Body copy font pages from 40 3 sp07 cjet by Bradley Wilson

Choosing a body copy font for optimum readability

eadabilit SPRING 2007

Readability is crucial. Be sure that the font you choose is legible. With all of the new and interesting typefaces available today it is tempting to pick one that you think looks “cool.” …[Y]our copy still needs to be easily understood. Patrice Roarke, designer

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 5

Message, legibility, readability – factors to enhance body copy fonts

Adobe’s

MINION PRO

eadabilit

BY BRADLEY WILSON

“The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.” Oscar Wilde

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 1234567890 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_+}{“:?>< Regular Italic Semibold Semibold Italic Bold Bold Italic

WWW.ADOBE.COM $199

6 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

Type Style Finder: The Busy Designer’s Guide to Choosing Type Timothy Samara Following a brief primer on type history and form, this book is divided into four distinct sections — mood, concept, time and context, and age group — allowing readers to recognize the most appropriate font and color combinations to complete any project with effective results. Sources for the fonts are given by each example. More than 850 type styles and 40 color palettes are displayed. Rockport Publishers, 2006

hen Ron Reason, a design consultant and former design director at the St. Petersburg Times, talks about body copy, he describes it as “the one design element that just may be most dear to readers’ hearts.” However, body copy is often the last element designers pay attention to when designing a page or selecting fonts — perhaps because choosing the right body copy font means more than using the default: Times. “There are no easy answers,” Reason said in an article on newspaper body text for Presstime magazine. “[I]n a time when many newspapers are juggling multiple changes — like smaller web widths for the broadsheet format, additional color or changes in headline fonts — the body copy will look different whether its specifications have changed or not. Surrounding elements, including white space, effect readability and familiarity tremendously.” In his book Type & Layout, Colin Wheildon tries to make the font decision simple based on his rather decisive research results. “Body type must be set in serif type if the designer intends it to be read and understood. More than five times as many readers are likely to show good comprehension when a serif body type is used rather than a sans serif body type.” Wheildon also promotes, according to his studies, other certainties: Italic body copy has only 1 percent less comprehension than roman text. Justified copy is easier to read than ragged right. And widows and orphans don’t bother readers. Further, setting a headline entirely in capital letters cuts comprehension by as much as 20 percent. Designer Marin Darmonkow, however, acknowledged that it really is not that simple. He believes font choices boil down to three essential questions: 1. Does the typeface portray the message correctly? 2. Is it legible? 3. Is it readable? Legibility refers to the characteristics of the type that allow the eye to distinguish one character from another. “Legibility,” Darmonkow said, “is built into the font by the designer. It is something we can do nothing about.” Readability, on the other hand, is the relative ease with which type can be read and is under the control of the designer. Over time, readers get used to the body copy type of a publication and may complain, sometimes vocally, when the font is changed. SPRING 2007

Reason describes readability as “the level of comfort a user has with a certain kind of text.” “You can take a highly legible face,” Darmonkow said, “and set it so it’s totally unreadable. It actually happens a lot.” To that end, especially for newspapers, effectively printing on glorified toilet paper, a printing process that can affect legibility, designers need to pay particular attention to their choice of body copy font. The font not only gives the publication a certain “look,” but it also must technically work, given the publication’s size and printing process. Body copy font must be set with specifications to maintain optimal readability.

Emigre

MRS. EAVES

SPECIFICATIONS The default font in Adobe InDesign is Times, 12 point on auto (14.4) leading. According to an informal JEA survey of highschool and college media advisers, Times 10/12 is the most commonly used font, size and leading in scholastic publications. With all the amazing choices for body copy fonts available, Times is not the most interesting. However, not all of the some 20,000 fonts out there are appropriate for use as body copy. Also, choosing a legible and readable OPENTYPE, a collaboration between Adobe and Microsoft, was body copy font is a challenge. developed in 1997, and the first OpenType fonts were published “Readability is crucial,” said in 2000. OpenType fonts can contain some 65,000 characters, Patrice Roarke, a creative direc- including all Western characters and accents as well as nontor with Artisan Design Studio in Western (e.g. Japanese or Chinese) characters. For comparison, West Boylston, Mass. “With all of PostScript fonts contain only 256 characters. OpenType fonts can also contain a wide range of glyphs, including ligatures, fractions, the new and interesting typefaces old-style-numbers, titling caps, historical characters and swash available today, it is tempting to characters. pick one that you think looks ‘cool.’ This can work if you are going for an edgy look that will appeal to a young audience, but your copy still needs to be easily understood.” Roarke suggests that designers begin by selecting typefaces that convey the “tone” of the publication: elegant, classic, contemporary, confident or maybe traditional. PERSONALITY Fonts such as Nimrod and New Century Schoolbook seem sturdy and standard. However, they lack “character.” Fonts such as Berkeley, Excelsior and Minion are more contemporary looking. As uniform as typefaces are, they can convey a personality. Technical distinctions, including cost, format and reproduction method, may also influence the available array of choices when selecting the font. Quality fonts can be free or cost as much as $800 for a family. Fortunately, most high-quality fonts are less than $300 for the family. Web and letterpress presses cannot handle intricate fonts or fonts with fine detail, especially at body copy

Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes Colin Wheildon Worsley Press, 2005

“…[I]f all printers were determin’d not to print anything till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed.” Benjamin Franklin

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 1234567890 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_+}{“:?>< Regular Italic Bold WWW.EMIGRE.COM $95

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 SPRING 2007

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 7

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

Adobe

eadabilit

BERKELEY

“Put it to them briefly so that they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately, so they will be guided by its light.” Joseph Pulitzer

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 1234567890 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_+}{“:?>< Oldstyle Book Oldstyle Book Italic Oldstyle Medium Oldstyle Medium Italic Oldstyle Bold Oldstyle Bold Italic Oldstyle Black Oldstyle Black Italic WWW.ADOBE.COM OTF $208.80

Type Rules! The Designer’s Guide to Professional Typography (2nd ed.) Ilene Strizver Dozens of exercises reinforce authoritative coverage on such topics as how to select the appropriate type for a job, how to set type like a pro, how to avoid common mistakes and how to design a typeface as well as how to fully harness the power of major design packages such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. Wiley, 2006

Type: The Secret History of Letters Simon Loxley With the skill of a novelist, Simon Loxley tells of the people and events behind letters. He helps readers learn about type designers, such as Goudy and Bodoni, how a font’s form can carry personality and power as well as the anatomy of letters and how type has changed throughout the years. A fascinating read. I.B. Tauris, 2006

sizes. Even fonts such as Garamond and Americana, suitable serif fonts for high-quality, offset printing, may not reproduce well as newspaper body copy. The third technical aspect to consider is the format: TrueType, PostScript or OpenType. For years, PostScript was the standard. Then TrueType became more of a standard on IBM PC/compatible machines. Most recently, the OpenType format, which includes a wide array of ligatures, provides more special characters than other formats. Beyond technical specifications, fonts with larger xheights generally work better for newspaper body copy. Those fonts allow a designer to use a smaller point size but still have the letters appear larger. X-height is a good indicator of legibility. Fonts with large x-heights include Americana, Charter, Stone or Optima. Web fonts, such as Trebuchet, also have large x-heights. Fonts such as Mrs. Eaves and Bernhard Modern have a small x-height. In Reason’s article, Lucie Lacava, a Canadian newspaper design consultant and president of Lacava Design, advocated her emphasis on x-height when choosing a font, especially for newspaper. “Bigger is better,” she said. “Disregard the point size. It is the x-height that counts.” In the process of picking a font, take a page from an older version of the publication and change only the body copy font. After setting all the body copy in the new font, print out the page. Ask numerous people to look at it and to give feedback. Try several fonts. Also, seek feedback from readers as well as from designers, both students and experienced professionals. Remember: Choosing a body copy font is not a decision that can be made overnight. TECHNICAL PRECISION With the font family chosen, consider the style, size, leading, alignment, hyphenation, justification and tracking. Body copy defaults are set to be roman, not bold or italic, for a reason — it’s the most readable regardless of the paper stock. While small blocks of text can be set in bold or italic, or even reversed (white type on a black or colored background), black type on a white background is by far the most readable and aesthetically pleasing to readers. As a general rule, even in small blocks, reversed text should be no smaller than 12 points. The default body copy is 10 point. While some fonts might be completely readable at 9 point or even slightly smaller, 10 point is the de facto standard. Mario Garcia, again in Reason’s Presstime article, said, “I now use 10 point text uniformly on all projects, knowing that we have an increasing number of baby boomers who need reading glasses. They are likely to be readers for another 30 years or so.” However, publications designing for a consistently younger audience can easily get by with 9-point text, especially when using a font, such as Nimrod, with a large x-height font. When deciding between different CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

8 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

SPRING 2007

Vocabulary arm

stem baseline

bowl

serif

final

ascender

Typography }

x-height

descender APEX Where strokes come together at the uppermost point of a character; examples of different types: rounded, pointed, flat and extended.

EXTENDER An extender is that part of a letter that extends above the x-height or below the baseline. Ascenders and descenders are extenders.

ARM The arm of a letter is the horizontal stroke, on some characters, that does not connect to a stroke or stem at one or both ends. For example: the top of the capital T and the horizontal strokes of the F and E; additionally, the diagonal upward stroke on a K is its arm.

FINIAL The part of a letter known as a finial is usually a somewhat tapered curved end on letters such as the bottom of C or e or the top of a doublestorey a.

ASCENDER The part of a lowercase letter that rises above the x-height. BEAK A type of decorative stroke at the end of the arm of a letter. Similar to a spur or serif, the beak is usually more pronounced. BOWL The curved part of the character that encloses the circular or curved parts (counter) of some letters, such as d, b, o, D and B. In an open bowl, the stroke does not meet with the stem completely; in a closed-bowl, the stroke meets the stem. COUNTER The enclosed or partially enclosed circular or curved negative space (white space) of some letters such as d, o and s. The term counter may sometimes be used to refer only to closed space while the partially enclosed spaces in m, n or h are called “an aperture.” CROSSBAR The (usually) horizontal stroke across the middle of uppercase A and H. The crossbar differs from an arm and a cross stroke because each end connects to a stem or a stroke and does not (usually) intersect/cross over the stem or stroke. The ends are not free. CROSS STROKE The horizontal stroke across the stem of a lowercase t or f. The cross stroke intersects and crosses over the stem. DESCENDER The portion of the letters that extend below the baseline. SPRING 2007

STROKE The main diagonal portion of a letterform, such as in N, M or Y, is the stroke. The stroke is secondary to the main stem(s). Some letterforms with two diagonals, such as A or V, have a stem (the primary vertical or near-vertical stroke) and a stroke (the main diagonal).

LEG The lower, down sloping stroke of the K and k; sometimes the same stroke on R as well as the tail of a Q is also called a leg. LIGATURE A special double character in a font representing two letters as one. For example: æ and œ. MAJUSCULES The large, capital letters of a typeface. Once called “majuscules,” these letters were stored in the upper section of the printer’s typecase, hence the term “uppercase.”

TAIL The descending stroke on the letter Q or the descending, often curved diagonal stroke on K or R. The descenders on g, j, p, q and y are also called tails. SWASH A flowing or other ornamental variation added to specific parts of certain characters in a typeface design. WIDOW A single line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page or column. A widow is also the partial and last line of a paragraph at the top of a page or column. X-HEIGHT The imaginary line on which the lowercase letters rest; the height of those lowercase letters such as “x.” Ascenders rise above the x-height.

MINUSCULES These are the small letters of a typeface. ORPHAN A single line of a paragraph at the top of a page or column.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

SERIF The extra stroke found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms. Serif typefaces are usually used for body copy because the serifs form a link between letters, one that leads the eye across a line of type.

About, Inc. — desktoppub.about.com/cs/ typeanatomy/a/basic_anatomy.htm Proxima Software — proximasoftware.com/ fontexpert /terms/ TypeNow — typenow.net /glossary.htm

SPUR A short irregularity or spike where a stem meets a curved member like the ones on certain uppercase letters such as G. STEM The stem is the main, usually vertical stroke of a letterform. Not all letters have a stem, such as C or S. The vertical, non-curved portions of L, l, d, B and p are examples of stems. H, N and M have two stems each. Some letterforms such as y and A may have a sloped or diagonal stem.

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 9

Monotype Imaging

eadabilit

NIMROD

Most of our pereption of the shape of letters comes from the top half of the letter form.

“I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts.” Orson Welles

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 1234567890 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_}{“:?>< Regular Italic Bold Bold Italic

WWW.FONTS.COM $183

10 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors & Students Ellen Lupton Organizing letters on a blank page is one of the designer’s most basic challenges. What font to use? How big? The text provides clear and focused guidance for those learning or brushing up on their design skills. Informative essays, followed by practical demonstrations, bring typography to life. Princeton Architectural Press, 2004

point sizes, set the same page using, perhaps, 9 point, 9.5 point, 10 point, 10.5 point and 11 point text to see which is more functional in terms of fitting a normal amount of text and enough characters per line to help keep hyphenation to a minimum. Depending on the font and size, minimizing hyphenation may also mean considering the width of the columns on the page. Avoid changing the width of the column within an individual story, but varying the column width between stories is acceptable for variety. As Frank Romano said in a 1995 article on typography for the Society for News Design, “Consistency is the key to good typography.” Once a designer has set the body copy size for body copy, it never changes. Readers depend on that consistency. In some newspapers, the editorial might be set larger than the surrounding text for effect. Even this should be consistent. If the editorial is always set in 12-point type, it is always set in 12-point type even if the editorial requires deletions and tight editing to make it fit in the space available. The point size should never change to make the text fit. Leading can also impact readability. Generally, fonts with larger x-height require more leading. And columns wider than conventional also require more leading. For example, a publication using 10-point Charter might conventionally use 12-point leading, or slightly more given the large x-height of the font. If the column width exceeds 15 picas (1.5 x 10), the leading would have to exceed 12 points. The wider the column, the greater the leading. The default leading in pagination software, “auto,” is 120 percent of the point size. Also by default, newspaper designers tend to use justified text rather than text that is aligned to the left and ragged right. Of course, text can also be set centered or aligned right if a designer does not want the reader to read the text. Wheildon’s study showed how much more readers comprehend when the text is set justified. However, many designers also use text aligned left for informal features, editorials, sidebars and, sometimes, captions. It is not likely that readability suffers markedly in small blocks of text. SPRING 2007

International Typeface Corporation

CHARTER

To improve readability, some designers also experiment with the tracking and with the hyphenation and justfied text settings. The default values in Adobe InDesign are appropriate without much modification. However, some designers prefer to adjust the tracking so the type is a little tighter (negative tracking) to fit more letters on each line. For example, in this magazine, the tracking is adjusted to a -5. Because typefaces are designed based on the spacing built into the font, adjusting the tracking too much can hinder readability. Adjusting tracking to -5 would be virtually invisible. “It is amazing how much better type looks with judicious tracking and kerning,” Romano said. While the default hyphenation and justification setting are probably adequate, adding manual, discretionary hyphens may help when the automatic hyphenation does not know how to hyphenate a word. The manual technique is particularly helpful with long Web site addresses and proper names. “The spacing of the words and lines should be as consistent as possible,” Romano said. INVISIBLE IMPACT Body copy type is only one element on the page. Other elements have to work together to bring the reader into the text. “The visual presentation should facilitate entry into the story,” Rolf Rehe, co-founder of the Society for News Design, said in a Design article. “Readers expect a very clear overview of the information presented so it simplifies their selection of articles.” “At its best it [typography] is virtually invisible,” Wheildon said. Steven D. Fleshman, an art director in Falls Church, Va., added, “Typography can be compared with stage lighting. If you notice it during a terrific play, the lighting isn’t good. It’s supposed to enhance the play, not take center stage. Likewise, type and the message should be a seamless whole.” “If the reader fights with a typograph that is difficult to decode,” Rehe emphasized, “he intuitively conceives the reading to be laborious and breaks it off. The reading rate goes down.” n SPRING 2007

“If [a photograph] does something to you…if it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, then it’s a good picture.” Eddie Adams HOW WIDE IS A COLUMN? Designers have developed two guidelines for choosing the size of the body copy. One and one-half alphabets One guideline says that the optimum size of text gives one and one-half alphabets per line of text, about 39 characters. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm Point size multiplied by 1.5 A second guideline says that the optimum column width is the point size of the type multiplied by 1.5, in picas. For example, the optimum column width for 10-point type would be 15 picas (1.5 x 10). However, these are simply guidelines and may vary depending on the individual font. This type is 8 pt. The column width is 12 picas or 8 x 1.5. Maximum width = point size x 2 (in picas) Minimum width = point size (in picas)

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 12 3 4 5 678 9 0 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_}{“:?>< Regular Italic Bold Bold Italic Black Black Italic WWW.FONTS.COM $118.80

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 11

URW++

BODONI

eadabilit

“I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.” Henry R. Luce

ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQRST UVWXYZ abcdef ghijklm nopqrstu vwxyz 12 3 4 5 67 8 9 0 -=][‘;/., !@#$%^&* ()_}{“:?>< Light Light Oblique Regular Regular Oblique Medium Medium Oblique Bold Bold Oblique

HTTP:// WWW.URWPP.DE/ HTTP:// WWW.MYFONTS.COM $19.95/FONT

12 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

Guidelines

1. Serif is more readable in long copy blocks than sans serif. However, for sidebars, captions and headlines, sans serif can provide much needed CONTRAST. 2. Choose a body copy font with at least a bold, an italic and a bold italic version in addition to Roman. 3. Work with your publisher to make sure the font will hold up in print without the serifs breaking down. 4. Always set long blocks of copy in Roman. Avoid long blocks of all caps and bold text. 5. Use a sans serif for extremely small sizes (sports scores and classified ads) or in reversed text — at least in newspapers where the ink bleeds. 6. To determine the optimum column width, take the point size and multiply it by 1.5 and make it picas. For example: If your body copy is 10 point, the optimum column width is (10 x 1.5=) 15 picas. 7. The maximum readable column width is twice the point size in picas. So, for 10-point type, the maximum readable column with is (10 x 2=) 20 picas. If you set type wider than that, increase the leading or increase the point size to compensate. 8. The minimum readable column width is the point size in picas. So, for 10-point type, the minimum readable column width is 10 picas. If you set type in columns skinnier than that, decrease the point size. 9. Justified text and flush left text are the easiest styles to read. 10. NEVER change the font, size or leading of your body copy within an issue. Establish CONSISTENCY for parallel kinds of body copy. Story text and sidebar text may differ as suggested in previous guidelines.

TRACKING -25 TRACKING

-5 TRACKING

“The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves – and the better the teacher, the better the student body.” Warren Buffett

+25 TRACKING

+5 TRACKING

SPRING 2007

Making choices

The top three examples illustrate the process of improving readability by modifying the point size, alignment and paragraph indents. The bottom three examples show three fonts using varied point sizes and leading for comparison. All three blocks of text in the bottom examples contain the same text. Notice how each of the bottom blocks of text has a different look. Charter is firm. Mrs. Eaves is formal and oldstyle. Berkeley is light and modern. TIMES 12/AUTO (14.4), LEFT

CHARTER 9.5/12, JUSTIFIED, 1 PICA PARAGRAPH INDENTS, EM DASH AFTER DATELINE WITH OPTICAL MARGIN ALIGNMENT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army’s top general warned on Thursday that his force “will break” without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves. He issued the warning as President Bush considers new strategies for Iraq. As part of the effort to relieve the strain on the force, the Army is developing plans to accelerate the creation of two new combat brigades, The Associated Press has learned. According to defense officials, the plan may require shifting equipment and personnel… SPRING 2007

TIMES 10/12, LEFT

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army’s top general warned on Thursday that his force “will break” without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves. He issued the warning as President Bush considers new strategies for Iraq. As part of the effort to relieve the strain on the force, the Army is developing plans to accelerate the creation of two new combat brigades, The Associated Press has learned. According to defense officials, the plan may require shifting equipment and personnel from other military units so the two new brigades could be formed next year and be ready to be sent the war zone in 2008.

TIMES 10/12, JUSTIFIED, 1 PICA PARAGRAPH INDENTS, EM DASH AFTER DATELINE WITH OPTICAL MARGIN ALIGNMENT

MRS. EAVES 11/12, LEFT, 1 PICA PARAGRAPH INDENTS, EM DASH AFTER DATELINE WITH OPTICAL MARGIN ALIGNMENT

BERKELEY 10/12, JUSTIFIED, 1 PICA PARAGRAPH INDENTS, EM DASH AFTER DATELINE WITH OPTICAL MARGIN ALIGNMENT

Process

For each stage of typography decisions, print samples of the font choices. Test samples by using readers to see which they find more readable. Choosing a body copy font takes time. Print out full pages/spreads to see how the body copy works with the art, rules and white space. 1 Choose a font family that fits the look and the functions of the publication. Also, select a font that is affordable. 2 Choose point sizes between 8-12 points, depending on your page size and reading audience. 3 Set the leading. The larger the x-height of the type and the wider the column, the larger the leading point needs to be. While body copy frequently works on “auto,” special text, such as ads, pullouts and lead-ins, requires more attention to the leading. 4 Choose between justified text and aligned left text to determine which one works based on the column width and the story emphasis. 5 Adjust the tracking and the hyphenation to make the body copy more readable. 6 Select a headline/caption font that compliments, but contrasts with, the body copy font.

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 13

NORMAL LEADING

is set wide, extra leading

Most body copy, such as this paragraph, is set with normal leading. A default leading (auto) of 120 percent of the point size works well. This paragraph is set 10 on 12.

prevents the reader’s eye

NEGATIVE LEADING

eadabilit

EXTRA LEADING

Sometimes, however, particularly when the copy

from drifting down to the next line. This paragraph is set 10 on 16.

For graphic effect, and almost never in body copy, sometimes type is set with negative leading. Because there is not space between lines, the type overlaps so it is difficult to read.

TYPE SIZE AND LEADING

Type is measured in points. There are 72 points in an inch. Therefore, 72-point type is one-inch tall and 36-point type is one-half of an inch tall. To measure the height of type, measure from the highest ascender to the lowest descender to get an approximation of the height in points. Some rulers, even graphic arts rulers, don’t have points on them, but they do have picas. Since there are six picas in an inch, you can figure that there are 12 points in a pica (72÷6) and can approximate the point size of type with a pica ruler or even a ruler marked only in inches.

4.5-POINT TYPE (ONE-SIXTEENTH INCH TALL) Type

9-POINT TYPE (ONE-EIGHTH INCH TALL)

Type 18-POINT TYPE (ONE-FOURTH INCH TALL)

Type 36-POINT TYPE (ONE-HALF INCH TALL)

Type

Type 72-POINT TYPE (ONE INCH TALL)

144-POINT TYPE (TWO INCHES TALL)

Leading, the space between the lines, is also measured in points. The measurement of leading includes the point size of the type. For example, if body copy is 10 point and set with two points of space between each line, the leading is 12 points and termed “10 on 12.”

ALIGNED LEFT

“The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves—and the better the teacher, the better the student body.” Warren Buffett

ALIGNED RIGHT

“We journalists ... are also extremely impressed with scientists, and we will, frankly, print just about any wacky thing they tell us, especially if it involves outer space.” Dave Barry

CENTERED

“Junk journalism is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right, that there should be nobody with the power to dictate where responsible journalism begins.” Tom Stoppard

“There is a huge difference between journalism and advertising. Journalism aspires to truth. Advertising is regulated for truth. I’ll put the accuracy of the average ad in this country up against the average news story any time.” Jef I. Richards

THE MINION FAMILY

14 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

SPRING 2007

MOST POPULAR BODY COPY FONTS n Times.................... 29% n Palatino................ 13% n Garamond ...... 8%* n Other.................... 50%** SOURCE: Survey of Journalism Education Association and College Media Advisers via email distribution lists. All responses voluntary. n=63 * Includes AGaramond ** Includes Calisto, Minion (3), Officina Serif (2), Officina Sans, Poynter Oldstyle, Georgia, Stone Serif, Georgia, Goudy, Univers, Century Schoolbook, Lucida Bright, News 706, Gulliver, Slimbach (2), Genesis, Utopia, Rinna, Baskerville, Abadi and Chaparral Pro

FONT SIZES Average.................... 9.99 Median...................... 10 Largest....................... 12 Smallest..................... 8.5 FONT LEADING Average.................... 11.56 Median...................... 12 Largest....................... 14.4 Smallest..................... 9.5 AUTO LEADING is 120% of the point size by default in most programs. So, for 10-point type, the default leading would be 12 points.

REASONS The most-often cited reason for using Times 10/12 was that it was “PageMaker’s default.”

SPRING 2007

COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 15

Choosing a body copy font

Exercise

Based on your readings about choosing a body copy font, define the terms in the column on the left by selecting a definition from the column on the right. In each blank space, write the letter that represents the best definition.

TERMS

DEFINITIONS

_ ___________

1. sans serif

complete alphabet of caps the same size as the x-height of lowercase letters

_ ___________

2. italic

a wide version of a regular type face

_ ___________

3. font

a version of a typeface not as dark as normal or bold

_ ___________

4. x-height

part of the lowercase letter that rises above the x-height

_ ___________

5. kerning

moving two individual letters closer together to make them easier to read

_ ___________

6. extended

strokes projecting from the top or bottom of the main stroke of the letter

_ ___________

7. serif

slanted letters

_ ___________

8. ascender

the unit of measurement for the height of type

_ ___________

9. text

the space between lines of text

_ ___________

10. leading

heavy, dark letters

_ ___________

11. bold

all characters in one size of one particular type face

_ ___________

12. light

a narrow version of a regular type face

_ ___________

13. condensed

M. a group of fonts that resembles the handwritten copy by monks

_ ___________

14. roman

_ ___________

15. small caps

letters that are not slanted or bold; normal letters

height of the body of the lowercase letter

letters without strokes projecting from the top or bottom

ANSWERS: 1P, 2G, 3K, 4O, 5E, 6B, 7F, 8D, 9M, 10I, 11J, 12C, 13L, 14N, 15A.

Are you ready?

Let our national award-winning faculty prepare you for the 2007 publication year. You will leave with designs, leadership skills and stories ready to implement. See you June 13-17 in Columbia, S.C.

University of South Carolina • 803.777.6284 schopress@gwm.sc.edu • www.sc.edu/cmcis/so/cji 16 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

SPRING 2007