Presentation Series: Typography

PR E SE N TATION SE R IE S a concise guide in x typesetting

Before we begin... these are simply a few tips help you along the way with your modelling & rendering adventures. You can only learn so much by example, so feel free to stray away from these tips and experiment! Have fun!

And remember: breathe. The solution could be right under your nose. So sit back, relax, and don’t worry; you’ll do just fine. all the best, d

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IN THIS GUIDE...

SOME ANATOMY

Learning your body parts

KNOW YOUR FAMILY

Differentiating between different kinds of type

PERSONAL SPACE

Giving the appropriate amount of space

TO THE LASERS...

Using a custom typeface for Laser Cutting

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In this guide you will need: InDesign Illustrator AutoCAD

SOME ANATOMY

Learning your body parts

Typography is important! Using the proper type is the final touch in making a finished presentational product. In this guide I will be showing some basics on type. Get to know your terminology, it helps when choosing the appropriate font for your work.

Counter

Ascender

Everybody

Serif

Stem Hairline

Bowl

}

Cap Height X-Height Baseline

Descender

Ascender Any part of the letter that extends beyond the X-Height

Serif The small “tails” and extensions of a letter.

More detail on Serif-types later!

Descender Parts of the letter that sit below the Baseline.

Make sure your leading is not too little so your Ascenders and Descenders don’t touch!

Point Size The unit of measure for type, from Descender to Cap Height. Generally, 72 pts = 1”. The term ‘Font’ is used to describe a size of a letterform.

X-Height The body of the characters that are measured by the letter ‘x’ (Lowercase letters). Generally, letters with a larger X-Height makes it easier to read.

Leading The spacing between rows of letters. Don’t make you leading too small so Ascenders and Descenders collide with one another!

Cap Height The height of the Uppercase letters from the Baseline. Sometimes typefaces have Ascenders taller than the Cap Height.

Kerning The distance between characters. Also known as ‘Optical Spacing’; more on Optical Spacing later!

Bowl The enclosed area of a letterform.

Tracking The distance between words and characters in an entire range. Essentially, it’s the Space.

More on that later!

Counter The sort-of closed area of a letterform.

Stem & Hairline A Stem is the thick side of a letterform A Hairline is the thin side of a letterform 4

KNOW YOUR FAMILY

Differentiating between different kinds of type

Different kinds of type have different personalities. It’s important to pick one that’s for you! Choosing the right type is a subtle and sort-of subconsious way to tell somebody about yourself without having to say anything about it. Type is separated into four main categories: Serif, Sans-Serif, Script and Ornamental. (Try and just stick with Serif and Sans-Serif).

SERIF

Flamboyant Austerity

SANS-SERIF

Zoological Retort

Old Style Roman Traditional and trustworthy. Ex: Garamond (above), Centaur, Caslon, Palatino.

Grotesque Respectable appeal with maturity. Ex: Franklin Gothic (above) and Akzidenz Grotesk.

Ephemeral Formulae

Antiquated Finesse

Modern Roman Cutting edge, crisp and graphic. Ex: Didot (above), Bodoni, Walbaum, Modern No. 20.

Neo-Grotesque Standard, familiar, trustworthy. Ex: Helvetica (above), Univers, Bell, Trade Gothic.

Bountiful Enigma

University Americana

Transitional Modern, yet familiar. Ex: Century (above), Baskerville, Mercury (this one!), Georgia, Miller.

Humanist Smart yet personable. Ex: Gill Sans (above), Gotham, Frutiger, Myriad, Calibri.

Monumental Clarity

Anecdotal Fantasy

Slab-Serif Mechanical yet Modern. Ex: Caecilia (above), Rockwell, Vitesse, Courier, Archer.

Geometric Cutting edge and geometrically pure. Ex: Futura (above), Eurostile, Twentieth Century.

SCRIPT

ORNAMENTAL

Formal Script Luxurious and ornate. Ex: Kunstler Script (above), Commercial Script, Zapfino.

Decorative Informal and funky, but this family has no specific rules. Ex: Chiller (above), Curlz (above).

Precarious Vivacity

Anagram Admixture

Iridescent Opulence

Imposing Lament

Informal Script Friendly with a hand-written appeal. Ex: Rage Italic (above), Pristina, Lucida Handwriting.

Black Text Truly Gothic; heavy and condensed. Ex: Cloister Black (above), Gothic, Old English.

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PERSONAL SPACE

Giving the appropriate amount of space

Letters and characters need space! Each one is different and they fit together differently. Below are rules of thumb to remember how to give your letters the appropriate spacing. This is known as kerning, or optical spacing; Tracking is a unit of measure, measured in thousandths of an em.

Optical Spacing vs. Mechanical Spacing

When spacing individual letters...

Mechanical (Metric) Spacing (with spacing indicated)

Two circulars: Almost touch or overlap

Mechanical Spacing (without spacing. Poor kerning is like stuttering... A-t-la-s?)

One circular one straight: Half a Stem width

A very tight Optical Spacing (Tracking: -100)

One space: The amount an ‘I’ would take up

ATLAS ATLAS ATLAS ATLAS AT L A S Normal Optical Spacing (Tracking: 0)

OO OH HIO HO

Super wide Optical Spacing (Tracking: 100)

PROTIP: Want to have optical spacing in your next InDesign file? Next time you type, find this icon and change ‘Metric’ to ‘Optical’. The tracking should be right below or adjacent.

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TO THE LASERS...

Using a custom typeface for Laser Cutting How do you get your typographic treasures into a three-dimensional reality?

Easy! Simply throw that type right into Illustrator and Send it off to AutoCAD for Laser Cutting: Once you have your type set up (font size, tracking, kerning, and all), simply right-click it and hit ‘Create Outlines’. Then select your now vectorized lettering.

Hit ‘X’ or the small arrow in the upper left corner of the Palette to change this:

to this:

.

The thickness of the stroke is irrelevant. When you’re done, go to ‘File’ and press ‘Export’.

PROTIP:

Laser cutting is expensive! While it’s fun and games to get your type out to a cutter, choosing a typeface that has too many curves may slow you down. Script types and Ornamental types are best kept for viewing and not producing...

All other settings are essentially negligible, just be sure to export as a ‘2004/2005/2006’ AutoCAD file. This denotes the year of the edition.

Hit ‘OK’ and there you have it! A .dwg!

Open it up in AutoCAD and ignore all warnings.

Then be sure to explode the block and convert any lineweights and colours for your appropriate laser cutting file.

Typography is one of my favourite design tools. I hope you learned some new things about type! Plus, being able to throw custom typefaces into AutoCAD is pretty awesome.

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