse than leaving one word at the end of a line is leaving part of a word.

Orphan: When the last line of a paragraph, be it ever so long, won’t fit at the bottom of a column and must end itself at the top of the next column, that is an orphan.

Widow “Typography is two-dimensional architecture, based on experience and imagination and guided by rules and readability” – Herman Zapf

Orphan After providing examples of other techniques and the schools that abandoned them, Wolfe concluded with Conceptual Art: "...there, at last, it was! No more realism, no more representation objects, no more lines, colors, forms, and contours, no more

pigments, no more brushstrokes.

Remember to pay close attention to spacing and punctuation to produce balanced blocks of text.

07.

Accent Marks, Special Characters Beyond the standard layout of the keyboard, you will find that producing typographic work may require you to use accents on characters or use punctuation and symbols that are unfamiliar to you.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Accent marks (sometimes referred to simply as accents, diacritics or diacriticals) and accented characters are important elements in both written and spoken language, and, by extension, in typography. While their use in English is largely confined to proper names or “borrowed” words of foreign origin, such as résumé and tête-à-tête, they occur frequently in several other languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese.

Creating accented characters may be achieved by typing combinations of ‘alt’ + accent key followed by the character. The most common accents are the acute (á, é, í, ó, ú), grave (è), circumflex (â, î or ô), tilde (ñ), umlaut and dieresis (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ) – the same symbol is used for two different purposes), and cedilla (ç). Accent marks usually appear above a character. One exception is the cedilla, which appears directly underneath the letter c; several less common accent marks appear next to the character.

Option e

Option ~

Option u

Option n

Option i

résume tête-à-tête über façade jalapeño

Cultural Grammar Like power sockets, quotation marks are different whoever you travel. When designing international deliverables it is a matter of respect to use the correct quotes.

“American English” “Brazilian Portuguese” ”Swedish + Finnish” „German + Slavic“ „Danish“ »Danish« „Polish” „Dutch - traditional” «French» «German Swiss» «Norwegian» «Russian, Ukrainian

In Spanish, interrogative and exclamatory sentences (or clauses) are preceded by and inverted question or exclamation mark. The reason is that in Latin languages the order of the words usually remains the same in the interrogative and exclamatory sentences so the marks are used at the beginning to help the reader or speaker know how to emphasis the sentence. In private communication these are often not used but in more formal situations these are not optional

¿Qué estás comiendo? ¡Un pincho de atún!

These small yet significant symbols indicate pronunciation, including emphasis. In some instances, the accent mark also clarifies the meaning of a word, which might be different without the accent. With names and other proper nouns, neglecting to include the correct accent marks can be seen as a sign of disrespect.

Accented characters can be accessed either directly from the glyph panel or by using specific key combinations; many more can be created on-thefly by using key commands to add the floating accent to create the desired character. Note that keyboard commands vary between Mac and other PC software, as well as for non-U.S. keyboard layouts.

Use copyright, register, and trademark marks properly Register, trademark and copyright symbols are important communicators. They help establish brand identities and protect creative work from theft or plagiarism. Despite their legal and symbolic power, these symbols need to speak softly, typographically speaking. Their tasteful and appropriate use is a small but significant part of good typography.

The copyright, register, and trademark characters need to be reduced to work with body text. When using a ® or a ™ after a word, adjust the point size so the symbol looks clean and legible yet unobtrusive. Here are some general guidelines: At text sizes, set these symbols a little smaller than half the x-height of your text. As your text gets larger, the symbols should become proportionately smaller, especially in headlines.

Ellipsis Character Use the ellipsis character and NOT three periods. You can access the ellipsis by typing Option + : (colon). Allow a small amount of space before and after. However, if it is not crowding the text, leave no space at all.

08.

Quotes, Apostrophes, and Primes Straight quotes are the two generic vertical quotation marks located near the return key and curly quotes (smart quotes) are the quotation marks used in good typography. There are four curly quote characters: the opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), and the closing double quote (”).

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead of using inch marks and feet marks. Place all punctuations inside the quotation marks use “and” – not "and". Most software applications will convert the straight (typewriter) quotes to the real quotes for you automatically as you type.

It is necessary to know how to set smart quotes/real quotes yourself because sometimes the software doesn't do it or does it incorrectly.

‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself. Incorrectly Set

‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight. Correctly Set

“ ” ‘ ’

Option Option Option Option

[ Shift [ ] Shift ]

An apostrophe indicates the possessive case (Jessica’s bagel). And used in contractions, an apostrophe takes the place of letters or numbers that have been removed.

For possessives: Turn the phrase around. The apostrophe will be placed after whatever word you end up with. For example, in the phrase the boys’ camp, to know where to place the apostrophe say to yourself, “The camp belongs to the boys.” The phrase the boy’s camp says “The camp belongs to the boy.”

“The big exception to this is “its.” “Its” used as a possessive never has an apostrophe! The word it only has an apostrophe as a contraction — “it’s” always means “it is” or “it has.” Always.

It may be easier to remember if you recall that yours, hers, and his don’t use apostrophes — and neither should its.

For contractions: The apostrophe replaces the missing letter. For example: you’re always means you are; the apostrophe is replacing the a from are. That’s an easy way to distinguish it from your as in your house and to make sure you don’t say: Your going to the store.

As previously noted, it’s means “it is”; the apostrophe is indicating where the i is left out. Don’t means “do not”; the apostrophe is indicating where the o is left out.

For omission of letters: In a phrase such as Rock ’n’ Roll, there should be an apostrophe before and after the n, because the a and the d are both left out. And don’t turn the first apostrophe around — just because it appears in front of the letter does not mean you need to use the opposite single quote. An apostrophe is still the appropriate mark (not ‘n’).

In a phrase such as House o’ Fashion, the apostrophe takes the place of the f. There is not earthly reason for an apostrophe to be set before the o.

In a phrase such as Gone Fishin’ the same pattern is followed — the g is missing and is replaced by the apostrophe.

In a date when part of the year is left out, an apostrophe needs to indicate the missing year. In the 80s would mean the temperature; In the ’80s would mean the decade. (Notice there is no apostrophe before the s! Why would there be? It is not possessive, nor is it a contraction — it is simply plural.

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

When typesetting measurements, the proper indicators for inches and feet are primes, which in most fonts requires the use of aptly-named typewriter quotes. Unfortunately, when primes are called for, they often incorrectly appear as smart, or typographer's quotes, due to the commonly applied default setting in both word processing and design software. This default automatically replaces typewriter quotes with the smart variety, which are the typographically correct glyphs for setting quotation marks and apostrophes. foot and inch marks—also known as minute and second marks or prime and double prime marks, depending on what they’re labeling—are not curly.

In the absence of a simple way to override this automatic software replacement, the best fix is to manually convert back to primes any smart quotes appearing in measurements. Primes are accessed via the glyph panel or character viewer.

' ’ "” 88

Bridge Clearance: 16’ 7” The young man stood 6’ 2” The length of the wall is 153’ 9”

09.

Hyphens, Dashes Hyphens, en and em dashes are among the most misunderstood, and misused, punctuation marks in typography. While their appearance is generally similar, they have distinct designs and serve specific functions. These three marks are not interchangeable, and knowing the difference is key to setting type correctly. Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, and hyphens. Never use two hyphens instead of a dash.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

Hyphens, en and em dashes come in many styles and lengths. Note that while the em dashes on the left are in proportion to the ‘n’s and ‘m’s, those on the right are much longer than even their respective cap ‘M’s.

hyphen - en dash – em dash —

Hyphens The hyphen is the shortest of the three marks, and is used to hyphenate a word at the end of a line by breaking after a syllable. Hyphens are also used to join separate words into a compound word, such as dyed–in–the–wool; and to separate the digits in phone and account numbers. A hyphen can be designed as a simple horizontal stroke, or it can have characteristics that match the rest of the typeface.

dyed-in-the-wool twenty-two

En Dash The en dash is longer than the hyphen and shorter than the em dash about the width of a capital N). It is used to indicate a duration of time (also referred to as a span or a range) such as Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm, often replacing prepositions such as “to” and “through”. Historically, the en dash was half the length of the em dash, but today both marks vary in relative length from typeface to typeface. The best-looking en dashes are frequently designed to approximate the width of the cap or lowercase N, which makes them proportionally pleasing to the overall width of the particular typeface. In a page layout application, the en dash can be used with a thin space on either side of it. If you want you can kern it so it is not a full space.

October–December 6:30–8:45 A.M. 4–6 years of age

En Dash

Option -

Em Dash

Shift Option -

Em Dash The em dash is the longest of the three marks, and is used to indicate a break in thought, or to set off a thought within a thought. Historically (particularly in metal type), the em dash was the length of the em square in a given point size of type, except for some condensed designs which had shorter dashes. An em is a unit of measure equal to the width of the point size of type; thus, an em dash in 18 point type often was 18 points long.

When phrases are interjected between other parts of a sentence, they are usually punctuated by surrounding them with commas, parentheses or em dashes (—). The em dash is also used for attributions.

“A c r a y o n m a k i n g a s t a r shape in my sketchbook, or my brush dipping into bright and colorful paints— these things affect me as joyfully today as they did all those years ago.” —Eric Carle

Using two hyphens -- instead of an em dash is typographically incorrect. This treatment is a holdover from the typewriter, which offers no dash on the keyboard. Be sure to search for any double hyphens and other misuses of hyphens and/or dashes, and to replace them with the correct punctuation.

The sun is shining today —unlike the last five days— so it is really beautiful outside. The regulations were updated—because the law changed— to require training every two years. Yes, I will help you—absolutely!

10.

Kerning Kerning is the adjustment of specific pairs of letters to improve spacing and fit. It’s distinct from tracking, which affects all the characters. Kerning is a mandatory skill for designers And is totally dependent on your eye, not the machine, not by measuring distance. Type needs the human eye for fine tuning the spacing.

T h e Ty p o g r a p h e r ’s F i e l d G u i d e

The tracking sets the default spacing between letters, each letter existing within its free area and in general should not need to be changed. However, if there are indications that the font is poorly kerned in most cases the letter spacing is too tight and tracking can be added to a paragraph style or in InDesign you can chick on ‘optical’ kerning. This will only help body text, it will not correct headlines that are larger text.

Kerning should be one of the last steps in fine-tuning your designs. Most fonts come with hundreds and sometimes thousands of kerning pairs inserted by the font designer. The need to kern letters may be more apparent in larger sizes of text or uses of text such as in titles, headlines, subheads, large pull quotes, logotypes... The trained eye has to be the judge. Most common kerning pairs are Aw, Av, Ay, Ta, To, Va, Vo, Wa, Wo, Ya, Yo ect.

HL: characters with verticals next to each other need the most amount of space. HO: a vertical next to a curve needs less space. OC: a curve next to a curve needs very little space.

OT: a curve can actually overlap into the space, under or above the bar or stem. AT: the closest space (kerning) is done when both letters have a lot of space around them.

Aviator Aviator Today Today 99

YOUNG Wayward Wayward The point of kerning is to keep the spacing visually consistent. The letters should appear to have the same amount of space between them. It doesn’t matter how much, it just needs to be consistent. Most typefaces have reasonably good kerning however a critical look is needed. It could be a typeface you have selected that doesn't have any kerning pairs. Looking at the word upside down, blurring the letters or squinting can be useful in seeing where letters need to be kerned. Always look at least 3 letters at a time. In terms of numerals, the spacing of the 1 often needs adjusted.

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1814 1967 1967 OTTAWA OTTAWA

101

Typography Check Sheet

Spacing and Alignment __ Use only one space between sentences __ Hang punctuation off the aligned edge __ Never use the space bar to align text, always set tabs and use the tab key __ Keep the word spacing consistent __ Use a one-em first-line indent on all indented

Paragraph Balance __ Avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word multiple times __ Avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word. __ Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by.. __ Tighten up the leading in lines with all caps or with few ascenders and descenders

paragraphs __ Either indent the first line of paragraphs or add extra space between them __ Use a decimal or right-aligned tab for the numbers in numbered paragraphs __ Kern all headlines where necessary __ Leave no widows or orphans __ Leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following __ Never justify the text on a short line (widow) __ Never have one line in a paragraph in the column or following (orphan)

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Hyphenation __ Avoid more than 3 hyphens in a row __ Avoid too many hyphenations in any paragraph __ Avoid hyphenating/ line brakes of proper nouns __ Never hyphenate words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout

Fine Tuning

Punctuation

__ Never combine two serif fonts on one page

__ Make sure the apostrophes are correct

__ Rarely combine two sans serif fonts on one page

__ Use real apostrophes

__ Rarely combine more than three typefaces on one

__ Use real quotation marks

page together

__ Use en or em dashes, consistently

__ Use the special characters whenever necessary, including super- and subscript __ Spend the time to create a nice fraction or choose a font that has fractions. __ If a correctly spelled word needs an accent mark, use it

“Typography is two-dimensional architecture, based on experience and imagination, and guided by rules and readability.” —Hermann Zapf

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About the Designer Allie Feigeles is a sophomore in Visual Communications at the University of Kansas. A former traditional artist, she is expanding her knowledge in Adobe programs while also continuing to apply her traditional style to her personal work. She enjoys multiple different aspects of design including publication, branding, type design, and motion graphics.

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