Typography in a Semester, Ch.2

WEEK 2

This week we are going to cover the basic typographic vocabulary starting with the anatomy of type, type measurements and other important information that every graphic design student should know in order to be able to work with type efficiently.

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Anatomy of Type

Each letter in a font has a specific design which carries the characteristics of that specific font. If you can learn to recognize the parts of a single letter, you will be able to analyze the difference between each font, therefore you can make more informed decision when choosing one for your design.

Choosing a font just because it’s pretty or fun is not an informed decision of an experienced designer.

One of the first things a designer needs to be aware of is the negative space around and inside the letter. The less negative space there is more that font will affect legibility. Many times the designer is limited with space and it might get tempting to alter the space between the individual letters in order to fit it all

Which one is easier to read?

freedom freedom

abc

Just like traditional artists, graphic designers are always aware of the negative space. Each letterform is an object occupying space that needs a “breathing room�. A bold font or a font with very thick strokes will need extra breathing room, so naturally designers tweak the space to allow for that.

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Anatomy of Type

Uppercase Captial letters or caps of the alphabet.

Descender height The height of all descenders in the typeface.

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Lowercase The small letters in the alphabet.

Ascender The part of some lowercase letters that extends above the meanline.

Descender The part of some letters that extends under the baseline.

Ascender height The height of all ascenders in the typeface.

Baseline Imaginary line on which all the letters are standing.

Meanline or Median Imaginary line that runs on top of the lowercase letters.

X-height The height of the body of the lowercase letters, which falls between meanline and baseline.

It is called the x-height because the height of the letter “x� is taken as a measure.

AWM

pbeC

Apex/Vertex The point created by joining two diagonal stems (apex above, vertex below)

Counter The negative space within a letterform, either closed or open.

T E K Arm Short strokes off the main stem. They can be horizontal or inclined.

C G S Barb The half-serif finish of some curved strokes.

ELT Beak The half-serif finish of some horizontal strokes.

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Type Parts

Tk Bracket The transition between the serif and the stem.

AH Cross bar The horizontal stroke in a letterform that joins the two stems.

f t Cross stroke The horizontal stroke that intersects the stem.

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Type Parts

V K R Crotch The space where two strokes meet.

f j Finial The rounded terminal on a stroke.

fi fl Ligature The new character form by combining two or more letterforms

R W Swash The flourish that extends the stroke of a letterform.

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AKH Serif The foot at the end of the stroke

AKH Sans-Serif If the foot is absent, the font is sans-serif, (without serif).

VTF Stem The dominant vertical or diagonal stroke.

pbdB Bowl The stroke that makes the fully closed, rounded part of a letter.

Typeface

Baskerville Bodoni Edwardian Helvetica Neue

Futura

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Type Terminology

Typestyle

Baskerville Italic Baskerville Semibold Baskerville Bold Italic Did You Know?

Italic style originated from the 15th century Italian cursive writing.

Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold

Helvetica Neue Ultra Light Helvetica Bold Italic

The term typeface refers to the specific design of an alphabet.

The term typestyle refers to the variations within a typeface (italic, bold etc.)

Any difference between two typefaces, no matter how small it is, can greatly affect the appearance of the entire printed page.

Font and typeface mean the same thing. Fonts vary in the number of styles they have.

Type family represents all typestyles in a given typeface. Most type families are small, consisting fo roman, italic and bold typestyles. Some, such as Helvetica can be very large ranging from thin condensed to bold extended.

Type classifications are categories of typefaces based on shared visual characteristics, created by scholars ahd historians of typography. These are the ones that are most familiar that we'll be covering later this semester: Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Egyptian/Slab Serif, Sans Serif, Decorative/Novelty, and Script.

Each typeface is identified by a name. It can be the name of the designer who created it (Baskerville, Gill, Cason), or it can refer to a country (Helvetica) or its name can describe the appearance of the character ( Futura, Eurostyle, Modern).

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Numerals and Dingbats

1234567890

ABCDEFGHIJKLM

Uppercase Numerals They are the same height as uppercase letters. They should be used anytime uppercase letters are used.

1234567890

abcdefghijklm

Lowercase Numerals They are the same height as uppercase letters. They should be used anytime lowercase letters are used.

▼◆●◗★☎☛☞♠♣♥♦✁✏✒✓ ✔✕✖✗✪✫✬✷✾✿❊❉❦❥❤ Zapf Dingbats

j0$fq{±odO!ß•†®≠∫

Dingbats Ornaments used with type, for example, instead of bullet points or any other place to draw attention or create hierarchy of information.

Dingbats can come as part of a typeface or separately, such as Zapf Dingbats.

Bodoni Ornaments To view dingbats and any special characters such as "®", "©", "é" go to: Window/Type/Glyphs. Once the glyphs panel is open double click on the glyph you would like to use.

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Type Measurements

Points are used to measure the size of type and the size of the space between lines of type.

This is text in typed in 11pt Baskerville typeface.

The space between these two lines is 14pt.

Picas are used to measure the length of a line of type.

The width of the text line is 19 picas and 7 points.

This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements.

In InDesign速 the info panel shows that width is 19 picas and 7 points.

Leading is the space between lines of type.

This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate

Leading

the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements. This is a sample text to demonstrate the measurements.

NEED TO KNOW THIS 1 inch = 6 picas = 72 points 6 picas is written 6p.

6 picas and 7 points is written 6p7.

(11/13.2) When you are specifying type size and leading place a slash between the two.

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Kearning and Tracking

Kerning is adjusting the space between individual letters.

The space between letters is important for legibility of the written word. So because of that most times you work with large text such as headlines, you will need to check the letters and kern the ones that seem tight.

The best way of determining which ones to kern is by squinting and focusing on the gaps between the letters instead on the letters.

Tracking is adjusting the space between ALL letters.

As you can see tracking doesn't mean adjusting the space equally between all the letters.

That would create awkward gaps between the letters. Some letters such as "O" need more space around them than others, because it is about the visual weight of each letter.

Type size

Typeface

Typestyle

Leading

In the character panel of InDesign速, Illustrator速 or Photoshop速 you can see the typeface name, typestyle, type size, leading, kerning and tracking.

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Kerning

Tracking

Normal Leading Example

Normal Tracking

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam malesuada ante non lorem dignissim pharetra. Ut sagittis blandit porta. Aenean varius blandit ligula at suscipit.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam malesuada ante non lorem dignissim pharetra. Ut sagittis blandit porta. Aenean varius blandit ligula at suscipit. Aenean faucibus, orci quis faucibus ultricies, justo augue aliquet justo, vitae tempor nisl lectus sed lorem.

(10 pt tracking)

Aenean faucibus, orci quis faucibus ultricies, justo augue aliquet justo, vitae tempor nisl lectus sed lorem. (12pt /18 pt)

Loose Leading Example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam malesuada ante non lorem dignissim pharetra. Ut sagittis blandit porta. Aenean varius blandit ligula at suscipit. Aenean faucibus, orci quis faucibus ultricies, justo augue aliquet justo, vitae tempor nisl lectus sed lorem. (12 pt / 33 pt)

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Tracking and Leading

Tight Tracking Example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Etiam malesuada ante non lorem dignissim pharetra.

Ut sagittis blandit porta. Aenean varius blandit ligula at suscipit. Aenean faucibus, orci quis faucibus ultricies, justo augue aliquet justo, vitae tempor nisl lectus sed lorem.

(-40 pt tracking)

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How much space between the lines of text is enough?

One rule of thumb suggests adding at least 2 points to the point size of your text as a starting point for adjusting line spacing.

Some typefaces that are bold or condensed might need more than that.

REMEMBER: Always look at the negative space above and below and ask yourself if the line has enough comfortable breathing room.

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Questions

1. What is the difference between ascenders and descenders?

2. What is a meanline*?

11. Which letter belongs to the typeface featured in each example? Analyze the stroke width, height and other type anatomy to determine the correct answer.

3. Know to recognize the various type parts such as apex, counter etc.

4. What are dingbats and where can you find them in InDesign? a.

b.

c.

d.

5. What is the difference between typestyle and typeface?

6. What is the minimum amount of leading that should be added?

7. What are picas and points?

8. What is the difference between leading and tracking?

9. What is the difference between uppercase and lowercase numerals?

10. Try to notice the differences in each of the typefaces below.

What feeling do you get from each? Determining “the feeling� of each can help you determine an appropriate time to use each typeface.

a.

b.

c.

d.

RRRRRRRR

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b.

c.

d.

Correct answers: 1.c, 2. b, 3.c.

* "a line that has been rude to me", or the opposite of a 'niceline' will not be accepted

a.

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Exercise

In this exercise, you are going to trace a quote of your choice. Choose a font and type the entire quote using the same font. Make sure the quote takes up a full page. The goal is to practice drawing letters, while paying special attention to their specific construction.

1. Print out one copy of the quote.

2. Draw the following lines on a sheet of tracing paper: - Ascender line - Descender Line - Meanline - Baseline

3. Place a blank sheet of tracing paper over the printed copy and the sheet with lines. Trace the letters and observe if any lines extend slightly below the baseline (hint: look at o's or s's.

2.

1.

3.

More advanced version of this exercise is to start with an exact tracing existing font but in the next version to alter it. This sketch can be used as the beginning of a custom logo design. Scan your final sketch and trace it in Illustrator.速 33

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Project 1

HAND-DRAWING LETTERS Project 1 is meant to strengthen your knowledge of letterform component parts and develop your ability to hand-draw letterforms. Take 5 letters and used them as the base for developing your own unique letter designs. The goal of this project is to take an existing font and use it as a starting point for your own letter design. Through doing 5 versions of each letter, you develop an eye for what works and what may not work when designing type.

1. Choose 5 letters and type them at 100 pt. font size. Choose a font with a fill, not just a stroke.

2. Print the letters one letter per row, all on one sheet of paper.

3. Place printed sheet behind 2 tracing paper sheets and secure them with masking tape. Don't remove the tracing sheets from the pad.

4. On tracing paper sheet no.1 draw thin horizontal lines for baseline, meanline, ascender and descender lines.

5. On tracing paper sheet no.2 trace the letterforms.

6. Sketch various thumbnail versions in your sketchbook and decide on your final 5 for each letter.

7. First trace the outline of each letter. When outline is finished, use a softer pencil to fill in each letter with uniform density.

8. Remember to use the printed letters as your guide only.

9. Present the chosen printed letters and the five final traced versions of each on a white poster board.

Project 1 will be graded based attention to detail, uniqueness and effectivness of the custom designs.

Five unique designs from each letter

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Creativity of final solutions

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Neatness of shading and detail

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Presentation 25 Total 100

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Project 1 Examples

A K B C S Make sure you research existing fonts, packaging labels, vintage signage to get inspired but do not copy them. Look at their stroke width, shape, ending of the finials, the shape of the bracket or any extra decorations such as a stroke, shadow etc. Push your creativity and create your own combinations.

Use double stick tape or roll tape to attach each sheet to a poster board. Make sure the tape pieces are small so they don't distract from your work.

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