type thoughts by kelly chiu
a compilation of thoughts and notes from typography II
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Introduction
W
hen I was taking Typography 1 last year, I was first formally learning about the nitty-gritty of typography. All these rules of design and typography can at first seem overwhelming to digest. For this reason, this journal, from the process to the product, became not only a record of a rewarding design experience, but also served as a reminder to myself that design is about delivering a message you wished to be heard to a broader audience. While the to-dos and not-to-dos are important in good design practices, it is necessary for me, as a design student, to understand that ultimately we strive to use our creative powers and our knowledge in design to promote information we believe more people should receive. This journal serves for this exact purpose – to remind me to design for good. Design is not a selfish thing. This journal is a compilation of my trial and errors throughout the quarter. Additionally, it also collects my thoughts and summaries on the various articles on design-related subjects that I read.
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week one Butterick’s Typography in Ten Minutes Summary of Key Rules Foreword Typographic Refinements Legibility and Readability Exercise
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Butterick’s Typography in Ten Minutes • • • • •
Start by determining body text. Once that is set, everything will look good Point size in print: 10–12 point/ Point size on web: 15–25 pixels Line spacing is the vertical distance between lines It should be 120–145% of the point size Line length should be an average of 45–90 characters per line Font recommendations: Palatino alternatives: Bembo books Courier alternatives: Pitch Georgia alternatives: Miller Calibri alternatives: Whitney
Summary of Key Rules • •
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Don’t confuse hyphens and dashes, and don’t use multiple hyphens as a dash Use first-line indents that are one to four times the point size of the text, or use 4–10 points of space between paragraphs. But don’t use both Use curly quotation marks, not straight ones The four most important typographic choices you make in any document are point size, line spacing, line length, and font
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Foreword • •
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Typography is the visual component of the written word Good typography is measured by how well it reinforces the meaning of the text, not by some abstract scale of merit If your argument is easy to follow, it will be a winning one
Thoughts: Typography is a relatively new territory to me. It was not until last year did I start fostering my sensitivity to typography. But now that I am aware of it, it is something that I can never ignore. I am glad that after reading this week’s section, I have come to realize that a lot of these rules of thumb seem pretty natural to me. In a way, I feel good because while I don’t know these rules word for word from the outset, my sensitivity to type allowed me to get the text to fit the criteria of these rules. This also reaffirms how important good typography is. Good typography is only good when you don’t notice it.
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Typographic Refinements: The Details •
A workhorse typeface has 1. A good regular weight 2. Robust proportions 3. At least one bold weight with noticeable contrast to compliment the text weight 4. An italic version 5. Legible numerals 6. Economy—it should be narrow enough to fit large amounts of copy into the available space
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Kerning pairs to look out for: “wo” “ve” Optimal line length: 8–13 words Dashes:
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Hyphens: used when a word is too long for the column length En-dash: time, date range Em-dash: used to express as a break in the flow of sentence Hyphenation cheat sheet: 6, 3, 3, 2 Always use smart quotes; Prime quotes for numbers Do not track more than +/–10 Check spelling: Edit → Spelling → Dynamic spelling
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Exercise: Legibility and Readability Exercise This exercise was super helpful to me in that it showed me how impactful leading and point size matter. Seeing different typefaces, point sizes, and leading laid out right next to one another made me see that typography is this intricate design that every difference counts, even if it is just a very minor one. Seeing the difference between sans serif and serif typefaces. A few observations made from my comparison between Palatino and Avenir are —Palatino needs more leading than Avenir. The ideal point size for Palatino is 9/14 or 9/15. The ideal point size for Avenir is 9/13 or 9/14.
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week two Butterick’s Practical Typography: Why Typography Matters Project 1: Type Quotes Critique
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Butterick’s Practical Typography: Why Typography Matters •
Why is the design of the butterfly ballot problematic? They were hard to read because the arrows were hard to follow. The text were too tight. No clear purpose for dividing candidates in two separate pages.
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In what ways is Trixie’s resumé better than Violets? Violet’s resume has unnecessary graphic elements that detract from the reading experience. Trixie’s resume has more clear of a hierarchy. Trixie’s resume has more breathing room.
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What is the main argument in Beatrice Warde’s essay “The Crystal Goblet”? Why does Matthew Butterick disagree with this? In Warde’s essay, she talked about typography being invisible and should serve to let the content itself show through. Butterick says otherwise, he said, “The written word is a fusion of text and typography, substance and presentation.”
Project 1: Type Quotes Critique •
First version 1. Graphic elements of unclear purposes 2. Leading in title is too loose
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Second version 1. Hang quotes 2. Volume of magazine should not be italicized 3. Margins are too close to edge 4. Increase leading
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Thoughts: This assignment made me more aware of how leading can determine the way a reader reads. It can be used to group related information together. Leading that is too loose can contribute to confusion by creating ambiguity in the grouping of text. The bigger the text become, especially when it is enlarged to the scale of display, the leading should be tightened accordingly. Another thing that I learned was that graphical elements should be used to amplify the message. Graphics without clear intent run the risk of being distracting and do not add benefit to the way the text reads. This assignment is a good practice in helping me find a balance in creating interest while not taking away the importance of the content.
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first version
second version
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week three Butterick’s Practical Typography: Type Composition Butterick’s Practical Typography: Text Formatting Choosing Typefaces and Understanding Fonts Project 2: A Dialogue Process Work
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Butterick’s Practical Typography: Type Composition This chapter talks about typing helping good typography. Typing out the right characters and punctuation will save time later in adjusting layouts and typesetting. Nowadays typing proves to be more convenient, dynamic and flexible compared to typing that used to be done on solely typewriters. There are many more options to the characters/symbols that can be generated, provided you know the hotkeys and methods to them. Here are a few I took away from the lesson. 1. Cmd + K (Preferences) Type → Use Typographer’s quotes → Apply leading to entire paragraphs 2. Globally change edits Cmd + F 3. If en-dash is too short due to the typeface, resolve by increasing kerning around 4. Trivial fact: “&” is a stylized “et” 5. Avoid “&” on formal papers 6. Ellipses: Opt + semicolon 7. Open keyboard preferences → find weird symbols 8. Avoid decorative fonts for formal documents (ie. resumés, letterheads) 9. Keep settings on the default of Metrics 10. Open typeface: cross-platform typefaces (good for mac and pc) winter 2017 17
Butterick’s Practical Typography: Text Formatting • • • • •
Never use bold and italicized text simultaneously Use bold in sans serif instead of italics Hard line breaks: shift + return Generally no hyphens in headings Customize hyphenation and justification settings on InDesign
Choosing Typefaces and Understanding Fonts •
Considerations Content How long is the text? Audience Format At what distance will the text be read? The size of page/screen
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Where do you get fonts and why are they so expensive? When you buy a font, you buy a license Is it good for commercial work? Can I use it online or just in print?
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Where can we find/buy good fonts? Google Fonts Lost Type Co-op Pay-what-you-want type foundry League Font Squirrel Free fonts for commercial use Fontspring All fonts can be used for commercial purposes House Industries Hosts under-appreciated art genres and the American vernacular Myfonts Fonts.com
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Project 2: A Dialogue Process Work
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week four Butterick’s Practical Typography: Page Layout “Family planning, or how type families work” by Peter Bil’ak Typesetting in InDesign Project 2: A Dialogue Critique
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Butterick’s Practical Typography: Page Layout Page layout is about the positioning and relationship of text and other elements on the page. 1. Justification is a matter of personal preference. It is not a signifier of professional typography. Most books justify the text. But most major U.S. newspapers use a mix of justified and leftaligned text. 2. Decide on the body text. 3. Divide the page into foreground and background. 4. Don’t fear white space.
“Family planning, or how type families work” by Peter Bil’ak The reading talks about the history and evolvement of type families. Even way back in the day of movavble metal type, typefaces have been specifically tend to at their various sizes: Each size was drawn, cut and cast separately; characters were designed specifically for the optical appearance of the printed text, with optimized letter widths and contrasts between the thick and thin parts of the letterforms. When observed in a close-up, it is apparent that there are significant nuances type II journal 22
between the different designed sizes. However, optical size is just one parameter of the appearance of a typeface. Typefaces need to be linked by several other shared parameters in order to be seen as part of a coherent group or family. The idea of varying the weight of a single typeface probably happened in the mid-19th century. Heavy typefaces did exist before that time, but they were generally seen on their own and not in relationship to the regular (text) weight. Today, super-families prove to be useful in design in that they provide unity and variety at the same time. A few prominent superfamilies are Univers, FF Meta, ITC Officina.
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Typesetting in InDesign • •
Utilize styles Paragraph level attributes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
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Tables are tricky, but can be styled as invisible Table attributes 1. 2. 3. 4.
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Leading Tabs Indents Space before and after Hyphenation and justification Rules above and below
Outside border of the table Dividing lines in the table Space above and below the table Fills of fields in the table
Styles boost efficiency in typesetting exponentially
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Project 2: A Dialogue Critique • • • • • •
Elements that are too close to edge create tension Flow of dialogue are confusing Pull quotes are too large Concept behind design is good, however the execution of idea lacks refinement Text are unaligned Pay attention to subtle shapes that paragraphs form
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first version
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final version
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week five Using Layout Grids Effectively, Designers Insights “Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading” by Steven Heller “My Type Design Philosophy” by Martin Majoor Project 3: Elements of Style Pamphlet, Version 1 Critique
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Using Layout Grids Effectively, Designers Insights • •
Always use underlying grids Basic vertical layout grids
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Basic horizontal layout grids
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“Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading” by Steven Heller “All typefaces, from almost every foundry (from Adobe to House), are automatically licensed for a specific number of output devices and CPUs at one location. It is an industry standard,” explains Rudy Vanderlans. Typeface software licenses are sold for specific use and not for unlimited number of CPUs. Designers tend to respect one another’s intellectual property lines and do not as a rule engage in extreme larceny. And yet we have a skewed sense of entitlement when it comes to type. The ethics behind design and any creative properties alike are just as integral of a part of the design as the creative endeavor itself.
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“My Type Design Philosophy� by Martin Majoor A good designer must know how type works in text; he must know how type works on different papers; he must know how type behaves. The mixing of sans serif typefaces and serif typefaces is a common strategy when it comes to type pairing. The very first sans serif typeface to be used for printing was published around 1816 by William Caslon. Akzidenz Grotesk, published in 1898 by the German Berthold type foundry in Berlin. This sans serif immediately became a great success and was soon imitated by several typefounders. Like all sans serifs of the time, Akzidenz Grotesk was meant to be used as a display face (the German word Akzidenzschrift means display face or jobbing type), however as it also included a lowercase it was suitable for text too.
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The sans serifs contemporary sans serifs. To mention a few: Lucida (Kris Holmes and Charles Bigelow, 1984–1985), Stone (Sumner Stone, 1987), Rotis (Otl Aicher, 1989), Charlotte (Michael Gills, 1992), Legacy (Ronald Arnholm, 1993), Quadraat (Fred Smeijers, 1992–1996), Thesis (Lucas de Groot, 1994), Eureka (Peter Bilak, 1995–2000).
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Project 3: Elements of Style Pamphlet, Version 1 Critique • • • • • • • •
Aim to create a sensation → everything needs to be designed Use bleeds in interior pages sparingly because it creates a lot of waste of paper Italicize book titles Rules are too spaced out Grouping elements that make sense Switching type styles create hierarchy → rules need to be bumped up Colophon goes last When making a booklet always create a primary text frame
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first version cover
first version content
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week six “A View of Latin Typography in Relationship to the World” by Peter Bil’ak Project 3: Elements of Style Pamphlet, Final Version Critique
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“A View of Latin Typography in Relationship to the World” by Peter Bil’ak The first recorded movable type was likely created in China around 1040 AD. Most of the existing typographic classification systems also apply exclusively to Latin type. It goes without saying that their history of typography is only the history of Latin-based typography. Till today, typography continues to be eurocentric bias. Books such as Language, Culture, Type (2002) have been published, promoting cultural pluralism, admitting that English and the Latin alphabet account for only one segment of global communications today. (According to 2006 Encarta statistics, the number of native English speakers is less than the number of native Hindi and Arabic speakers, and roughly one-third the number of native Chinese speakers.) These books are very important because they also present models for alphabets less explored than the Latin one, and offer a comprehensive history of their use.
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Project 3: Elements of Style Pamphlet, Final Version Critique Team members: Kelli Chollar, John Duch, Kelly Chiu 1. Consider execution ability. Some ideas are great conceptually, but do consider the feasibility of realizing the concept 2. Subheads could use more leading 3. In italicized text, make sure to find alternative ways to indicate book titles
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final version cover
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week seven “Lava—Voice of a Magazine” by Peter Bil’ak The First Thing I Ever Designed: Elena Schenker and “Gratuitous Type” Magazine Magazine Content and Structure Study
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“Lava—Voice of a Magazine” by Peter Bil’ak Lava is a typeface Bil’ak designed with the intention to confident enough not to need to show off, with the comfortable, relaxed manner of an engaged storyteller, ready to handle long stories, but also small captions or titles. Lava was designed to bridge the digital and print editions of a newly designed magazine. Lava was designed to perform optimally in both high- and low- resolution environments; both in-print and on-screen. Lava looks closely at system fonts such as Times and Georgia and aspires to work on screen as well as they do. In print, Lava delivers something that default UI fonts usually lack: refined details, finely tuned proportions and meticulous spacing that let the reader forget about the typeface and pay attention to the text. After over a year of testing, we now feel confident enough to release it publicly as a no-nonsense workhorse typeface that can handle large quantities of text with ease.
Lava Regular
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The First Thing I Ever Designed: Elena Schenker and “Gratuitous Type” Magazine Gratuitous Type, her celebrated “journal of typographic smut,” started off as a personal project that later served as a stepping stone to the departure of her career. Schenker started off this project because felt that the U.S. lacked a graphic design-focused magazine with a more international perspective and aesthetic. She wanted to offer something different, which would also provide her with an outlet to explore her own ideas in editorial design. After she had produced the first issue, she found that the magazine had a tremendous impact on her career. It helped her get a full-time position in publishing, and has also led to some great client projects now that she works independently on. “It’s really nice to make something for yourself that others respond to, and it’s always an exciting moment when someone says, “We want you to do this or that for us.” I continue to be so surprised by all the opportunities it’s afforded me,” she says.
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Magazine Content and Structure Study Article options: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Table of contents Letter from the editor Featured artists Interviews Music reviews Quizzes Advertisements
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week eight “Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans” by Ben Archer “Beauty and Ugliness in Type design” by Peter Bil’ak Grid Analysis Type on Screen
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“Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans” by Ben Archer This article is intended for an audience of contemporary designers that are out of touch with the mid-century British typographic culture. Gill Sans is the Helvetica of England. However, a few observations made of Gill Sans in terms of its flaws and characteristics are compiled as follows: 1. Gill Sans has no distinction in figures. For example, I, L and 1. 2. The original design of Johnston had much more varieties. 3. While Gill sans does have individual qualities in for instance Q, R, a, g and t, as designs in their own right, it is recommended to be used with care and caution.
“Beauty and Ugliness in Type design” by Peter Bil’ak Article on the process of designing Karloff typeface, showing just how closely related beauty and ugliness are. Bil’ak argued that there is no such thing as conceptual type, since type design is a discipline defined by its ability to execute an out-
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come; the process that transforms the pure idea into a functional font is a critical part of the discipline. Typeface design is a craft, so the process that transforms the pure idea into a functional font is a critical part of the discipline. Before the typeface is executed, it is not a typeface, it is simply an idea. Bil’ak went on to explore his interpretation of a conceptual typeface. He was interested in the idea of extremes fused into a whole. The exploration took off by his experimentation of melding the most beautiful typeface with the ugliest one. While conceptions of beauty and ugliness are highly subjective, he took what was generally considered to be the most elegant typeface—Bodoni and combined it with the reversed-contrast typeface ‘Italian’. Karloff, the result of this project, connects the high contrast Modern type of Bodoni and Didot with the monstrous Italians. The difference between the attractive and repulsive forms lies in a single design parameter, the contrast between the thick and the thin. What I took away from this article is that there is no such thing as an inherent element of ugly/beauty. What decides the beauty and ugliness of a typeface lies in the balance of the components.
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Grid Analysis
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Type on Screen •
Designed by Matthew Carter specifically for screen Verdana Georgia
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Attributes to consider when choosing on-screen typefaces Contrast thin lines start to break up X-height a high x-height is ideal (beware of extreme x-heights) Beware of extremes Character distinction Special characters Small caps and Ligatures Optical sizes Alternative options
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Strategies for typeface pairing Look for distinction Pair display and text typefaces Look for harmony eg. Bodoni and Helvetica have the same skeleton Use a family Build outward
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Typeface on screen lower than 14 points should seriously reconsider legibility
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week nine “7 Striking Design Pairings We Didn’t Expect to See in Graphic: 500 Designs that Matter” by Kai Bernau “An Idea of a Typeface” by Kai Bernau “A Typeface Designed to Revive the Endangered Cherokee Language” Project 4: Type Zine Small Group Critique
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“7 Striking Design Pairings We Didn’t Expect to See in Graphic: 500 Designs that Matter” by Kai Bernau
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“An Idea of a Typeface� by Kai Bernau There is nothing such as total neutrality. The author explores how the absence of stylistic associations can help the reader to engage with the content of a text. Bernau attempts to create a typeface free of all connotations or associations that could distract a reader from the text, a font that delivers the character of the written material untouched by the character of the typeface design. 1. A typeface is both a tool for designing, and a tool for reading. The fewer distracting details there are, the more invisible the typeface, and the clearer the text becomes. 2. We can not create something completely neutral, something to which none of us can attribute any qualities. 3. We can approximate the formal idea of neutrality.
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Measurements of the aperture size in the lowercase e, again as a placeholder or indicator for the design of many other apertures in the typeface: This lineup shows a gradation from the most constructed grotesk to the most ‘humanist’ sans.
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“A Typeface Designed to Revive the Endangered Cherokee Language� It is always inspiring to see designers apply their skills to promoting good in society. To see that the biggest tribal nation in America only having few existing fonts inspired designer Mark Jamra to help design a typeface to preserve the language and culture of the Cherokee Nation.
Phoreus Cherokee, by Mark Jamra
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Project 4:Type Zine Small Group Critique • • • • • • •
Italicize albums, books, work or arts in text Fix rags The shorter the line length, the more likely there will be rivers when using justified text. Dashes should not start a line. Body text needs more leading. Column widths are too narrow. Pull quotes have awkward rags.
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book map
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week ten Project 4: Type Zine Interim Critique Project 4:Type Zine Final Critique
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Project 4: Type Zine Interim Critique • •
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Way too many layout and spread designs. Pull back a little to establish uniformity in the zine One way to resolve the issue of awkward rags is to go along with the rags and make the rags fit the rhythm of the tone one would speak the words InDesign lacks layer organization. Layers should be kept at minimal (ie. background, graphics, text) Text boxes appear to float Too many disparate elements in the design. For example, if alter colors then typefaces ought to be the same Choose the colors of the text wisely. Legibility is main concern Information should have enough white space around it.
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Project 4: Type Zine Final Critique •
Design: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Book titles, song titles need to be italicized Add some sort of end article indicators Credit cover art contributors Make sure the dashes are used correctly Pull quotes should not end with comma, instead replace with ellipsis followed by a period 6. Check leading •
Presentation: 1. Talk concepts. Not formal things; things that the audience are able to see 2. Talk about the “why” instead of “what” 3. Always good to have an implicit meaning behind the purpose of a design 4. Mind the language when presenting 5. Talk about struggles only when they are integral to the design solution
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Praxis
ISSUE 1 / WINTER 2017
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designed by: Kelly Chiu typefaces used: Source Sans Museo Sans