Taste Test Type 1 Jess Lindsay
Advanced Type
Fall 2012
Lynch
Taste Test Type a brief look at the basics of text
Jess Lindsay
Advanced Type
Fall 2012
Lynch
Table of Contents Chapter One Type Anatomy Type Clasification Families, Faces & Fonts
5-8 9-10 11
Punctuation
13-14
Numerals
15-16
Typesize
17-18
Type on Screen
19-20
Cases
21-22
Color
24
Chapter Two Margins
27-28
Interletter Spacing
29-30
Interword Spacing
31-32
Interline Spcing
31-32
Line Width
33-34
Chapter Three Alignment
37-38
Significant Lineation
39
Skewed Lines
40
Shaped Text Hypertext
40 41-42
Text
Chapter One:
of T
ture
Text
Type Anatomy
crossbar
terminal descender height
5
serif
counterspace
ascender
bowl
stem
descender
6
Type Anatomy
Makes
ascender height
x height
baseline
7
overhang
uppercase shoulder
spine
lowercase
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Type Classification Humanist or Old Style: The roman typefaces of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries emulated classical calligraphy. Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold in 1966, based on the sixteenth century typefaces of Claude Garamond. Transitional: These typefaces have sharper serifs and a more vertical axis than humanist letters. When the typefaces of John Baskerville were introduced in the mid eighteenth century, their sharp forms and high contrast were considered shocking.
Sabon
Modern: The typefaces designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radically abstract. They have thin, straight serifs; vertical axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes. Egyptian or Slab Serif: Numerous bold and decorative typefaces were introduced in the nineteenth century for use in advertising. Egyptian typefaces have heavy, slablike serifs. Humanist Sans Serif: Sans Serif typefaces became common in the twentieth century. Gil Sans, Designed by Eric Gill in 1928, has humanist characteristics. Note the small, lilting counter in the letter a, and the calligraphic variations in line weight.
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Clarendon Transitional Sans Serif: Helvetica, designed by Max Miedinger in 1957, is one of the world’s most widely used typefaces. Its uniform, upright character makes it similar to transitional serif letters. These fonts are often referred to as “anonymous sans serif.� Geometric Sans Serif: Some sans serif types are built around geometric forms. In Futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927, the Os are perfect circles, and the peaks of the A and M are sharp triangles.
Baskerville
Bodoni
Gil Sans
Helvetica
Futura
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Families, Faces & Fonts When we talk about typographic terms there is the official, “correct” terminology, and then there is the commonly accepted terminology. Because of the dramatic technological changes that occurred in the type industry in the previous century, definitions have shifted. For example in metal type a “font” is one single typeface design in one specific point size, which means that metal Palatino 12 pt and Palatino 16 pt are two separate fonts. Yet when phototypesetting started replacing metal typesetting in the 1970, type became scalable and “font” came to signify a single type style and the terms “typeface” and “font” are now often used interchangeably. A type family is a collection of related typeface which share common design traits and a common name. A type family generally contains three variations on the regular face: italic, bold, and bold italic. However, many families have been designed to include variation in weight from ultra light to ultra black; variation in width from
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condensed to extended; multiple character sets, such as small capitals, titling capitals, swash capitals, oldstyle figures, alternates; and more. The traditional type family includes roman, italic, bold, and small cap styles. Modern families can break the mold and include other styles. Extended families can branch out to include notso-distant cousins like hairline, black, extended and condensed styles, to name a few. A typeface is a single set of characters that share stylistic unity. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numbers, punctuation and diacritical marks. Old school typographers defined a font as a complete character set of a particular typeface in one size. When type made the leap to the digital realm, a font became an electronic file that rendered the typeface in all sizes.
Overview
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here are three different ways to connect or separate words: the hyphen -, the en dash –, a little wider than the hyphen, and the em dash —, wider still. The regular hyphen is easily accessible on any Mac or PC keyboard, whereas the en dash needs the combination option-hyphen on the Mac. The em dash is accessed by pressing option-shifthyphen on the Mac. The use of these dashes depends on house styles and tradition. The em dash with no space around it is traditionally used to separate thoughts—like this one—but many think its length is a distraction in running text. Try using the en dash to separate thoughts – like this one – with a character space on either side. En dashes without space on either side are also used between numbers and compound word. En dashes without spaces are used to separate numbers and compound words. En dashes with spaces, are meant to sepa- rate thoughts.An em is a unit of measure equal to the point size that you are using. An em dash is a type of punctuation used to offset clauses in a sentence or
Punctuation
to indicate an abrupt change in thought. An en dash is equal to half the length of an em dash. En dashes are used to denote duration (time.) Quotes can have different shapes. They generally look like “this”, and can be remembered as beginning and ending quotes. The apostrophe is simply a raised comma, it is identical to the closing single quote, while the open single quote looks like a ‘6. When using quotes remember “66” and “99”. Straight quotes are often caused by copying and pasting text, and a general lack of attention to detail.Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead of using inch marks and feet marks.
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Numerals overview
Oldstyle figures are Arabic numerals varying in height and position. Some sit on the baseline while others descend beneath the baseline. The 6 and 8 are commonly the tallest figures and the 3,4,5,7, and 9 descend below the baseline, while the 0, 1, and 2 are roughly the same height of the lowercase letters. This feature allows them to harmonize with other words on a page of text without becoming a distraction to the reader. So oldstyle figures are most appropriate in books or any running text. Lining figures are a modern style with all figures at a common size and position, and even height as the uppercase letters. Today, most fonts use these as default. Lining figures sit on the base-
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line as opposed to oldstyle figures that appear at different heights and positions. They optically align along a height line and the baseline. The best applications are business reports, forms, tables or any place where alignment is crucial. Tabular figures are mono-width, they align vertically and thus appear in documents that compare numerical data in columns. Each figure shares the same width and space on both sides. Proportional figures are different in their total character width. They are spaced to fit together more like letters. For instance, the figure 1 is very narrow like the letter l and takes up less width than the number 6. Because their spacing appears more even, these figures are best in texts and headings where columnar alignment is not necessary.
123 456 Lining - Helvetica Neue Bold
Non Lining - Garamond Pro
123 456 Lining - Futura Extra Bold
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Type Size x height, height & width
Traditionally, x-height is the height of the lowercase letter x. It affects the feel of a typeface, how many characters fit on a line, and depending on how the type is set, how easily your text can be read. At very small point sizes, a font with a larger x-height is easier to read, everything else being equal. The height of the lowercase letters, disregarding ascenders or descenders, typically exemplified by the letter x. The relationship of the x-height to the body defines the perceived type size. A typeface with a large x-height looks much bigger than a typeface with a small x-height at the same size. To understand how type works, you must know how it is measured. Basically, typefaces are measured in two ways: height and width. In earlier times when type was cast in metal, it was sold in discrete sizes that were measured in points. Today’s digital fonts can be enlarged or reduced by simply selecting, or specifying, a
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point size. Originally, the term point size referred to the height of the metal body that held the characters. This was slightly larger than the distance from the highest to the lowest feature in the design. A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. Picas are another unit of measurement used for type; six picas equal an inch. This method of measuring is still used for digital type. Typefaces that have very long ascenders and descenders look smaller than other typefaces when both are printed at the same point size. How wide the letterforms in a typeface are in relation to their height is referred to as their width, or extension. Regular width is based on a square dimension: a capital letter M of regular width is optically as wide as it is tall. The width of other letters in the same typeface is derived from this initial ratio, although they themselves may not be as wide as the letter M. A typeface in which the letterforms are narrower than regular is referred to as condensed or compressed; a face that is wider than regular is called extended or expanded. Like posture and weight, varying the width of letters lends a different cadence to the reading; the rhythm of the text is changed by condensing or expanding it.
x
Baskerville - 147pt
x x
Helvetica - 115pt
Futura - 130pt
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Type on Screen Helvetica, created in Switzerland in 1957, is one of the worlds most popular fonts. Although Helvetica is the sans-serif default font for many computer users, it was designed for use in print. Verdana is a sans-serif font designed by Matthew Carter especially for computer display. Verdana has a larger x-height, simpler curves and more open forms than Helvetica. Its serif counterpart, Georgia, also designed by Carter, offers a screen alternative to Times (which was designed for print). A computer screen displays fonts in pixels(picture elements). Bitmap fonts are built out of the pixels that structure a screen display. Whereas a PostScript letter consists of a vectorized outline, a bitmap character contains a fixed number of rectilinear units that are either “on” or “off.” Outline fonts are scalable, meaning that they can be reproduced in a high-resolution medium such as print at nearly any size. Outline fonts are often hard to read on screen at small sizes, however, where all characters are translated into pixels. In a bitmap font, the pixels do not melt away as the letters get bigger. Some designers like to exploit this effect, which
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calls attention to the letters’ digital geometry. A bitmap font is designed to be used on screen at a specific size, because its body is precisely constructed out of screen units. Antialiasing is a technique for making the edges of letters look smooth on screen by rendering some pixels in shades of gray. Antialiasing is generally helpful for presenting text on screen at large sizes, but it can make small text difficult to read. Some designers prefer to use bitmap fonts, which are designed to be displayedwithout antialiasing, for small text on screen.
Advantages Webfonts enable your website to display indexable, editable, resizable, dynamic HTML text in a font other than the handful of “web safe” options we’ve had to rely on for years.
Webfonts are designed to work exclusively on webpages and the files cannot be installed on a desktop OS for use in applications like Word, Photoshop, or InDesign.
Most webfonts are optimized to download and display quickly because they include only the glyphs recognized by web browsers so Fonts come in Pro versions with support for multiple character sets.
Web FontFonts are optimized for screen display and look especially crisp and clean on Mac OS X and Windows versions with ClearType enabled.
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Cases
Each letter in the alphabet has two forms: an uppercase, or capital, form and a lowercase form. The capitals are the big letters—older, official forms the Romans used for imperial inscriptions. They are considered more formal than lowercase letters and serve several functions, from starting sentences to creating acronyms to marking proper nouns. The lowercase letters are a development of the Middle Ages and are generally attributed to the work of Charlemagne’s scribes. Lowercase letters are more varied in shape and are distinguished from uppercase letters by ascenders and descenders; their differentiation allows them to be recognized more quickly.
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTt UuVvWwXxYyZz Roman - The standard upright type style. The term Roman is also sometimes used to denote the Regular weight.
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVv WwXxYyZz Italic - A (mostly) slanted type style which takes its basic shapes from a stylized form of handwriting, and is usually narrower than its roman counterpart. Italics are commonly used for emphasis in text.
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Upper Case - The capitals in a typeface. The name refers to the days of metal type, as the capitals were kept in the upper part of the type case.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Lower Case - The small letters in a typeface. The name refers to the days of metal type, as the small letters were kept in the lower part of the type case.
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOo PpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz Unicase - Type design with upper- and lower case letter forms that share the same height.
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSs TtUuVvWwXxYyZz Small Caps - Capital letters that are approximately as high as the x-height of the lowercase letters. Originally small caps were only available for the roman text weight(s), but nowadays many type families also have them for the italics and the bolder weights.
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Color
Spacing concerns and the design of the typeface itself affect what is known as typographic color. This term may seem like a misnomer in an age when even word processors let you apply actual color (for example, red, blue, or green) to type as easily as changing the point size. Typographic color is really the grey value, or density, of a mass of type on the page. A page may have light or dark color, but you must keep the color consistent on the page to aid readability. The tighter the letterspacing and word spacing, the darker the lines of type become. You can set condensed type tighter than regular or extended type. And as a rule, you can set display sizes tighter than body text because extended readability is not an issue. Weight determines how bold the typeface looks, how heavy the strokes making up the characters are. The traditional weights are Regular and Bold, with Light and Black being the outward extensions on the weight scale, and sometimes a Semibold in between. Color is the overall value of lightness or darkness that is created by words, lines, paragraphs, or pages of type when viewed against their background. The combination of typographic factors that contribute to the color of a text include the typeface design, weight, size, x-height in relation
to capital height, line length, leading, word spacing, and character spacing. Some authors use this term to refer to the overall appearance of a typeface. Â The color that you use for your letters affects the legibility. One must also take into consideration the size of the text. Sure, your text might look smashing with a subtle tint when it is bigger, but it becomes very hard to see when it gets smaller.
Typographic Color Weight Color & Legibility
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Margins overview margins of an elegant book of poetry offer the hands a place to grip the book, and the eyes a place to rest. Such margins function, essentially, as a frame, a border that passively surrounds the featured content.
Margins are the negative spaces between the format edge and the content, which surround and define the live area where type and images will be arranged. The proportions of the margins bear a great deal of consideration, as they help establish the overall tension within the composition. Margins can be used to focus attention, serve as a resting place for the eye, or act as an area for subordinate information. White space, non only separates the different parts of the message but helps to position the message in the context of the page. Tight margins establish a tension between text, images and the edges of the page. Wider margins deflate the tension and bring about a certain level of serenity to the page. In addition to the spaces between words and characters, the margins of a page are a place where designers cultivate the beauty of nothingness. While a cheap paperback novel is jammed with prose right up to the edge, the wider
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The block, or manuscript, grid is structurally the simplest kind of grid. As its name implies, its base structure is a large rectangular area that takes up most of the page. It’s job is to accommodate extensive continuous text, like a book or long essay, and it developed from the tradition of written manuscript that eventually led to book printing. It has a primary structure- the text block and the margins that define its position on a page- as well as a secondary structure that defines other essential details- the locations and size relationships of the running header or footer, chapter title, and page numbers along with an area for footnotes, if appropriate.[‌] Adjusting the proportions of the margins is one way of introducing visual interest. Within a twopage spread, the interior margins have to be wide enough to prevent the text from disappear-
ing down into the gutter. Classical grids mirror the text blocks left and right around a wider gutter margin Some designers use a mathematical ratio to determine a harmonic balance between the margins and the weight of the text block. In general, wider margins help focus the eye and create a sense of calm and stability. Narrow lateral margins increase tension because
the live matter is in closer proximity to the format edge. Although traditional manuscript grids use margins that are symmetrical in width, it’s just as acceptable to create an asymmetrical stricture, wherein the margin intervals are different. An asymmetrical structure introduces more white space for the eye to use as an area of rest; it may also provide a place for notes, spot illustrations, or other editorial features that don’t occur regularly and, therefore, don’t really warrant the articulation of a true column.
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Interletter Spacing
Kerning is defined as adjusting the space between two particular letters to allow for more consistent negative space or the adjustment of horizontal space between individual characters in a line of text. Without kerning adjustments, many letter combinations can look awkward. The objective of kerning is to create visually equal spaces between all letters so that the eye can move smoothly along the text. Some combinations of characters naturally have excessive space between them (such as Ta or Vo) and must be manually adjusted by the designer or typographer. These adjusted combinations are called kerned pairs. Kerning may be applied automatically by desktop publishing programs based on tables of values built into the font. Some programs also allow manual kerning to make fine adjustments. Adjustments in kerning are especially important in large display and headline text lines. Optical kerning is executed automatically by the page layout program. Rather than using the
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pairs addressed in the font’s kerning table, optical kerning assesses the shapes of all characters and adjusts the spacing wherever needed. Some graphic designers apply optical kerning to headlines and metric kerning to text. You can make this process efficient and consistent by setting kerning as part of your character styles.
Looking Good Optical kerning done automatically by the program
Metric kerning uses the kerning tables that are built into the typeface. When you select metric kerning in your page layout program, you are using the spacing that was intended by the type designer. Metric kerning usually looks good, especially at small sizes. Cheap novelty fonts often have little or no built-in kerning and will need to be optically kerned. The overall spacing between letters in a block of text, it is also known as tracking. Generally, the larger the type, the less letterspacing required. This process of adjusting the average distance between letters in a block of text is to fit more
Looking Good Optical kerning is created by the type designer
or less text into the given space or to improve legibility. Kerning allows adjustments between individual letters, letter spacing is applied to a block of text as a whole. Letterspacing is sometimes referred to as tracking or track kerning. Letter spacing is often adjusted to open up the look of a typeface or to add drama to a headline by stretching it across a page. Adjusting the overall spacing of a group of letters is called tracking. By expanding the tracking across a word, line, or entire block of text, the designer can create a more airy, open field. In blocks of text, tracking is usually applied to create a subtle effect not noticeable to the reader. Occasionally, a single word or phrase is tracked for emphasis, especially when CAPS or small caps are used within a line.
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Interword & Interline Spacing
The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing or interline spacing. It is also called leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic color, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders. Expanding the line spacing creates a lighter, more open text block. As leading increases, lines of type become independent graphic elements rather than parts of an overall visual shape and texture. In this example auto leading leaves the spacing uneven
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Adjusting the leading manually helps male the type look natural
Word spacing, the space between words, should be constant in flush left, flush right, or centered text. However, for justified text, word spacing varies from line to line to keep margins even. To aid readability, it’s important to keep word spacing as consistent as possible—even if it means hyphenating words. Tight word spacing lets you place more text on the page, but can make it difficult to distinguish words from each other. Loose word spacing fills up a page with a small amount of text, but the text becomes harder to read as the words begin to look disconnected. When you justify a column of type, never allow letter spacing to vary. Each letter is designed with just the amount of space it needs to look right and be most legible. Watch that word spaces don’t create awkward gaps or rivers. They are disruptive to comfortable reading. Choose a column width, typeface, and point size that work to enhance readbility.
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Line Width or Line Length
As lines of text get long, it can be difficult for the reader to move from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. On the other hand, short line lengths break up the text and interrupt the reader. The ideal line length depends on the design of the typeface, type size, line spacing, and length of the copy. Generally, a line should have 55 to 60 characters, or 9 to 10 words, for optimal readability. The width of a paragraph depends heavily on the size of type being used and, therefore, how many characters can be fit onto a single line. Regardless of a reader’s maturity or the type size, between fifty and eighty characters
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(including spaces) can be processed before a return —with words averaging between five and ten letters, that means approximately eight and twelve words per line. Achieving this character count determines the width of a paragraph. That width may be affected by the proportions of the page format and how much text must be made to fit overall, as well as subjective factors, but this method is the best way of finding an optimal paragraph width as a starting point.
What it shouldn’t look like This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow. This paragraph format is not the ideal line length, its a little too long, theres too many words going across the line and its becomes hard to read. Its hard for the reader to follow.
What it should look like This paragraph has better line length. The type is the right size and the right amount of words fit in each line. Its much more pleasing to the eye. This paragraph has better line length. The type is the right size and the right amount of words fit in each line. Its much more pleasing to the eye.
This paragraph has better line length. The type is the right size and the right amount of words fit in each line. Its much more pleasing to the eye. This paragraph has better line length. The type is the right size and the right amount of words fit in each line. Its much more pleasing to the eye.
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Sha
Chapter Three:
of Te
ape
ext
Alignment
The alignment of the text within text blocks contributes to the tone of your documents. When text is aligned to one margin and ragged on the other, it can create an informal feeling. Left aligned text is easier to read than right aligned text. Avoid right alignment unless it is appropriate as a design treatment. Justified text aligns on both the left and right hand sides and is used in newspapers, newsletters, and traditionally in book work. Justified text is sometimes
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Overview considered more formal than ragged text. Not surprisingly, it optimizes the amount of copy you can fit on a page. Flush left is prefered by type purists and for good reason. It is the easiest to read because it is the format used most often in western works. Flush right is a nice break from the norm but many find it a little bit hard to read; it shoud only ne used for small captions or special callouts. Justified is a crisp, handsome look but is vulnerable to awkward hyphens and rivers (gaps running through the text.)
rom shorter
alled “the
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers
headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a
age,
sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers
s a thing - a
Text is an ongoing seq
of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
containers
Flush Right
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter
headlines or captions
body”, comprisin
headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the
known as “runn
body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also
column, or box to anot
known as “running text”, it can flow from one page,
sound sturdy object -
column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a
of page or screen. Text
sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
Flush Left
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter
Centered
headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column,
orter
or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a sound
“the
sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers of page
so
or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
e,
Justified
g-a
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers of page
ners
lood.
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the
sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers
. Also
dy or blood.
of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter
Text is an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called “the body”, comprising the principle mass of content. Also known as “running text”, it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing - a sound sturdy object - or a fluid poured into the containers of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood.
Text is an ongoing sequence
headlines or captions. The m
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body”, comprising the prin
known as “running text”, it c
or box to another. Text can b
sturdy object - or a fluid pou
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Significant Lineation
Significant lineation is seen most often in headlines, poetry, and titling. When reading a sentence that has been broken into two or more lines we naturally pause and reset at the beginning of the next line. This pause greatly effects the way a sentence is read and understood and can be used by the designer to great effect, subverting, empowering and manipulating meaning.
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Skewed Line & Shaped Text
Combining typefaces is like making a salad. Start with a small number of elements representing different colors, tastes, and textures. Strive for contrast rather than harmony, looking for emphatic differences rather than mushy transitions. Give each ingredient a role to play: sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and the pungent shock of an occasional anchovy. When mixing typefaces on the same line, designers usually adjust the point size so that the x-heights align. When placing typefaces on separate lines, it often makes sense to create contrast in scale as well as style or weight. Try mixing big, light type with small, dark type for a criss-cross of contrasting flavors and textures. The eye is sensitive
to the form and placement of type. Shaped text can create an object, a distinct shape or may wrap around an image, object or box. A good text wrap closely follows the contour of the object being wrapped. Well-shaped will text maintains readability. Skewed text lines do not align to a hard edge. They may or may not align horizontally. Skewing lines of text gives the text a sense of motion. Skewed lines appear to advance and recede in space. The tech- nique of skewing text can be very useful when putting emphasis on the z-axis. Working with this level of depth in mind can be useful when one’s goal is to liven up a flat, lifeless layout. It’s common for amateur designers to skew lines of text to make italics or to give the type an ex-tended or condensed appearance. This method will compromise the anatomical make-up of the typeface and is not recommended.
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Hypertext In contrast to linear stories with distinct beginnings, middles, and endings, digital or printbased hypertexts generally have multiple entry points and many internal threads. This makes hypertext especially suitable for stories with numerous components. In a non-linear story, readers reading conventionally see first what the writer thinks matters most. In a well-crafted hypertext, readers immediately select what matters most to them. As readers become accustomed to online hypertext, they may feel unsatisfied when scrolling through linear stories formatted on their screen as if for printed media. Interlineation is when lines of text are set in between other lines of text. Interwoven bodies of text can be offset from each other by differentiating typeface, type size, and the color of type. Interlineated type can, for example, fuse together agreeing texts, contrast opposing texts, and combine headings and subheadings.
Home Page
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