A TYPE GUIDE FOR STUDENTS
BY
STUDENT
THE
THIS
IN
BOOK
CONTENT
HAS BEEN
DESIGNED
FOR
STUDENTS BY A
STUDENT
DEVELOP
TO THEIR BY CHRIS LAM
TYPE
TYPE
YOUR
KNOW
THEY COME IN PACKS AS
TYPEFACES
Typeface refers to the consistent visual appearance or style of a font to suit a theme. There are two main categories for typeface – serif and san serif fonts.
San Serif doesn’t use a serif. It is usually used in magazine headlines and in websites for it is easier to read in the computer screen.
&
There are letters, characters, that carry small lines at the ends of their strokes - these are called Serifs. They are usually used in books or reading in general to guide the eyes from letter to letter.
SAN SERIF
SERIF FONTS
FONT
TYPE FAMILIES
Every font style has different type families. It could be condensed bold, condensed black, ultra light, ultra light italic, light, light italic, regular, roman, italic, extended or a combination.
&
Kerning involves reducing the spaces in between two letters. Too crowded and letters begin to merge together, too loose and they become words of their own.
TRACKING
LEADING
Tracking is adjusting the space between all of the letters simultaneously. Too tight and the word becomes difficult to read. Too loose and it reappears as a bunch of random letters.
Leading is the space between lines of text. If there is no leading then the lines feel cramped. Too much and the space will create disconnected lines.
THESE MINISCULE
ADJUSTMENTS
A
HAVE
THEY
IS
THINGS
DESIGN
KERNING
ARE
3 ARE
YOUR
HOW
SEEN
LIKE
AFFECTS
THERE
THAT
BUT
SEE
PEOPLE
ON
WAY
YOUR
Different sizes will affect the design and its message. Sizes give emphasis to some parts of design. For example, headlines use large words to introduce a topic, while smaller words are used when space is limited.
TO
STAND
THE
YOUR
SIZE
WORK
THE OF HELPS TEXT
THEM
IMPACT
HUGE
OUT
One of the biggest factors for improved readability. Since we read from left to right, this is very effective.
LEFT
JUSTIFIED
FLUSH
EITHER
ALIGNMENT
CAN
BE
OR
FLUSHED
This can look clean, although sometimes it can be hard to read for there isn’t a visual cue on when the text line will stop.
RIGHT It can slow down one’s reading and be used to highlight some parts of the text.
CENTERED It can make your work look elegant, like wedding invitations, but if used incorrectly it can confuse your readers.
DON’T JUST
GIVEN TO YOU
FONTS
USE THE
Look for others, because there are many more out there that are more suited towards your work than the ones you like using now!
Never rely solely on the internet. Always look for inspiration
FROM BOOKS
BLOGS MAGAZINES
FORUMS AND MUSEUMS TO NAME
A FEW
TW CEN MT
FRUTIGER
Designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham. Classified as a transitional typeface, between the old styles of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni & Firmin Didot.
20th Century was designed and drawn by Sol Hess in the Lanston Monotype drawing office between 1936 and 1947. Based on geometric shapes which originated in Germany in the 1920’s.
Designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1968 and originally called Roissy, the location of an airport where it was first used for signage. Released to the public as Frutiger in 1976. A very versatile font.
BLANCH
LEAGUE GOTHIC
FUTURA
A display face, designed for the ‘Fruita Blanch’ brand by ATIPUS, a deisgn studio in Barcelona. A traditional font with a contemporary feel.
Originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company (ATF) in 1903. Now in the public domain, because of bankruptcy in 1993. Great for headings.
HELVETICA CLARENDON Originally called Die Neue Haas Grotesk and designed in 1957 by Swiss designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. It was created specifically to be neutral and works across all media.
Designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase - based on Lubalin’s logo for Avant Garde magazine. A geometric sans serif type that is highly effective for headlines and short texts.
ALLER
Created in 2008 for the Danish School of Media and Journalism. Great for both screen and print.
GILL SANS
The ‘Helvetica of England’; designed by Eric Gill from the type ‘Johnston Sans’. Initially for advertising and headlines - including body text as the public got used to reading sans-serif.
ROCKWELL Designed at the Monotype foundry’s in-house design studio in 1934. Because of its monoweighted stroke, Rockwell is used primarily for display rather than lengthy bodies of text.
And tips... Think more, design less!
Design is not one, but many!
No widows or orphans!
Rushed designs use rushed ideas. A good idea provides a framework for design decisions, guiding the work.
Listen to your clients, users, readers and your friends. They give you ideas that you had not even thought of.
They are either a word or a phrase that creates the last line in a paragraph or carries over to a new column or page. They dangle like saliva all over your text.
Check your size!
Act. Don’t just think.
Fonts. Fonts. Fonts.
Size is different on paper and on screen as well. So check!
Until you put pen to paper. An idea is not a design, it’s just a thought and no one can read your thoughts.
Too many fonts can blur the focus of the message if not used correctly. Use no more than three without good reason.
“Everything I’ve done is a prototype for what’s to come” - Able Parris
BRIEF
BEFORE TRY YOU
MAKING
IDEAS
AVANT GARDE
An English fat slab serif designed by Robert Besley in 1845, named after the Clarendon Press in Oxford. Considered as the first ever patented font and ‘related bold’ font for emphasizing text.
Designed in 1927 by Paul Renner in Germany. Used extensively for print and digital purposes as both a headline and body font. Also used extensively in advertisements, logos, films and games.
INTERROGATE
YOUR
BASKERVILLE
FONTS
Because no design will suit your brief if you don’t understand it. “Failure is success if we learn from it” - Malcolm Forbes
Y
HA
TP Y O GR P
QUOTES “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Thomas Edison
“The most popular typefaces are the easiest to read; their popularity has made them disappear from conscious cognition. It becomes imposssible to tell if they are easy to read because they are commonly used, or if they are commonly used because they are easy to read.” Zuzanna Licko “Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty.” Emil Ruder “When a type design is good it is not because each individual letter of the alphabet is perfect in form, but because there is a feeling of harmony and unbroken rhythm that runs through the whole design, each letter kin to every other and to all.” Frederick Goudy “Unless you move, the place where you are is the place where you will always be.” Ashleigh Brilliant “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” Confucius “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce “From all these experiences the most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together and that type design, in its restraint, should be only felt but not perceived by the reader.” Adrian Frutiger