Type in the Garden: Typographic Reference Book by lizzy.arnold

TYPE IN THE GARDEN Typographic Reference Book Vol. I

Vol. I

Typographic Workbook

I II III VI V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII

Type in the Garden

TABLE OF CONTENTS Rules Check Sheet Typographic Rules Accent Marks & Special Characters Quotes, Apostrophes, Inch, Foot Hyphens & Dashes Small Capitals Numerals, Figures Typographic Color Words, Lines & Paragraphs Line Length & Column Width Kerning Hyphenation Rules Justification Settings

Vol. I

Typographic Workbook

CHAPTER ONE Rules Check Sheet

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Type in the Garden

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The following is a list you should run through before finishing every project. ☐

Use only one space between sentences.

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Use real quotation marks.

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Use real apostrophes.

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Make sure the apostrophes are where they belong.

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Hang the punctuation off the aligned edge.

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Use en or em dashes, use consistently.

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Kern all headlines where necessary.

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Never use the spacebar to align text, always set tabs and use the tab key.

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Leave no widows or orphans.

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Avoid more than 3 hyphenations in a row.

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Avoid too many hyphenations in any paragraph.

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Avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and proper nouns.

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Leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following.

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Avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word.

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Avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word.

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Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by..

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Never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout.

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Never justify the text on a short line (widow).

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Keep the word spacing consistent.

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Tighten up the leading in lines with all caps or with few ascenders and descenders.

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Use a one-em first-line indent on all indented paragraphs.

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Either indent the first line of paragraphs or add extra space between them – not both.

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Use a decimal or right-aligned tab for the numbers in numbered paragraphs.

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Never have one line in a paragraph in the column or following (orphan).

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Never combine two serif fonts on one page.

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Rarely combine two sans serif fonts on one page.

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Rarely combine more than three typefaces on one page.

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Use the special characters whenever necessary, including super- and subscript.

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Spend the time to create a nice fraction or choose a font that has fractions.

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If a correctly spelled word needs an accent mark, use it.

Vol. I

Typographic Workbook

Type in the Garden

CHAPTER TWO ⁑

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Typography Rules

Type Crimes, typographic sins, things you should never do with type are committed everyday. How important is typographic correctness and how unforgivable are the crimes? Typographers have compiled a number of type crimes that have been labeled as “unforgivable.”

i. Insert only a single space after all punctuation Inserting two spaces after a period was common when using a typewriter. Monospace typefaces were designed to occupy the same amount of space no matter the width of the character. Therefore, two spaces were needed to identify the end of a sentence and the beginning of another sentence. With the introduction of the Mac and digital type, characters are designed proportionately, which allows for the correct practice of using one space after all punctuation. ii. Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, and hyphens 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 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.) iii. Use proper quote and apostrophe marks Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead of using inch marks and feet marks. Place all punctuations inside the quotation marks. Straight quotes are the two generic vertical quotation marks located near the return key: the straight single quote (') and the straight double quote (“). Curly quotes are the quotation marks used in good typography. There are four curly quote characters: the opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), and the closing double quote (”). iv. Use true small caps When setting text that contains acronyms, select a typeface with small caps as a family. Selecting small caps from the style menus is a poor choice because the computer reduces the overall size of the type by 80%. This changes the stroke weight and the feel of the font. Expert sets in the Adobe Type Library have small caps options. v. Use copyright, register, and trademark marks properly The copyright, register, and trademark characters need to be reduced to work with body text. At times, depending on the typeface, you may need to reduce the mark between 50% and 70%. The goal is to match the x-height. The copyright mark should be approximately 70% of the surrounding text. Unlike the ™ symbol, the © should NOT be superscripted and should remain on the baseline. ™ is usually superscripted for the chosen font. ™ and ® are normally set higher than other marks. If you choose superscript ®, reduce it to about 60% of the size. vi. Avoid underlined text This was useful back in the days of the typewriter to draw attention to the text. With digital type and their families, you should not need to use underlined text.

vii. Avoid altering fonts Don’t alter the original typeface by stretching or condensing the letters improperly. Certain type families provide you with a lot of flexibility, so you should not need to destroy/alter text. vii. Set the body copy size Body text is set anywhere from 9-12 points. When you print text, it is usually larger than what it looked like on the screen. Do not use the program default setting for body type or leading. Type studies will help you determine the proper size before you proceed with your layout. ix. Find the proper line length Lines should not be too long; the reader’s eye may have difficulty finding the beginning of the next line. Especially when leading is tight. Lines should not be too short. Very short lines offer little flexibility for adjusting word and letter spacing. A rough rule of thumb, 45 - 70 characters per line is a good average for paragraphs. Longer lines will need more leading. For multi—column layouts the range could be between 35 - 55 characters per line. x. Increase leading Leading refers to the space between lines of text. It is important for readability and appearance. Leading is measured from baseline to baseline. As a rule of thumb, allow leading that is 120% of the point size. For sans serif, you may need 130% or more. xi. Avoid letterspacing lowercase Don’t letterspace body copy as it really hampers legibility. Fred Goudy, one of the most prolific and well-known American type designers of the 20th century, is reported to have said, “Anyone who would letterspace lowercase would steal sheep.” So take heed! Adding space between lowercase letters is considered poor typography because it breaks up the word shapes made by upper and lowercase letters. These shapes are what the brain recognizes when we read, so this type crime severely reduces readability. xii. Add letter spacing to capitalized text and small caps Add letter spacing (tracking) to all cap text or when using small caps. To increase legibility add tracking to headlines, subheads, or any instances when you are using all capital letters. xiii. Kerning in headlines Adjust the space between two particular letters to allow for more consistent negative space.

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Vol. I

CHAPTER THREE B

eyond the standard layout of the keyboard, you will find that producing typographic work may require you to use accents on characters or use punctuation & symbols that are unfamiliar to you.

two different purposes), & cedilla (ç). Accent marks usually appear above a character. One exception is the cedilla, which appears directly underneath the letter c; several less common accent marks appear next to the character.

Accent marks (sometimes referred to simply as accents, diacritics or diacriticals) & accented characters are important elements in both written & spoken language, &, by extension, in typography. While their use in English is largely confined to proper names or “borrowed” words of foreign origin, such as résumé & tête-à-tête, they occur frequently in several other European languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, German & Portuguese.

These small yet significant symbols indicate pronunciation, including emphasis. In some instances, the accent mark also clarifies the meaning of a word, which might be different without the accent. With names & other proper nouns, neglecting to include the correct accent marks can be seen as a sign of disrespect.

Creating accented characters may be achieved by typing combinations of ‘alt’ + accent key followed by the character. The most common accents are the acute (á, é, í, ó, ú), grave (è), circumflex (â, î or ô), tilde (ñ), umlaut & dieresis (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ) – the same symbol is used for

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Accent Marks & Special Characters

Accented characters can be accessed either directly from the glyph panel or by using specific key combinations; many more can be created on-the-fly by using key commands to add the floating accent to create the desired character. Note that keyboard commands vary between Mac and other PC software, as well as for non-U.S. keyboard layouts.

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Use copyright, register, and trademark marks properly Register, trademark & copyright symbols are important communicators. They help establish brand identities & protect creative work from theft or plagiarism. Despite their legal and symbolic power, these symbols need to speak softly, typographically speaking. Their tasteful and appropriate use is a small but significant part of good typography. The copyright, register, & trademark characters need to be reduced to work with body text. When using a ® or a ™ after a word, adjust the point size so the symbol looks clean & legible yet unobtrusive. Here are some general guidelines: At text sizes, set these symbols a little smaller than half the x-height of your text. As your text gets larger, the symbols should become proportionately smaller, especially in headlines. When copyright appears before a year (as in ©2021), match the symbol size to the size of the first numeral.

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Ellipsis Character Use the ellipsis character & NOT three periods. You can access the ellipsis by typing Option + : (colon). Allow a small amount of space before & after. However, if it is not crowding the text, leave no space at all.

Typographic Workbook

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Vol. I

CHAPTER FOUR f course, on a typewriter when you wanted quotation marks you used the typewriter quote marks, the ones that otherwise one would think are inch marks(“) & foot marks(‘). Those symbols are never found, though, as quotation marks in a book, magazine, ad, poster, etc., Simply because that is not what they are.

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Quotes, Apostrophes, Inch, Foot

Fortunately, the Mac thoughtfully provides us with real quotation marks. Unfortunately, they’re tucked away on one of those invisible keyboards that you can only see with the desk accessory Key Caps. It takes an extra split second to access them, but you get used to it.

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Quote Marks

Straight quotes are the two generic vertical quotation marks located near the return key & curly quotes (smart quotes) are the quotation marks used in good typography. There are four curly quote characters: the opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), & the closing double quote (”). Use true quotation marks & apostrophes instead of using inch marks & feet marks. Place all punctuations inside the quotation marks use “&” – not “&”. Most software applications will convert the straight (typewriter) quotes to the real quotes for you automatically as you type.

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Primes: Inch Mark, Foot Marks When typesetting measurements, the proper indicators for inches & feet are primes, which in most fonts requires the use of aptly-named typewriter quotes. Unfortunately, when primes are called for, they often incorrectly appear as smart, or typographer’s quotes, due to the commonly applied default setting in both word processing & design software. This default automatically replaces typewriter quotes with the smart variety, which are the typographically correct glyphs for setting quotation marks & apostrophes. Foot & inch marks—also known as minute & second marks or prime & double prime marks, depending on what they’re labeling—are not curly. In the absence of a simple way to override this automatic software replacement, the best fix is to manually convert back to primes any smart quotes appearing in measurements. Primes are accessed via the glyph panel or character viewer.

Opening double quote: “ Closing double quote: ” Opening single quote: ‘ Closing single quote: ’

Option [ Option Shift [ Option ] Option Shift ]

Bridge Clearance: 16 ̍ 7 ̎ The young gardener stood 6 ̍ 2 ̎ The length of the field is 153 ̍ 9 ̎ I only stayed for 3 ̍ 15 ̎

"thats a 'magic' flower." incorrect use of quotation marks

“thats a ‘magic’ flower.” correct use of quotation marks

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Apostrophe An apostrophe (option shift) indicates the possessive case (Jessica’s bagel). And used in contractions, an apostrophe takes the place of letters or numbers that have been removed. For possessives: Turn the phrase around. The apostrophe will be placed after whatever word you end up with. For example, in the phrase the boys’ camp, to know where to place the apostrophe say to yourself, “The camp belongs to the boys.” The phrase the boy’s camp says “The camp belongs to the boy.” The big exception to this is “its.” “Its” used as a possessive never has an apostrophe! The word it only has an apostrophe as a contraction — “it’s” always means “it is” or “it has.” Always. It may be easier to remember if you recall that yours, hers, & his don’t use apostrophes — & neither should its.

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Omission of letters In a phrase such as Rock ’n’ Roll, there should be an apostrophe before and after the n, because the a and the d are both left out. And don’t turn the first apostrophe around — just because it appears in front of the letter does not mean you need to use the opposite single quote. An apostrophe is still the appropriate mark (not ‘n’). In a phrase such as House o’ Fashion, the apostrophe takes the place of the f. There is no earthly reason for an apostrophe to be set before the o. In a phrase such as Gone Fishin’ the same pattern is followed — the g in "fishing" is missing. In a date when part of the year is left out, an apostrophe needs to indicate the missing year. In the 80s would mean the temperature; In the ’80s would mean the decade. (Notice there is no apostrophe before the s! Why would there be? It is not possessive, nor is it a contraction — it is simply plural.)

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Contraction The apostrophe replaces the missing letter. For example: you’re always means you are; the apostrophe is replacing the a from are. That’s an easy way to distinguish it from your as in your house & to make sure you don’t say: Your going to the store. As previously noted, it’s means “it is”; the apostrophe is indicating where the i is left out. Don’t means “do not”; the apostrophe is indicating where the o is left out.

Typographic Workbook Vol. I

CHAPTER FIVE Hyphens & Dashes

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yphens, en & em dashes are among the most misunderstood, & misused, punctuation marks in typography. While their appearance is generally similar, they have distinct designs & serve specific functions. These three marks are not interchangeable, & knowing the difference is key to setting type correctly. Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, & hyphens. Never use two hyphens instead of a dash.

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Type in the Garden

Hyphens, en & em dashes come in many styles & lengths. Note that while the em dashes on the left are in proportion to the ‘n’s & ‘m’s, those on the right are much longer than even their respective cap ‘M’s. Using two hyphens -- instead of an em dash is typographically incorrect. This treatment is a holdover from the typewriter, which offers no dash on the keyboard. Be sure to search for any double hyphens & other misuses of hyphens and/or dashes, & to replace them with the correct punctuation.

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Hyphen(Located on the top right of the keyboard) The hyphen is the shortest of the three marks, & is used to hyphenate a word at the end of a line by breaking after a syllable. Hyphens are also used to join separate words into a compound word, such as dyed– in–the–wool; and to separate the digits in phone & account numbers. A hyphen can be designed as a simple horizontal stroke, or it can have characteristics that match the rest of the typeface.

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En dash– ( Option + Hyphen to type an en dash) The en dash is longer than the hyphen & shorter than the em dash about the width of a capital N). It is used to indicate a duration of time (also referred to as a span or a range) such as Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm, often replacing prepositions such as “to” & “through”. Historically, the en dash was half the length of the em dash, but today both marks vary in relative length from typeface to typeface. The best– looking en dashes are frequently designed to approximate the width of the cap or lowercase N, which makes them proportionally pleasing to the overall width of the particular typeface.

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Em dash— (Shift + Option + Hyphen to type an em dash) The em dash is the longest of the three marks, & is used to indicate a break in thought, or to set off a thought within a thought. Historically (particularly in metal type), the em dash was the length of the em square in a given point size of type, except for some condensed designs which had shorter dashes. An em is a unit of measure equal to the width of the point size of type; thus, an em dash in 18 point type often was 18 points long. When phrases are interjected between other parts of a sentence, they are usually punctuated by surrounding them with commas, parentheses or em dashes (—).

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Vol. I

CHAPTER SIX S

mall caps are uppercase letter-forms that are shorter in height than the capitals letters. They are designed to blend with lowercase text. When designed as part of a typeface, they are most often the height of the lowercase x (or very slightly taller). Small capitals have been around since the sixteenth century. Small caps are relatively wide; they have the same height as the lower case x (or sometimes slightly higher). Their proportions are studier & wider than the capital letters. True small caps have line weights that are proportionally correct for the typeface.

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Avoid “fake” small caps. Avoid simply resizing capital letters or using the small caps feature in some programs. Computer programs can generate small caps for any typeface, but those are not the same as true small caps. The program is taking the capital letters & shrinking them down about 80%. This changes the stroke weight & the feel of the font. Fake small caps will appear narrow & thin.

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Small Capitals

Small caps are basically used in two ways. They substitute all capital words & acronyms in side body text. They are also used as a stylistic device to add another color to the designer’s palette without having to add a different font. When using a string of small caps to replace all caps, in a title, subtitle, a label, etc. they require generous tracking. Use small caps for acronyms: Remember to set acronyms such as nasa or nasdq in small caps when they appear in body text or headlines. Use them for common abbreviations: Set common abbreviations such as a.m. or p.m. in small caps so they don't overpower the accompanying text. Use small caps for a.m. & p.m.; space once after the number, & use periods.

60pt

oppereta 52

baskerville

times new roman

filosofia

mrs. eaves

dolly pro 26

60pt

p22 underground

auto pro

niveau grotesk 27

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CHAPTER SEVEN N

umbers are a common element in text. They are used to indicate dates, times, addresses, measurements quantities, prices & other data. In typography, the symbols used to represent numbers are commonly referred to as figures or numerals. The uppercase alphabet came from the inscriptional capitals of the Romans. The lowercase came from the European uncial alphabets of the Middle Ages. The numerals or figures we know were invented in India. They spread westward through the influence of Persian & Arab mathematicians. Lining figures are one of the two styles of figures, with the other being Oldstyle. Serif fonts often have goth variations figures. Sans serif typefaces typically only have Lining figures – although this is changing with the more contemporary fonts. Lining Figures (also called aligning, cap, or modern figures) approximate capital letters in that they are uniform in height, & generally align with the baseline & the cap height. They are useful in tables, invoices, content where the numbers need to align for better legibility. Lining figures are commonly offered in two spacing formats, proportional & tabular. Proportional lining figures are the preferred style for all-cap settings, such as headlines, titles, & such. They are also effective anywhere

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Numerals & Figures

that additional emphasis is desired for the figures, even in running text. Tabular lining figures are the preferred style for columns of numbers, such as tables, price lists, financial data, & listings. It should be noted when lining figures are used in body text they will stand out just like USING ALL CAPS WOULD. In running text this is undesirable. In this case old style figures (text figures, non-aligning figures are better suited in body text). Oldstyle Figures (also known as nonlining, lowercase, hanging, or text figures) have varying heights & alignments, as opposed to lining figures, which are of uniform height & alignment. Oldstyle figures are similar to lowercase characters in that they share the same x-height & have ascenders (the 6 & 8) & descenders (the 3, 4, 5, 7 & 9). Unlike lining figures, Oldstyle figures blend in without disturbing the color of the body copy. They also work well in headlines since they’re not as intrusive as lining figures. In fact, many people prefer them overall for most uses except charts & tables. It’s well worth the extra effort to track down & obtain typefaces with Oldstyle figures; the fonts that contain them might well become some of your favorites.

0123456789

operetta 22

0123456789 mrs eaves

0123456789 bodoni 72 oldstyle

0123456789

didot

0123456789 times new roman

0123456789 adobe garamond pro

helvetica neue

activ grotesk

0123456789 0123456789

lining British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement on May 14, 1607. This colony was named for King James I of England. In 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles of land in the Louisiana territory. This land was originally owned by France, but Thomas Jefferson negotiated a deal to purchase it for just $11,250,000. The United States also agreed to forgive $3,750,000 worth of France’s debts. The northern states started making slavery illegal in 1776. In 1804, the last northern state finally abolished slavery. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln freed more than 3,000,000 slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. He actually wrote the proclamation in 1862, but it did not take effect until January 1, 1863. In 1920, women were granted the right to vote with the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was introduced in 1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.

oldstyle British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement on May 14, 1607. This colony was named for King James I of England. In 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles of land in the Louisiana territory. This land was originally owned by France, but Thomas Jefferson negotiated a deal to purchase it for just $11,250,000. The United States also agreed to forgive $3,750,000 worth of France’s debts. The northern states started making slavery illegal in 1776. In 1804, the last northern state finally abolished slavery. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln freed more than 3,000,000 slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. He actually wrote the proclamation in 1862, but it did not take effect until January 1, 1863. In 1920, women were granted the right to vote with the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was introduced in 1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.

Tab stops are useful in typesetting both words & numbers. They can help organize columns of information in charts, graphs & lists, as well as align figures in annual reports, invoices & price lists, including menus. Tabs are widely used to set paragraph indents as well as hanging indents, also called outdents (although many would argue that the proper way to do this is with the First Line Indent feature of your software). In any case, setting customized tabs is always preferable to simply using your software’s built-in tab stops, which are usually set to half-inch intervals by default.

Week 12 Week 13 Week 15 Hours 12.75 9.00 120.00 10.56

134 1023 70

x x x x

268 323 4210

15 36 75 10

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CHAPTER EIGHT E

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Typographic Colors

very typeface has its own apparent lightness, darkness, or optical weight. In typography, typographic color can be describe the balance between black & white on the page of text. A typeface’s color is determined by stroke width, x-height, character width & serif styles.

Legibility & readability both relate to the ease & clarity with which one reads any particular setting of type, but they actually refer to two different concepts: legibility is related to the design of the typeface & the shape of the glyphs, while readability refers to how the font is arranged or used.

The term ‘typographic color’ is used in design to refer to the overall quality or texture that a font or type setting may have. Many typographers prefer an evenness or grayness of color. Typographic color can describe the balance between black & white on the page of text. A typeface’s color is determined by stroke width, x-height, character width & serif styles.

Choosing a typeface is almost like selecting a type of thread to weave into material. The tiny detail will impact the quality & feel of the overall finished product. When deciding between typefaces consideration should be given to the x-height.

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Readability & legibility are two key elements of printed text that a designer should strive to maximize.

Fonts set in the same size, leading & column width will produce varying degrees of color.

Serif Typefaces

X xhg Georgia Matthew Carter

Xxh g Baskerville John Baskerville

Botany is the scientific study of plants. “Plants,” to most people, means a wide range of living organisms from the smallest bacteria to the largest living things - the giant sequoia trees. By this definition plants include: algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, conifers & flowering plants. Today scientists believe bacteria, algae & fungi are in their own distinct kingdoms, but most general botany courses, & most Botany Departments at colleges & universities, still teach about these groups.

x-height: little above average character width: average color: dark

x-height: short character width: average color: light

Serif Typefaces

Xxhg

Operetta 12 Jan Tonellato

Xx hg

72 point

Rockwell Frank Hinman Pierpont

x-height: average character width: average color: average between thicks & thins

x-height: tall character width: wide color: very dark

Serif Typefaces

X xh g

Questa Grande Martin Majoor

Xxh g Superclarendon Robert Besley

x-height: average character width: narrow color: light

x-height: tall character width: wide color: very dark

Serif Typefaces

X xh g

Adobe Caslon Pro Carol Twombly

x-height: short character width: wide, narrow, average color: light

Xxhg

72 point

Didot Firmin Didot

x-height: bit shorter than average character width: wide, narrow, average color: light

Serif Typefaces

Xxhg IBM Plex Serif Mike Abbink

Xxhg Times New Roman Stanley Morrison

x-height: tall character width: average color: dark

x-height: average character width: narrow color: average

Sans Serif Typefaces

Xxhg Futura Medium Paul Renner

Xxhg

x-height: little above average character width: wide, narrow, average color: very dark

x-height: tall character width: average color: average

72 point

helvetica neue Max Miedinger

Sans Serif Typefaces

X xhg

Xxhg

x-height: tall character width: wide color: dark

x-height: little above average character width: wide color: dark

Activ Grotesk Regular Dalton Maag

Avenir Medium Adrian Frutiger

Sans Serif Typefaces

X xhg

X xh g

x-height: tall character width: narrow color: very dark

x-height: tall character width: wide color: average

Franklin Gothic URW Medium Morris Fuller Benton

72 point

Azo Sans Regular Rui Abreu

Sans Serif Typefaces

X xh g

Zeitung Pro Regular Akiem Helmling

Xxhg URW DIN Regular Volker Schnebel

x-height: tall character width: wide color: average

x-height: tall character width: narrow color: light

Sans Serif Typefaces

X xh g Xxhg

72 point

Verdana Regular Matthew Carter

Tahoma Regular Matthew Carter

Botany is the scientific study of plants. “Plants,” to most people, means a wide range of living organisms from the smallest bacteria to the largest living things: the giant sequoia trees. By this definition plants include: algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, conifers & flowering plants. Today scientists believe bacteria, algae & fungi are in their own distinct kingdoms, but most general botany courses, & most Botany Departments at colleges & universities, still teach about these groups.

x-height: tall character width: wide color: average

x-height: tall character width: average color: dark

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Researchers believe that we don’t read words letter by letter, but that we tend to identify words by their outline. This is particularly true of type set in upper & lowercase. An exit sign on a highway is easier & read more quickly when the exit is in upper & lower case. The differentiation of heights of the x-height, ascenders & defenders helps produce distinctive & recognizable word shapes. It is generally considered that words, lines, paragraphs set in uppercase (all caps) is less readable. Setting large amounts of text in all caps should be avoided.

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Words, Lines & Paragraphs

Paragraph text can be set justified, or ragged left (also known as flush right), ragged right or centered. As with all layouts, alignment depends on the purpose of the piece, the audience & its expectations, the fonts, the margins & white space, & other elements on the page. The most appropriate choice is the alignment that works for that particular design. No matter what alignment you use, remember to pay close attention to hyphenation & word/character spacing as well to ensure that your text is as readable as possible.

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Vol. I

CHAPTER NINE ypography deals essentially with the arrangement of words, lines of word & groups of lines to form paragraphs.

Type in the Garden

The aesthetic beauty of botanical illustration has fascinated & inspired people for centuries but beyond its visual appeal, botanical drawings help identify & understand plants in a timeless manner. Its original purpose was to aid in plant identification for medicinal & culinary uses. Over the centuries, as the discipline developed, botanical illustration has proven itself invaluable in identifying newly discovered plants.

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Rags In typography, “rag” refers to the irregular or uneven vertical margin of a block of type. Usually it’s the right margin that’s ragged (as in the flush left/rag right setting), but either or both margins can be ragged. The text block set Rag Right (unjustified text) as uneven line endings on the right side of the paragraph text & is set with normal letter & word spacing. Because of the even word spacing the text ragged text will have an even texture – no large spaces between words. The lines will naturally vary in length. A ragged text block can integrate with the layout & add visual interest to the page. The difficulty is making the ragged edge have a pleasing silhouette. When the first line in the text is longer than the second, it becomes separate from the layout & creates a box-like shape. This destroys one of the advantages of unjustified text. The ragged edge needs to have a life, but a narrow column can be less active. Another advantage to ragged text is less hyphenation is needed. Therefore, names, dates or words which are normally read together can stay together.

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A good rag goes in & out from line to line in small increments. A poor rag creates distracting shapes. Don’t rely on the line breaks generated by your software application; get in the habit of spotting & correcting poor rags by making manual line breaks or by editing your copy. Slight adjustments in point size or column width might work as well.

⁑ ⁑ The aesthetic beauty of botanical illustration has fascinated and inspired people for centuries but beyond its visual appeal, botanical drawings help identify and understand plants in a timeless manner. Its original purpose was to aid in plant identification for medicinal and culinary uses. Over the centuries, as the discipline developed, botanical illustration has proven itself invaluable in identifying newly discovered plants.

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Word Spacing

Word spacing is an important aspect of creating inviting, easy-to-read typography. This seemingly small detail plays a key role in establishing the color, texture & readability of a typographic communication. The word space is suitable for text in most typefaces, but it is work looking at especially in display type. In larger type the word space can be less. Over-tight word spacing causes words to appear to run into each other, making it more difficult for the reader to distinguish one word from the next. Conversely, word spacing that is too open–the more common occurrence–creates oversized blocks of white space between words, forcing the reader to read individual words rather than phrases or blocks of copy. This dramatically slows down the reading process, reducing reader comprehension & increasing the risk of distraction.

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How much word spacing is the right amount? Assigning appropriate space between words is more of an optical determination than an exact science, but certain factors have a definite influence. Word spacing will be affected by the proportions of a type style, letter fit, & point size of the setting. One rule of thumb is that the word space should be around the character space of the lower case “i”. Although the word spacing of any given font is predetermined, it can be adjusted in most design & page layout software via the justification settings. Changing the “desired word spacing” setting is the best method for text. For headlines, the kerning feature is the better tool – & yes, you can kern a character to a space, & vice versa! Proper word spacing is not noticed by the reader, but is a major factor in creating text that appears even, inviting & easy to read; the copy should just flow.

Wordispaceishoudibeiaboutithatiofiailowercaseii

Hanging Punctuation & Optical Alignment Hanging (or hung) punctuation refers to the practice of extending certain punctuation marks into the margin of a flush edge of text, to give the appearance of a more uniform vertical alignment. Punctuation marks that are typically hung include periods, commas, hyphens, dashes, quotation marks & asterisks. These, & any other mark that does not have a continuous vertical mass, can cause a visual “hole” or indentation in the flush edge. Hung punctuation should also be applied to headings, subheads, pull quotes & can be used for body text. Tremendous advances in the typographic capabilities of design software offer an effect similar to hung punctuation, by visually aligning the margins of flush text. Enabling & applying the Optical Margin Alignment feature will not only hang the appropriate punctuation outside the text frame, but also adjust other characters that can disturb alignment, including A, T, V, W, Y, & in some instances the numeral 1. This feature is adjustable in most design software, allowing fine control of the amount of overhang`–from punctuation being completely extended into the margin, like traditional hung punctuation, down to any lesser degree of overhang. Optical alignment in text is a mixed blessing. It solves some visual problems but can cause others. It cures the visual indent caused by quotation marks but can also give them too much prominence.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”– Frances Hodgson Burnett

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Rivers In typography, rivers, or rivers of white, are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though they are most noticeable with wide word spaces caused by either full text justification or monospaced fonts.

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Widows & Orphans Never leave widows & orphans sad & lonely on the page. Avoid both of these situations. If you have editing privileges, rewrite the copy, or at least add or delete a word or two. Sometimes you can remove spacing from the letters, words, or lines, depending on which program you’re working in. Sometimes widening a column or margin just a hair will do it. But it must be done.

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Widow When a paragraph ends & leaves fewer than seven characters (not words, characters) on the last line, that line is called a widow. Worse than leaving one word at the end of a line is leaving part of a word.

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Orphan When the last line of a paragraph, be it ever so long, won’t fit at the bottom of a column & must end itself at the top of the next column, that is an orphan.

LVI

LVII

Typographic Workbook

Type in the Garden

Vol. I

CHAPTER TEN L

ine length & column width are two typographic terms that are closely related. Line length is normally expressed by the number of characters or words per line. Column width is measured in units – be it inches, points, pixels, etc. Column width affects readability because of the way our eyes read. Many people don’t realize that our eyes do not read character by character or even word by word. Rather, our eyes scan a line, pausing momentarily to record groups of three or four words. Studies have found that a reader can make three or four such pauses on a line before it becomes tiring.

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To determine line length for optimum readability, a good guideline is between 7 & 12 words for unjustified text. Fewer words may cause the sentence structure to break up, & may also result in too many hyphenations. Both of these reduce readability. Conversely, a line with more than 12 words can become tedious to read. Additionally, a reader can easily get lost when going from the end of one long line to the beginning of the next, & may inadvertently reread the same line, or miss a line or two.

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With justified text, the number of words per line should be between 12 & 15 words per line, to avoid excessive hyphenations, uneven word spacing, & rivers of white space in the text.

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Line length & Column width

Some resources will refer to line length in characters not words. A character is a letter, symbol, figure, punctuation, & space. Anything from 45 to 75 characters per line is regarded as satisfactory length for a line. 65 characters is regarded as ideal for one column of text. For multiple columns 40-50 characters per line is an ideal average. The longer the line the more leading will be needed to assist the reader to get from the end of one line to the beginning of another. Shorter lines can have less leading. Typefaces vary in their alphabet length. The alphabet length is determined by the width of the lowercase a through z, historically measured in points. This measurement varies depending upon the type style & point size being used. Therefore, varying the font and/or point size will affect the optimum column width. The final factor to take into account when deciding upon the appropriate line length is the nature of the actual text. For instance, some content–such as medical text–might involve many longer words, lending itself to a wider column width to avoid excessive hyphenations. On the other hand, text used for children & young readers might involve many short words, allowing for a narrower column.

LVII

grow into typo graphy 58

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Factors to consider when determining width of text columns: Typeface–The width of the individual glyphs & the overall typeface design affect the word count per line. Point size–The size of the type affects how many words fit in a line. Average word length in the copy–You can fit a greater number of shorter words than longer ones in a given column width.

Different ways to use the grid for columns (6x6)– Baskerville & Helvetica 9/12 align left Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As an addition to herbaria, it provides a detailed description of the species, whether as a pen & ink illustration or a richly colored watercolor, highlighting &

Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As an addition to herbaria, it provides a detailed description of the species, whether as a pen & ink illustration or a richly colored watercolor, highlighting & magnifying hidden details & presenting them in an easily understood visual format. The illustrations give life & a three dimensional quality that contrasts & compliments the dried plant specimens found in herbaria.

9/12 justified Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As an addition to herbaria, it provides a detailed description of the species, whether as a pen & ink illustration or a richly colored watercolor, highlighting & magnifying hidden details & presenting them in an easily understood visual format. The illustrations give life & a three dimensional quality that contrasts & compliments the dried plant specimens found in herbaria.

9/16 align left (increased leading helps wider columns) Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As an addition to herbaria, it provides a detailed description of the species, whether as a pen & ink illustration or a richly colored watercolor, highlighting & magnifying hidden details & presenting them in an easily understood visual format. The illustrations give life & a three dimensional quality that contrasts & compliments the dried plant specimens found in herbaria.

9/12 align left Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As an addition to herbaria, it provides a detailed description of the species, whether as a pen & ink illustration or a richly colored watercolor, highlighting & magnifying hidden details & presenting them in an easily understood visual format. The illustrations give life & a three dimensional quality that contrasts & compliments the dried plant specimens found in herbaria.

9/12 justified

Baskerville & Helvetica 14/16 align left

Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As

Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each dis-

14/16 justified

Botanical i l l u s t r at i o n serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each discipline. As

Botanical illustration serves as a connection between art & science &, in fact, is firmly planted in each dis-

14/24 align left (increased leading helps wider columns)

14/16 align left

14/16 justified

14/16 align left

Vol. I

Typographic Workbook

Type in the Garden

CHAPTER ELEVEN K

erning is the adjustment of specific pairs of letters to improve spacing & fit. It’s distinct from tracking, which affects all the characters. Kerning is a mandatory skill for designers & is totally dependent on your eye, not the machine, not by measuring distance. Type needs the human eye for fine tuning. The tracking set the default spacing between letters, each letter existing within its free area & in general should not need to be changed. However, if there are indications that that font is poorly kerned in most cases the letter spacing is too tight & tracking can be added to a paragraph style or in InDesign you can click on ‘optical’ kerning. This will only help body text; it will not correct headlines that are larger text.

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Kerning should be one of the last steps in fine-tuning your designs. Most fonts come with hundreds & sometimes thousands of kerning pairs inserted by the font designer. The need to kern letters may be more apparent in larger sizes of text or uses of text such as in titles, headlines, subheads, large pull quotes, logotypes: The trained eye has to be the judge.

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Kerning

Most common kerning pairs are: Aw, Av, Ay Va, Vo Ya, Yo

Ta, To Wa, Wo Lt, Lv

HL: characters with verticals next to each other need the most amount of space. HO: a vertical next to curve needs less space. OC: a curve next to a curve needs little space. OT: a curve can actually overlap into the space, under or above the bar or stem AT: the closest space (kerning) is done when both letters have a lot of space around them. The point of kerning is to keep the spacing visually consistent. The letters should appear to have the same amount of space between them. It doesn’t matter how much, it just needs to be consistent. Most typefaces have reasonably good kerning however a critical look is needed. It could be a typeface you have selected that doesn’t have any kerning pairs. Looking at the word upside down, blurring the letters or squinting can be useful in seeing where letters need to be kerned.

Peony Peony

Fleur

Ivy

1814 1814

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When kerning, always look at at least 3 letters at a time.

kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning kerning

Typographic Workbook

Type in the Garden

Vol. I

CHAPTER TWELVE

Don’t rely on the software to judge where hyphens should be placed. Generally, it is better to set hyphenation specifications to a minimum of three characters at the beginning & end of a hyphenated word. That avoids having word breaks such as elegant-ly or mi-gration. Better would be ele-gantly or migration. The exception could be breaking a word at the prefix such as un-likelihood or de-contaminate.

Hyphens in long compound words makes sense between the compounds.

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pinions on hyphenation vary. Some designers are uncompromising, saying for example. ‘Never hyphenate ragged right text or proper nouns’. It could be that you take the approach of avoiding hyphenation but it is better to hyphenate than have a bad rag or poor justification.

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Hyphenation Rules

The hyphenation of proper nouns, such as the names London or Lawrence, is undesirable event though they have clear syllables. If you are dealing with a name such as Michelangelo or Baskerville, it will be better to break the name than to have an ugly rag or poor justification.

hyph enation rules 70

avoid a sequence of hyphens in a row

ii. avoid hyphenating or line breaks of names & proper nouns iii. avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word iv. avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word v.

avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by

vi. leave a least 3 characters on the line & 3 on the following line vii. never hyphenate words in a headline & avoid hyphenation in a call out

Vol. I

Typographic Workbook

CHAPTER THIRTEEN J

Justification works by adding white space between the words in each line so all the lines are the same length. This alters the ideal spacing of the font, but in paragraphs of reasonable width it’s usually not distracting.

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Justify text only if the line is long enough to prevent awkward & inconsistent word spacing. The only time you can safely justify text is if your type is small enough & your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page.

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Justification

ustified text is spaced so the left & right sides of the text block both have a clean edge. The usual alternative to justified text is left-aligned text, which has a straight left edge & an uneven right edge. Compared to leftaligned text, justification gives text a cleaner, more formal look.

Type in the Garden

Layout programs allow the user to set the limit values for spacing. For most fonts setting the “Desired” to less than 100% is a good idea. For the letter spacing the Maximum can be 1% or 2%, never more.

Min 85% 0%

Desired 110% 0%

Max 250% 0%

A botanical illustration can preserve a plant species, variety, or cultivar in books & journals almost in perpetuity, even if it goes extinct in the wild. Such was the case with a critically endangered Hawaiian endemic genus & species, Kanaloa kahoolawensis, first discovered & published only two decades ago but now known only from two plants in cultivation. Finally, illustrations can also help conservation efforts by creating public awareness & empathy for plants.

Min 85% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Max 95% 2%

Min 82% 0%

Desired 85% 0%

Max 90% 2%

9/12 right justified Baskerville & Helvetica 74

Min 85% 0%

Desired 110% 0%

Max 250% 0%

Min 85% 0%

Desired 90% 0%

Max 95% 2%

Min 82% 0%

Desired 85% 0%

Max 90% 2%

14/16 right justified 76

Baskerville & Helvetica

The text was compiled from the following sources: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, Getting it Right with Type: the Do’s & Don’ts of Typography by Victoria Square, Mac is Not A Typewriter by Robin Williams, Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick. This book is not to be sold to the public & to only be used by the designer for their reference & student design portfolio.