the really
awesome
student guide to
type.
‘ave a flick through.
love at first type. size does matter. align them lines! urgh. maths. really? care for the lonely. keep on track! rock that baseline.
‘ang o minut
on a ute! ?
what the f*ck is typography?
Typography ain’t that complicated! It’s just the way you use type.
one last thing .
( and an important thing so you don’t sound like a nob in the design world )
a font is the bit you use to create the type. like a typewriter, digital file or a metal block. a typeface is the bit that is designed by the typographer. The bit you look at. got it?
love <3 at first type.
it ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all about looks ya know.
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Typefaces are like people. go You gotta like them for who they are as well as what they b look like. Find th out Where the are from a who they friends wit
You also . gotta do a bit of hem digging find out e as who they have ey been with. bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;cos d that can say a they lot about m and who they hey are really ends are! with.
: { : { :{
Mr “Perfect” I mean Mr Helvetica of course. The obvious choice for most, but is that really what you’re after? Do you want to be another helvetica lemming? Mr Comic Sans is cast out by most cos he’s funny lookin’. i mean you wouldn’t want to meet him down a dark alley! but he has his place so use him wisely. Mr Times! Good sir, one of the rather more distinguished folk. Utmost respect from you m’boy or you’ll get yourself a jolly good hiding. Tally ho!
size size matter matters.
whats the pt?
point sizes are the height of the block of space that the character is placed on.
AaAa
this is the baseline what the letters sit on.
Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why typefaces like helvetica and courier look like they â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ave different heights when they are actually same point size.
the caps height is the height of all the capital letters.
Ax the x height is the height of all the lowercase letters.
the em Ââ&#x20AC;&#x201D; is the width of the capital m. this measurement is equal to the point size.
eM! the caps and x heights are. percentages of the em.
align them lines soldier!
left. left. left. right. left.
left alignment’s when its lined up on the left. (it’s not rocket surgery!)
right alignment’s. when its lined up. on the right.
left is more commonly used just so ya know.
attention! yeah i get it. centre in the centre.
!
justified is the other one that is used for stuff like newspapers. it makes all * the spacing weird and hyphenates things unless you turn it off . it usually looks a bit shite so only use it when n e c e s s a r y ! *these are called rivers. they start flowinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; when thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too many gaps. so sort ya spacing!
urgh. maths really?
line length perfection by numbers.
a-z x 1.5 choose ya typeface and point size. type out the alphabet in lower case. the length of that plus another half of it is your line length.
simple as.
6+6 6 words with 6 characters in a line.
40 just 40 characters!
it all adds up! abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm 666666 666666 666666 666666 666666 666666 4040404040404040404040404040404040404040
ish.
(theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re guidelines alright!)
care for the lonely.
:(
orphans are those fellas that get left by â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em selves at the start of their little lives. poor thing! widows are the lonely old words that are left behind but get a bit clingy at the end of their lives.
they make the place look untidy so either welcome ‘em into the family or send ‘em on their way. cos they ain’t stayin’ here!
keep on track!
t o b c
r v e h
a c k e r a t w e a r a
i n g l l s e n a c t e
g
i s t h e s pa c e a l l t h e e r s . youneedtogetitright soyouareabletoread whatitsayseasily.
my pen is out! its properly important to watch the space between individual characters too.
kerning is adjusting the space between 2 characters. it is easiest to do this by turning it upside down so you look at the shapes rather than reading the words. donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be afraid to look a bit mental with ya book upside down!
rock that baseline.
Leading Is the space between the baseline and the top of the next line. In the olden days it was actually a bit oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lead. now its just digital spaceage.
if there is no leading it is called set solid.
computer programmes auto set the leading to
120% but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s down to you as designer. to adjust these kinda things to. what is right for the design.
all this stuffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been about how to make your work
legible. (easy to read)
which ya need to know.
but
that can get kinda boring right?
so...
n o w t h at
the r brea
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ave a lov
t yo u k n o
rules akinâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; egm vely time
so, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;av a lovely time getting type right!
i have done it all for you (ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that nice) and lovingly put it all in this handy little book just for you.
this book is for student designers who want to know a bit about type but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to trawl through loads of long boring books.