Typography

Typography Typography Typography Tzer Hooi Tang 102103121 DDD30013 Publication Design Semester 1 2020 Tutor John Bassani

Tzer Hooi Tang 102103121 Semester 1, 2020 Tutor: John Bassani Acknowledgements to Britannica , Career Foundry, Shillington Education, Goodreads & Kristin Cullen Typeface used: Futura PT Cond Bold, Futura PT Book, Playfair Display Black, Playfair Display Regular and Playfair Display Bold Swinburne University of Technology School of Design Published and Printed in Melbourne, Australia for the School of Design 2020 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmiNed in any form or by means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from Swinburne University of Technology.

Declaration of Originality and Copyright Unless specifically, correctly and accurately referenced in the bibliography, the publication and all other material in this publication is the original creation of the designer as the author. While very effort has been made to ensure the accuracy, the publisher does not under any circumstance accept any responsibility for error or omission.

Copyright Agreement I agree for Swinburne University to use my project in this book for non commercial purposes, including: promoting the activities of the university or students: internal educational or administrative purposes: entry into appropriate awards, competitions and other related non-commercial activities to show my work in lectures and as an example for future students online and face to face and in lectures. In some situations, this may involve re-purposing the work to meet the requirement of Swinburne’s use. I agree to grant to Swinburne exclusive worldwide, non-commercial, irrevocable and free of fee license to use this project produced in DDD30013 in any way for non-commercial purposes.

CONTENT

About Typography......... 6

History............ 10

Creation............ 8

Early Centuries Typography....... 16

Usages of Typography....... 20

Rules of Typography....... 26

Anatomy of Typography....... 22

Importance of Typography....... 30

Everyday World Typography....... 32

Future of Typography....... 36

Credits............. 42

6

About Typography

Typography, the design, or selection, of letter forms to be organized into words and sentences to be disposed in blocks of type as printing upon a page. Typography and the typographer who practices it may also be concerned with other, related matters—the selection of paper, the choice of ink, the method of printing, the design of the binding if the product at hand is a book—but the word typography without modifier most usually denotes the activities and concerns of those most involved in and concerned with the determination of the appearance of the printed page.

Thus understood, there was by definition almost—but not quite—no typography before the invention of printing from movable type in the mid-15th century, and, thus understood, it is only by analogical extension that the term can be applied, if ever it can be, to “reading” in which the material at hand is something other than words that remain stationary on flat firm surfaces. The electronically created letter that lives out its brief life while moving across the face of a signboard or a cathode-ray tube is not a typographic item.

Typography, then, exists somewhere between the extreme of manuscript writing, on the one hand, and the transient image on the electronic device, on the other hand. Whether the letter be made by metal type or photographic image is no longer important in defining the subject, and whether the finished item is a book or a page influences its inclusion as typographic not one bit.

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Creation that year, facing the need (not unknown to later printers) for financing, he borrowed from Johann Fust. About 1452 he borrowed once more from Fust, who at that time became his partner. The only extant printing known for certain to be Gutenberg’s is the so-called Forty-two-Line (the number of lines in each column) Bible, completed in 1456, the year after Fust had foreclosed on his partner and turned the business over to his own future son-in-law, Peter Schöffer. Experts are generally agreed that the Bible displays a technical efficiency that was not substantially bettered before the 19th century. The Gothic type is majestic in appearance, medieval in feeling, and slightly less compressed and less pointed than other examples to appear shortly.

The Forty-two-Line Bible, like the other works of its day, had no title page, no page numbers, no innovations to distinguish it from the work of a manuscript copyist—this was presumably the way both Gutenberg and his customers

Gutenberg and printing in Germany The 11th edition (1910–11) of Encyclopædia Britannica, not uniquely in its day, gave the honour of inventing the printing press to Laurens Coster of Haarlem. Later research in the 20th century, which has more or less become common consent, gives it to Johannes Gutenberg. Actually, the amount of invention involved in the development is open to argument. Certainly, there was in the air at the time much interest in an artificial method of reproducing calligraphic scripts, and books had already been printed from blocks; the techniques necessary to the punching of type and the making of matrices from which to cast it were known to the metalsmiths; paper was replacing vellum; and wine, oil, and cheese presses were readily available as adaptable models. It remained only for someone to combine what was in existence or clearly capable of creation.

Gutenberg began his experiments around 1440 and was ready to put his method to commercial use by 1450. In

wanted it. Some five years later, also in Mainz and quite possibly from the re-established printshop of a refinanced Gutenberg, there appeared the Catholicon, notable among other reasons for its early use of a colophon, a tailpiece identifying the printer and place of printing, and for the slight condensation of its type—a move toward more economic use of space on the page and greater type variety in printing. While not all early results of the printer’s art were accepted in all quarters (in 1479 the cardinal who later became Pope Julius II ordered scribes to copy by hand a printed edition of Appian’s Civil Wars as printed in 1472), they were generally well received by a basically conservative literate public that wanted reading matter in clear, legible, compact forms and in quantities greater than, and at prices less than, would have been possible for the copyists of the day. Within 15 years of the Forty-twoLine Bible, the printing press had been established in all of western Europe except Scandinavia.

10 History

Type, from Gutenberg to the 18th century

Whatever else the typographer works with, he works with type, the letter that is the basic element of his trade. It has already been said that there have been but three major type families in the history of Western printing: (1) black letter, commonly and not quite rightly called Gothic by the English; (2) roman, in Germany still called by its historical name of Antiqua; and (3) italic. All had their origin in the scripts of the calligraphers whose work printing came ultimately to replace. Calligraphy is dealt with at length in other articles (see also calligraphy). It is necessary here only to provide a context for the evolution of the typefaces of the printer’s font.

The basic letter forms of the Latin alphabet were established by the classical imperial capital letters of 1st-century Rome.

Lowercase letters emerged only slowly, with their most vigorous development coming between the 6th and 8th centuries. Charlemagne, in order to encourage standardization and discourage further experimentation, ordered his educational program for the Holy Roman Empire to be written in a script consisting of roman capitals and a specific form of minuscules (lowercase letters) known as Carolingian minuscule.

The uniformity thus achieved was short-lived. Under the impact of the national and regional styles of the scribes who worked with the alphabet, the letters—clear, simple, and somewhat broad by today’s standards—were gradually compressed laterally, until, by the 11th century, the curves had been converted to points and angles, and the body of the letter had been made thinner while the strokes of which it was composed had been made thicker. This was black letter. By the 15th century it had completed its evolution into the formal, square-text Gothic letter. It was this formal black letter that provided the first model for printer’s type when printing was invented. It served well in Germany, but when printers in Italy, in part under the influence of the Humanist movement, turned to the printing of Latin texts, they found the pointed stateliness of the Gothic letter out of keeping

with the spirit of Humanism. For these works, they went back in calligraphic history to a time when the text had been less open than the first Caroline alphabet but more rounded than the narrowed, blackened, and pointed Gothic that it had become. When the printers Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz in Subiaco, Italy, brought out an edition of Cicero in 1465, they used a typeface that was explicitly intended to be, but was not, a printed copy of the text of Cicero’s own time. To distinguish this type from the Gothic that was more “modern” in the 15th century, the Italians called it Antiqua. Known today as roman, it spread rapidly throughout western Europe except in Germany, where the Humanist movement was blocked by the counter-impulses of the Reformation. There, Gothic type was accepted almost as a national typeface until 1940, when its discontinuance was ordered. It is notable that the majority of early printers continued for many years to use the Gothic type for nonHumanist texts, ecclesiastical writings, and works on law.

In Spain, for example, Jacob Cromberger printed books in which the text was set in roman type and commentary on the text was set in Gothic. Like the Gothic and roman, the third great family of types had its origins in the writings of the scribes. The italic and the Gothic Schwabacher, which serves as a kind of italic to Fraktur (as black letter is known in Germany), both had their genesis in the fast, informal, cursive, generally ligatured letters developed by chancellery clerks to speed their work.

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world’s first commercial typefounder, Claude Garamond.

Perhaps because of the quasi-official nature of printing in France, French publishers early established and long maintained a reputation for careful and elegant work. Their volumes, sumptuous more often than not, were characterized by minute attention to almost extravagant detailing. Books of the hours, introduced by one Antoine Vérard, whose tastes ran to illustrated and heavily ornamented pages bound in deluxe editions, were important influences in these directions. It is estimated that Vérard published more than 200 of these editions in a little more than 25 years, beginning in 1485. They are precise, mannered, delicate, and elegant.

Henri Estienne established himself sometime around the beginning of the 16th century. A scholar, publisher, and printer, he gained his reputation as a publisher of classical literature. His edition of Galen’s De sectis medicorum is an interesting early scientific work. Estienne, for a time, had as

France

In Germany and in Italy, the many centres of printing grew up for the most part in the centres of commerce. But in France—where printing was from the first a sponsored activity—there were only two such centres: Lyon, from which significant printing largely disappeared after the Inquisition; and Paris, where it was established in about 1470 by the rector and librarian of the Sorbonne, who invited three German printers to occupy university-owned property and who later supervised all of their work. The first book printed in France—a manual of instruction in Latin composition—was printed in an Antiqua type; and though there is some history of the use of a mixed Gothic until about 1520, printers in France from the start led the way to establishing the predominance of roman and italic.

Important influences in effecting the almost exclusive use of roman type were the printers Simon de Colines, Henri and Robert Estienne, Geoffroy Tory, and the man who was the

his adviser Geoffroy Tory, a scholar who later became a printer himself. Strongly influenced by Italian typography, Tory experimented with the use of floral ornamentation and ornate initial letters.

In 1529, he wrote the first known treatise on the design of type, and in 1530 the title king’s printer was created for him. Tory, Colines, and a few others introduced the Aldine publishing methods into France. Colines designed italic, roman, and Greek type fonts, some of which were cut for him by his punch cutter, Garamond. In 1531 they created, for an edition of St. Augustine’s Sylvius, the roman typeface to which all later so-called Garamond typefaces are traced.

Garamond quickly became a major force in making welldesigned and superbly cut types available to printers, including those who generally could not have afforded the services of capable cutters. Though Garamond’s efforts with a Greek font were not notably successful, his French versions of the roman type of Manutius and an italic type of Ludovico

From the middle of the 16th until well into the 18th century, if not later, the most notable type designers in Europe were important more for their refinements on Garamond’s modifications of earlier faces than for innovations of their own. One of the very few who attempted new departures in type design was Robert Granjon, who, in addition to fashioning some notable versions of Garamond types, also tried—with his type called Civilité—to create a fourth major typeface to be different from and stand alongside roman, italic, and Gothic. He envisioned it as a national type for the use of French printers. Reminiscent of a cursive Gothic, it ultimately found its only acceptance as a display face and was not utilized in the printing of books.

degli Arrighi (an official in the apostolic chancellery who soon after 1522 had produced specimen pages of a type based on the cursive letters.

William Caxton's Cicero Desenectute Portion of a page from William Caxton's edition of Cicero's Desenectute, printed at Westminster, England, in 1481.(Courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago of the chancellery clerks) were of commanding importance in European typography until the end of the 16th century. In 1540, after years of experimentation, Garamond perfected a roman type that, though it had affinities with the lettering of scribes, was designed unmistakably for mechanical reproduction. It was sharply drawn, graceful and of good contrast, and it soon displaced most other typefaces then in use. This typeface ushered in the new era in which, for the first time, the typographic book was more common than the manuscript one.

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England Printing was introduced into England near the beginning of the last quarter of the 15th century by an Englishman who had traveled widely throughout Europe to study the art—William Caxton, who was a gentleman and dilettante. He studied printing, it is said, so that he would be able to print his own translation of a French work—Raoul Le Fèvre’s Recueil des histoires de Troye—exactly as he wanted it to be printed.

Setting up in business in Bruges in 1473, he issued The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, the first book printed in English, about 1474; in 1476 he returned to England and established a press in Westminster. The first dated book printed in England was the Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, issued from his press in 1477. Printed in black-letter type of an almost startling blackness, its pages command attention by means of

a contrast too pronounced to be comfortable to the reader. Caxton printed some 90 books—70 of them in English—before turning his business over to Wynkyn de Worde, his former assistant. De Worde used the first italic type in England in 1524.

Stanley Morison is authority for the statement that English typography in the first 100 years after the invention of printing was of a secondary order except for the work of Richard Pynson, a Norman who operated a press in London from 1490 to about 1530. Pynson, who used the first roman type in England in 1518, issued more than 400 works during his approximately 40 years of printing. Of these, a substantial number are legal handbooks and law codes, on the printing of which he enjoyed an effective monopoly.

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Early Centuries Typography

The first really notable roman type had been cut by Jenson for a text by Cicero in 1470. It had been replaced in popularity and importance by the romans that Francesco Griffo cut for Manutius in the late 15th century. The first italic had been a Griffo design introduced by Manutius in his pocket editions early in the 16th century. These two faces had, in turn, been displaced in European typography by letters designed in the mid-16th century by Garamond in France: a roman based on Griffo’s cutting and an italic based on a form put forth by Ludovico degli Arrighi. The Garamond versions of these faces were to be of prime importance in European typographical work until the end of the 16th century, during which time so many adaptations of them were produced that “Garamond type” came to be used as a generic term.

By the end of the 16th century, typography in Europe

had, generally speaking, deteriorated in vigour and quality. In France, the first comeback step was taken in 1640 by Louis XIII, who, under the influence of Cardinal de Richelieu, established the Imprimerie Royale at the Louvre. In 1692 Louis XIV ordered the creation of a commission charged with developing the design of a new type to be composed of letters arrived at on “scientific” principles. The commission, whose deliberations were fully recorded, worked mathematically, drawing and redrawing each letter on squares divided into 2,304 equal parts. The approach was far removed from the style of the calligraphers, whose work had provided models for all of the important alphabets until then. It is probably fortunate that Philippe Grandjean, who was called on to do the punch cutting, did not feel himself to be under constraint to carry out his own work with the

mathematical precision of the commission members who had drawn the patterns. Using the basic designs merely as suggestive, he cut a type that almost immediately drove the Garamond style from its favoured position. Known as Romain du Roi, it was used first (1702) in one of the médaille books that were then popular as commemorative devices. As might be expected, the type is notable for its regularity and precision; there is a good, though not exaggerated, contrast between the thick and thin strokes, and the addition of flat serifs on the lowercase letters was effective.

Though intended for the exclusive use of the Imprimerie Royale, the new roman was immediately copied by other designers, one of the most active of whom was the founder Pierre-Simon Fournier, who is also remembered for his creation of a wide range of and are still much in use.

Caslon’s refinement of the Garamond version of the Aldine roman was essentially straightforward and unmannered except for a slightly pronounced contrast between the thin strokes and the thick ones.

The letters were graceful and well balanced. Serifs were bracketed (see above). They were well cut, and they made up into type blocks that were comfortable to read.

The type won wide acceptance and became well known in the American colonies, where it was introduced by Benjamin Franklin. It was the type in which a Baltimore printer issued the official copies of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Even more significant changes in typographical fashions were achieved about a quarter of a century later by John Baskerville in Birmingham. Baskerville, printers’ devices that could be combined into festoons, borders, and headpieces and tailpieces for the heavily ornamented éditions de luxe that were popular in France then and that were to remain so until the Revolution.

It is reasonable to say—as did designer-theorist William Morris—that the Romain du Roi replaced the calligrapher with the engineer as a typographical influence. In general, the calligrapher was not to be reintroduced until Morris himself performed the operation as an ideological matter in the 19th century.

Before that could happen, typography was to undergo further modifications under the influence of three great designers, two in England and one in Italy. William Caslon, who issued his first type-specimen sheet in 1734, made a number of refinements ofthe Garamond style and created faces that have become traditional

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an important influence on English and European typography almost from the first printing of his Virgil in 1757.

In Italy, Giambattista Bodoni enthusiastically took up the principle of page design as worked out by Baskerville, though not his typefaces. Further modifying the Aldine roman of Garamond, he mechanically varied the difference between the thick and thin strokes of his letters to achieve the ultimate contrast possible in that direction. His letters are rather narrower than those of either Caslon or Baskerville. He exaggerated his thick lines and reduced the thin ones almost—it seems at times— to the point of disappearance. Like Baskerville, he used opulent papers and inks blended for special brilliance. His pages were not easy to read, but he became, in the words of Stanley Morison, the typographical idol of the man of taste, and his

who taught calligraphy, introduced further variations in the spirit of Caslon. His letters suggest a greater concern for aesthetics. Their feeling of gracefulness is more pronounced. They were more original than Caslon’s. His roman letters were open and legible; his italics tended to be spidery and quite pinched. Open and quite rounded, they are, perhaps, more selfconsciously pleasing to the eye. As a book designer, Baskerville combined his new faces with exaggerated page margins and relatively wide spacings between letters to suggest new directions in style. By the use of special papers, improved press methods, and special inks, he achieved an effect of almost glaring contrast, an effect heightened by his preference for emphasizing the typographer rather than the illustrator or the engraver. Though his acknowledged masterpiece, a Cambridge Bible, was not printed until 1763, he was “plain”—though deliberately and artfully contrived— designs were an important factor in the decline in importance of the édition de luxe and its replacement by works more austere in feeling, more modern even to today’s eyes. He set what was, in general, to be the standard book style of the world until the appearance of William Morris.

“Typography fostered the modern idea of individuality, but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and integration�

- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

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Usages of Typography 1. Convey information with type.

Communicate with clarity.

2. Assist the reading process.

Make it accessible (and delightful).

3. Uphold typeface integrity.

Value it and its makers.

4. Express text beautifully.

Create visually inviting work.

5. Design with appropriateness.

Do what best serves each project.

Typography is a process, a refined craft that makes language visible. Designers shape language with type and give words life and power to speak text fluently. With roles semantic and aesthetic, type that expresses text at its best serves both roles at once. Words, lines, and paragraphs carry messages via letterforms. Type conveys information and provokes emotion. It shares stories and influences behavior. At times, typographic characters are abstract constructs or images with no text to communicate, simply beauty made apparent. Typography is not handwriting, calligraphy, or lettering. Only type uses standardized forms that rearrange and reproduce in exact fashion without end.

Systematized character sets fit for repeated use with ranges of text distinguish typography from other letter-making methods. Handwriting, calligraphy, and lettering tend to be reserved for customization in limited-edition and special work. Letterforms distinct from available typefaces made by hand or digital tools are unique typographic alternatives.

“Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form.”

- Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

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Anatomy of Typography Understanding typography fundamentals includes learning its terminology (the language of type), anatomy (the parts of type), and architecture (the framework of type). Designers share common terms that identify typographic building blocks. Basic terminology is typically constant across mediums, which builds mutual connections from one to another.

For example, all typefaces, regardless of their diversity, share anatomical parts and details. A serif is always a serif in digital, print, or environmental projects Knowing well the parts that comprise typographic practice aids type selection and use. Best expression comes with intimate knowledge of the essential elements, which include characters, measures, and styles. Typographic results arise through the considered manipulation of the essential elements. Cultivating an understanding and gaining proficiency begins with learning basic terminology, anatomy, and architecture.

Many typographic terms originate from metal typesetting days when typographers and printers set lead type slugs (cast-metal sorts) by hand to form words, lines, and paragraphs. They shape much of the terminology now used to describe type anatomy and measure.

Terms Aperture An aperture (open counter) is the partially enclosed white space in letterforms such as C and S, as well as n and e.

Apex An apex is the top point of a letterform, where two strokes meet, as in A and W. Arc of Stem An arc of stem is a curved stroke that flows smoothly into a straight stroke. Examples include f, j, and t.

Arm An arm is a short horizontal or vertical stroke attached to another on one end, such as E, F, and L. Ascender An ascender is the part of lowercase letterforms—b, d, f, h, k, and l— that rises above the x-height.

Axis An axis is the invisible line that bisects character tops and bottoms at the thinnest points. It indicates character stress from oblique to vertical.

Bowl A bowl is the curved character stroke that encloses counters, as seen in a, b, g, and p. Bowls are closed or open, depending on whether or not the curve connects to the stem.

Chin A chin connects the arm and spur of the uppercase G. Counter A counter (counterform) is the enclosed white space in characters such as b, d, and o. An open counter (aperture) is the partially enclosed white space in characters such as C and S, as well as n and e.

Glyphs Glyphs comprise all marks in a typeface from letterforms and numerals to punctuation and symbols.

For instance, a diacritic (accent mark) is a glyph, not a character. It combines with a letterform to create a character, as in ´ (acute) + e = é.

Characters A character is a typographic element such as a letterform, numeral, or punctuation mark. Typefaces might have multiple versions of each character represented by glyphs. For example, the lowercase g character can have three glyphs: single story g, double story g, and small cap G. The term “alternates” (or alternate characters) applies to the variants.

24 Crossbar A crossbar (cross stroke) is the horizontal bar that connects two strokes (A and H), crosses stems (f and t), or bisects stems (E and F).

Crotch A crotch is the acute inside point where two strokes meet, as in V. Descender A descender is the part of lowercase letterforms—g, j, p, q, and y—that falls below the baseline.

Dot A dot (tittle) is the rounded mark above the lowercase i and j.

“Type is a beau letters, not a gro lette

- Matthew

Double story Double story refers to specific letterform variations that have upper and lower closed or open counters. For example, the lowercase g in some typefaces has a bowl plus loop. Another double story letterform is the lowercase a. It features a lower closed bowl with an upper aperture.

Ear An ear is a small stroke that extends from the bowl of the double story lowercase g.

Eye An eye is the closed counter space specific to the lowercase e.

Flag A flag is the horizontal stroke found on the numeral 5.

Finial A finial is the curved and tapered finishing stroke seen in the lowercase a, c, and e.

Hook A hook is the curved stroke in a terminal, as in the lowercase f and r.

Leg A leg is the short, diagonal stroke that sweeps downward in the letterforms K and R. Link A link is the connecting stroke between the bowl and loop of the double story lowercase g.

Loop A loop is the enclosed or partially enclosed counter of the double story lowercase g. It falls below the baseline and connects via a link to the upper bowl.

Overshoot Overshoot (overhang) is the slight character portion that falls below the baseline or above the cap height or x-height. Examples are A, a, O, o, and V, v.

It gives the optical sense that such forms are the same

utiful group of oup of beautiful ers.�

w Carter Stroke A stroke is any curved, straight, or diagonal line that constructs characters. Arms, legs, and stems are specific stroke types.

Swash A swash is an embellished stroke that replaces a serif or terminal to create a swash character, a decorative form that is regarded as lively and elegant.

Tail A tail is a downward finishing stroke. The uppercase Q typically features a distinct, often decorative, tail. Uppercase letterforms with legs—like K and R— sometimes have curved tails that fluidly extend from the diagonal stroke.

Terminal A terminal is the curved or straight end of finishing strokes, as seen in a, c, f, j, r, and y. Terminal styles include ball, beak, and teardrop (lachrymal).

size as those sittingflush on the baseline.

Serif A serif is a small finishing detail at the start and end of strokes.

Shoulder A shoulder is the downward curved stroke that extends off a stem, as in h, m, and n.

Spine A spine is the primary curving stroke of the S. Spur A spur is a one-sided, small finishing detail that slightly extends from a primary stroke, as in the uppercase E, G, and S. Stem A stem is the primary vertical stroke of a letterform.

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Rules of Typography have a comfortable balance between the text and graphics and the empty aka white space of the blank background.

Plus, you can get creative with white space to show hidden meanings!

Color psychology continues to be studied, but designers understand that a mix of the primary hues of the visible spectrum (red, yellow, green, blue, and purple) and blends of these colors and “achromatic colors” (white, gray, and black) all have certain effects on the overall design whenblended with text.

When it comes to print design, a high percentage of typography design uses black text on a white background.

Studies have shown that is the easiest presentation to read.

Conversely, white letters on a black background is also popular, especially in presentations that are meant to be dramatic, but in many cases, these can ultimately prove diffiicult to read, especially for people with any type of In order to understand the basics, it’s important to learn typography rules that will guide you as you improve your design. The five basic principles of typography design or any other type of graphic design that every designer should know are: 1. Balance that conveys a consistent structure 2. Hierarchy that defines organization and direction 3. Contrast to emphasize highlights 4. Repetition to create consistency and familiarity 5. Alignment to present a sharp and structured image In addition to this list, layout, white space and color are essential elements of typography basics. It’s important to look at the shapes created by the words and letters.

Challenge your brain to look beyond what the word “says”and more closely at how it “looks.” White space is used as a print and web design strategy to make text look less busy and more pleasing to the eye. It’s important to

outlined above. Engineers have conducted deep studies on typography design and what works best for promoting driver safety. The size of the lettering plays a big role in this communication. The limitations of human vision were taken into account when federal highway officials standardized the signs. The same is true with signs that are designed for handicapped individuals in wheelchairs, as specific regulations dictate that signs for disabled people must be easy-to-read and at eye level.

vision impairment. Bigger visuals such as freeway billboards and movie screens obviously work well with both white on black and black on white.

In web design, there is much more scope, and color and type combinations of all types have been tested. The main consideration when designing for web is contrast. Good color contrast needs to be in place to ensure readability, and steps to ensure this include choosing your color palette, finding a good color contrast analyzer, examining the body test contrast to make sure you can read it when it goes live, and making sure that buttons and links show up clearly. As with print, having a style guide to refer to is always helpful as well.

Other real world visuals that use color and type to quickly and clearly communicate and that also represent basic typography rules are road signs. Road signs come in various sizes, shapes, and colors, but which are all carefully designed to bring about a definite result. A caution sign, for example, is yellow with black letters, while a more serious warning sign is orange with black letters. The bright backgrounds of these posts, particularly for yellow-green school crossing signs, are easy to see from far away. Signs with symbols such as a one-way sign with an arrow pointing toward the direction of traffic often communicate to drivers better than words can. People understand visual images instantly, whereas text can take a few extra seconds to read.

These signs are all deceptively simple but follow the rules So in order to master typography, you must first learn the rules and then decide if you want to break them for artistic purposes. Even if you’re new to graphic design and have never thought about the print world or typography, understanding the basics will give you a framework to understand when to go beyond usual design parameters and when to work within the scope of usual typography.

Testing is also crucial to the overall design process. What the typography looks like at the intended size in print or digital can make or break the design.

So, whether you are learning typography design for your business, to become a professional designer, or to simply know the science behind this art, you must understand that different typefaces convey or associate with different emotions. Think of popular logos you’ve seen throughout your lifetime. Two things many of them have in common are simplicity and relevance. The typeface must fit the image of

28 the business for the logo to be memorable and effective.

The most effective typography design lives up to an audience’s expectations. A fun amusement park might have curvy colorful letters whereas a serious financial firm will likely use more traditional lettering. All the components of typography discussed here contribute to emotions and feelings attached to specific typefaces.

“Readers usually ignore the typographic interface, gliding comfortably along literacy’s habitual groove...By making itself evident, typography can illuminate the construction and identity of a page, screen, place, or product.”

- Ellen Lupton, Thinking with Type

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Importance of Typography

1. Typography builds brand recognition

Not only will good typography enhance the website’s personality, but your users will subliminally begin to associate the typeface featured on your site with your brand. Unique, consistent typography will help you establish a strong user following, build trust with your users, and help to carry your brand forward.

Good typography will establish a strong visual hierarchy, provide a graphic balance to the website, and set the product’s overall tone. Typography should guide and inform your users, optimize readability and accessibility, and ensure an excellent user experience.

3. Typography holds the attention of the readers

Good typography could be the difference between someone staying on your website for one minute or half an hour. It’s important that your website is visually stimulating and memorable, and typography plays a huge role in this process.

2. Typography influences decision making

Typography has a profound effect on the way that users digest and perceive the information conveyed by the text. Eye-catching type is much more persuasive than weak fonts that don’t reinforce the message of the text.

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Everyday World Typography Typography is everywhere, crossing mediums that include environments, interfaces, packaging, and print. It will no doubt thrive in digital and physical works to come.

Typography is at the center of design practice. Designing with type for communication is many-sided. It is analytic and instructive, dramatic and whimsical. Designers work with type objectively and subjectively with economy and extravagance.

Environmental signage systems, for example, are practical and direct; clarity is imperative. Typography is also conceptual and interpretive. Motion sequences appeal to viewers through lively type treatments. Letterforms personify or emote strongly. Regardless of the medium, balancing function and aesthetics reigns. Use fundamental principles as the basis to marry text with type. Do so with appropriateness, a concept relevant to all things typographic.

Macro- and microtypography describe approaches to typographic design. Macrotypography addresses composition or layout—the plan and organization of typographic elements.

Key considerations include spatial positioning and relationship-building among elements and white space (negative space). The macro view is the compositional body, in which designers order, connect, and balance type. It is the first impression that engages viewers. Without immediate visual interest, communication ceases; the intended typographic messages are not received.

Microtypography refers to typesetting essentials and details. Designers transform plain text into a typographic system—a hierarchy, with optical emphasis and strategic variation. Letterform, word, line, and paragraph dynamics demand acute attention. A principal micro factor is spacing, which includes kerning and tracking.

Aesthetic tailoring, as in refining punctuation and ragging, are other micro components.

Microtypography ensures refined compositions with considered type settings. Projects are free of distractions and missteps that inhibit reading and communication. The microtypographic level is often undetected by viewers (a sign of its achievement). Macro- and microtypography are mutually dependent. The success of the whole (macro) depends on its parts (micro).

It also includes type and book design since the 19th century. Two late-19th-century developments—one technological, the other aesthetic—profoundly changed the course of book typography and design. The advent of mechanical type composition in the 1880s (the so-called Linotype machine was patented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German inventor, in 1884; the Monotype, by an American, Tolbert Lanston, in 1887) had much to do with the look of the 20th century book. The Arts and Crafts Movement, whose leader in typography as in other aspects was William Morris, had an equally great influence on the quality of modern book printing.

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Future of Typography What about accessibility and the preservation of the text?

Making sure that everyone can simply read the text in every browser is more important than just about any typographic flourish that we can implement. And so with that in mind, whenever we stumble over a new feature for the web we have to question whether it will truly improve the reading experience. Subsequently, if we focus on those two readers mentioned then we ensure that we don’t become too cynical or dogmatic about crazy new features that might impact typesetting on the web. In the past I’ve seen many experienced typographers dismiss new features that browsers afford them, only for those The Met technologies to become a vital part of what typography now means on the web.

So I think there’s a constant risk of assuming that typography will always work in a familiar way; challenging what we know about typography is the first step to contributing to its future.

Typesetting on the web has evolved from a quirky afterthought into an invaluable practice. Within a span of twenty years complex interfaces that adapt to their environment, as well as an overwhelming number of typefaces, have bloomed all around us. Likewise, using animations and transitions or balancing display text in conjunction with powerful OpenType features became not only possible but expected. So where do we go from here?

What are the skills we need to contribute to the future of typography? And what do two ghostly figures from the 15th century have to do with that future?

That’s the most beautiful and interesting part about the future of typography – that there isn’t one future, but many.

We can synthesize conflicting technologies, and previous typesetting methods, or we can listen to the fictional arguments between two ghostly printers and imagine what might have occurred if their ideas and skills were combined together.

There are infinite futures of typography, and the opportunities only expand when new browsers, new features, new devices become available to us. All that’s required is a little patience and a healthy dose of curiosity.

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Credits Cullen, K., (2020). Design Elements Typography Fundamentals. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/36984786/ Design_Elements_Typography_Fundamentals Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020). Typography | Definition, History, & Facts. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/ technology/typography Goodreads.com. (n.d). Typography Quotes (31 Quotes). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/ typography Hannah, J., (2020). What Is Typography, And Why Is It Important? A Beginner’S Guide. Retrieved from https:// careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ui-design/beginners-guide-to-typography/> [Accessed 19 May 2020].

Prokhorov, N., (2019). What Is Typography? A Deep Dive Into All Terms And Rules. Retrieved from https://www. shillingtoneducation.com/blog/what-is-typography/ Rendle, R., (2017). The Futures Of Typography. Retrieved from https://www.robinrendle.com/essays/the-futures-oftypography

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