A Few Cool Things in
Ellen Lupton’s
Thinking with Type A cr it i ca l g u i d e fo r d e s i g n e r s, w r it e r s, e d i to r s, & st u d e n ts.
“Letter” “Although many books define the purpose of typography as enhancing the readability of the
“ Te xt ” written word, one of design’s most humane functions is, in actuality, to help readers avoid reading.”
“Grid”
“This is not a book about fonts.
. It is a book about how to use them.�
Type Crime: Some typefaces that look good in large scale can look super frail at smaller sizes
Solution: Choose a typeface that is designed for the particualr type of function you need it to perform: display, body, or caption.
DO
DO
Gill Sans Ultra Bold
DON’T Garamond Premiere Pro, Display
DON’T
Source: http://www.thinkingwithtype.com
typeface or font? A typeface is the design of the letterforms; a font is the delivery mechanism. In metal type, the design is embodied in the punches from which molds are made. A font consists of the cast metal printing types. In digital systems, the typeface is the visual design, while the font is the software that allows you to install, access, and output the design. A single typeface might be available in several font formats. In part because the design of digital typefaces and the production of fonts are so fluidly linked today, most people use the terms interchangeably. Type nerds insist, however, on using them precisely. character or glyph? Type designers distinguish characters from glyphs in order to comply with Unicode, an international system for identifying all of the world’s recognized writing systems. Only a symbol with a unique function is considered a character and is thus assigned a code point in Unicode. A single character, such as a lowercase a, can be embodied by several different glyphs (a, a, a). Each glyph is a specific expression of a given character. Roman or roman? The Roman Empire is a proper noun and thus is capitalized, but we identify roman letterforms, like italic ones, in lowercase. The name of the Latin alphabet is capitalized. Source: http://www.thinkingwithtype.com
“Text can be viewed as a thing—a sound and sturdy object— Text can be solid or li
—or a fluid poured into the containers of a page or screen. iquid, body or blood.”
Type Crime: Autospacing
Solution: Adjust
yields
with
effects.
shift.
uneven
baseline
Aa Baseline shift is a tool that can be used to adjust the line spacing of individual characters or words.
“[A]n effective grid is not a rigid formula but a flexible and resilient structure, a skeleton that moves in concert with the muscular mass of information.�
Source: http://www.thinkingwithtype.com
Free Advice Think more, design less. Spend more, buy less. Make the shoe fit, not the foot. And more.
Bibliography Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type. 2nd ed. Edited by Nicola Bednarek. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.