A TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK.
Type II Survival Guide by Zack Spanier
Watch out! Typography is much more than placing words on a document in a pretty arrangement. Instead, the job of a typographer is to uphold the meaning of a text through visual representation. What the heck does that mean? It means that there should be a perfect harmony of text and design. When a spectator walks up to your designed type project (poster, book, whatever it may be) the information should, yes—captivate them like a cat to the laser pointer, but more importantly—it should be easy to process. Imagine downloading your favorite song with NASA’s 91GB per second super computer: One click and BAM! Got it. Now go look at well-designed type: One glance and BAM! I get it. This is the interaction us typographers hope to achieve. On a sour note, despite knowing what we want—this type plus design unison is not easy to accomplish. Projects with text can be a pain up the rear to design successfully. You will be forced to problem-solve, your patience will be tested, and it will take tremendous willpower to make text and design cooperate. At times, you will find yourself staring blankly at the screen wondering why your design isn’t working… Wondering why you even became a designer… Wondering why we even exist. This is the perfect time to step back, take a sip of coffee, and glance through this type survival guide. A little refresher is all you need to make that type–design collaboration happen.
Your basic necessities to survive as a typographer.
Typographic Cookbook Points and picas
12 points = 1 pica = 12 pixels 6 picas = 1 inch 1 pica and 6 points = 1p6 picas
Type size
For print: 9pt to 12pt For web: 14pt or more
Kerning
Body text should be set to “Metrics” Headlines should be set to “Optical” and custom kerned Use Alt + arrow keys to adjust kerning between two letters
Leading
120% to 145% of point size
Tracking
Safe amount: -10 to 10 Super text heavy materials: -25 to 25
Line length
8 to 13 words per line
YOUR BASIC NECESSITIES 7
Choosing Body Text Step 1: Pick a typeface family
First, decide if you are gonna use a serif or sans-serif. Then, pick a bunch of different families you like. Make sure these families you choose have multiple type weights. Set up a test print document and print your body text with all chosen families. Stare at the paper until you decide what typeface to use.
Step 2: Choose your type size
If it’s for print, your looking at 9pt to 12pt size. If it’s for web use, go 14pt or higher. Remember that all typefaces are different so be prepared to adjust.
Step 3: Set your leading
Line spacing should be around 120% to 145% of the point size.
Step 4: Decide if you want rags
This is personal preference honestly. It’s probably better to justify text for heavy texted materials, like a newspaper, but warning: justified text can look a little too clean or robotic. Once you have made your choice then customize your hyphenate settings and adjust tracking.
Step 5: Take a step back
This is where you make all your small adjustments. Things are going to be a little off—trust your eyes to find problems. If the leading looks a little tight, then the leading is a little tight: Time to fix it.
8 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Some Other Stuff Small Caps
Make sure your small caps are TRUE small caps
Quotes
Use “SMART” quote marks for quoting people Use "DUMB" quote marks for specific measurements only
Hyphens (-)
Hyphens are used to at the end of a line when a word breaks into the next line, in multi-part words; such as topsy-turvy, and in phrasal adjectives such as listener-supported radio.
En dash (–)
The en dash is used for two uses: to indicate a range of values such as pages 200–212, and to denote a connection or contrast between pairs of words such as conservative–liberal split.
Em dash (—)
The em dash is used to make a break between parts of a sentence—such as this.
YOUR BASIC NECESSITIES 9
Deadly type mistakes to watch out for.
Avoid These Things Widows
Widows are a singular word, on its own line, at the end of a paragraph. Get rid of widows by adjusting tracking or by using a soft-return.
Orphans
Orphans are short segments of a paragraph stranded at the top or bottom of a column. To get rid of orphans, you can also adjust tracking or you can change the height of previous columns.
Messy rags
This happens when the sentences in your non-justified paragraph are badly hyphenated. Use discretionary hyphens, line breaks, or tracking adjustments to decrease bad rag.
Crashing ascenders and descenders
Look to the left. See the how the word “type” is getting awfully close to the “h” of the word “watch.” Watch out for that. Separate those by adjusting leading.
Bad Spwelling
Seriously though, hit Ctrl + I for spell check. You can also turn on dynamic spelling in InDesign.
DEADLY TYPE MISTAKES 11
Some tips and tricks to work smarter not harder.
InDesign Text Shortcuts Function
Macintosh
Windows
Bold
Shift + ⌘ + B
Ctrl + Shift + B
Italic
Shift + ⌘ + I
Ctrl + Shift + I
Normal
Shift + ⌘ + Y
Ctrl + Shift + Y
Underline
Shift + ⌘ + U
Ctrl + Shift + U
Strikethrough
Shift + ⌘ + /
Ctrl + Shift + /
Superscript
Shift + ⌘ + =
Ctrl + Shift + =
Subscript
Option + Shift + ⌘ + =
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + =
Align left
Shift + ⌘ + L
Ctrl + Shift + L
Align right
Shift + ⌘ + R
Ctrl + Shift + R
Align center
Shift + ⌘ + C
Ctrl + Shift + C
Justify left
Shift + ⌘ + J
Ctrl + Shift + J
Justify right
Option + Shift + ⌘ + R
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R
Justify center
Option + Shift + ⌘ + C
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + C
Align to baseline grid
Option + Shift + ⌘ + G
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + G
Insert table
Option + Shift + ⌘ + T
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T
Insert column
Option + ⌘ + 9
Ctrl + Alt + 9
Insert row
⌘+9
Ctrl + 9
TIPS AND TRICKS 13
Special Characters Character
Macintosh
Windows
Bullet •
Option + 8
Alt + 7
Copyright ©
Option + G
Alt + G
Regi Trademark ®
Option + R
Alt + R
Trademark ™
Option + 2
Alt + 2
Switch Quotes Marks
Option + Shift + ⌘ + “
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + “
En dash –
Option + -
Alt + -
Em dash —
Option + Shift + -
Alt + Shift + -
Ellipsis …
Option + ;
Alt + ;
Paragraph ¶
Option + 7
Glyphs Panel
Section §
Option + 6
Glyphs Panel
Current Page Number
Option + Shift + ⌘ + N
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N
14 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Phone a Friend Ask a designer
Grab another designer to look at what you are working on. You’ll be amazed by how much a second opinion can improve your design. This is a person who has dealt with very similar situations and can be a potential treasure chest of solutions to any type problems you may face.
Ask your non-designer friend
Heads up, they’re probably going to say “WOW that’s AMAZING!” whether-or-not your project is good or total garbage. Bless their design-less souls, they don’t know any better. But keep a open mind, they are a fresh set of eyes and their advice can often spark some great ideas.
TIPS AND TRICKS 15
Set up grids
to keep everything together.
Gridtacular Solutions Single column grid
Also known as manuscript grid and block grid Used for books, essays, and letters Simplistic and very dependent on typographic elements
Multi column grid
Often used for newspapers, magazines, and posters Lots of flexibility when organizing information on the page
Modular grids
Used for complex projects, image galleries and shopping carts Similar to column grids with the addition of horizontal divisions
SET UP GRIDS 17
Use style guides
to avoid unnecessary chaos.
Stay Organized Paragraph styles
Paragraph styles incorporate all elements of text formatting, including character attributes such as font, size, style, and color, along with paragraph attributes such as indents, alignment, tabs, and hyphenation. All these elements are applied with a single click.
Character styles
Character styles incorporate the same stylistic elements to text within the paragraph instead of the whole. Elements can be applied to a single word or character.
Table styles
Used to style multiple tables within a document.
Cell styles
Used to style cells within a table. Borders, text positioning, text, and fill color can all be modified.
In general
Remember to name all your styles. For example headlines should be labeled “Headlines”, and 5 row–5 column tables should be labeled “5 Row–5 Column Table” and so on.
USE STYLE GUIDES 19
Some inspiration
from famous typographers.
Butterick 5 practical typography rules
5 rules to make you a better typographer than 95% of professional writers and 70% of professional designers: Rule 1: Body text is the largest aspects to your design. This is because there usually is more body text than anything else. Start your projects by making the body text look good. Rule 2: Point size should be about 10–12 points for print material body text. 15–25 pixels for web. All typefaces are different so be prepared to adjust. Rule 3: Line spacing should be 120%–145% of the point size. Rule 4: Line length should be an average of 45–90 characters per line. Use page margins to help you achieve this. Rule 5: Pick the right font/family of typefaces. Do not use system fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri. If you can, purchase professional fonts.
Body text is most important
The four most important typographic elements of a document are point size, line spacing, line length, and font because they determine how the body text will look.
Type composition In order to save time and effort while formatting and laying out documents it is important to know how certain characters are supposed to be used.
SOME INSPIRATION 21
Butterick (continued) 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 (”). Don’t mix up semicolon with colons. The semicolon (;) has two primary uses: It’s used instead of a conjunction to combine two sentences and also to separate listed elements with internal commas. The colon (:) usually connects the introduction of an idea and its completion (I own three cars: a convertible, a sedan, and a minivan). The paragraph mark (¶) is used when citing documents with sequentially numbered paragraphs. The section mark (§) is used when citing documents with numbered or lettered sections. Parentheses are for separating citations or other asides from the body text. Brackets show changes within quoted material. Braces—sometimes known as curly brackets—are not typically used except in technical and mathematical writing. The hyphen (-) is the smallest of these marks. It has three uses: at the end of a line when a word breaks into the next line, in multi-part words; such as topsy-turvy, and in phrasal adjectives; such as listener-supported radio. The en dash (–) is used for two uses: to indicate a range of values (1880–1912, pages 330–39, Exhibits A–E), and to denote a connection or contrast between pairs of words (conservative– liberal split, Arizona–Nevada reciprocity, Sarbanes–Oxley Act).
22 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Butterick (continued) The em dash is used to make a break between parts of a sentence. Use it when a comma is too weak, but a colon, semicolon, or pair of parentheses is too strong. Hyphens and dashes are not interchangeable. Your keyboard includes a trademark symbol (™), a registered trademark symbol (®), and a copyright symbol (©). When you need these symbols, use them. Don’t use goofy alphabetic approximations like (TM) or (c). Ampersands are completely correct when they’re part of a proper name (Fromage & Cracotte Inc.). Past that, they should shouldn’t be used. An ellipsis is a sequence of three dots used to indicate an omission in quoted material. They should be used instead of just periods and spaces.
Page layout
Page layout is the positioning and relationship of text and other elements on the page. Here are good things to keep in the back of your mind while laying out text: To signify the start of a new paragraph, use either space between paragraphs OR an indent. The first-line indent should be bigger than the point size but smaller than 4 times the point size. If you use space between paragraphs, it should be 50%-100% of the body text size. The larger the point size, the more space needed between paragraphs. Leading should be 125%-145% of the point size.
SOME INSPIRATION 23
Butterick (continued) Page margins set the default territory your text occupies on the page. One inch of margin space is not enough, so don’t fear the white space. Hyphenation helps fix line lengths, improving the rags of the left aligned text. As line length gets shorter, hyphenation becomes essential. Don’t manually set your numbered and bulleted lists. Use the automated settings. Tables are useful for spreadsheet-style grids of numbers or other data and for layouts where text needs to be positioned side-by-side or floating at specific locations on the page. Cell borders and cell margins should always be adjusted from the default options. Again, don’t fear white space.
24 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Spiekermann Defining typography
In a forward for Butterick’s type book, Spiekermann compares Butterick’s definition of type to his own. Butterick defines of typography as “the visual component of the written word.” Somewhat similarly, Spiekermann often writes “type is visible language.” Both argue that the goal of a typographer is to increase communication through visual representation. Some can argue that a chunk of body text can still be legible, but when presented in a non-interesting form it becomes unbearable to read. Butterick claims: “good typography is measured by how well it reinforces the meaning of the text, not by some abstract scale of merit.” This idea of typography acting as a supportive display case rather than a pretty layout is a productive way of designing.
SOME INSPIRATION 25
Bil’ak The history of type families
Peter Bil’ak begins his essay over-viewing his amazement at how big type families have become in this modern day. There are many typefaces like United (2007) from House Industries, that includes 100+ font weight selections. Back in 1530, the days of movable metal type, the biggest type families included around 15 versions ranging from 6 to 36 point size. Each letter was drawn, cut, and cast separately. Hierarchy was achieved only by using different type sizes—the idea of type weight didn’t appear till much later. The idea of varying the weight of a single typeface probably happened in the mid-19th century. Heavy typefaces did exist before that time, but they were generally seen on their own and not in relationship to regular text weight. From the early 20th century it became standard practice to include several weights of a typeface to complement the release of new type designs. The best example of this may be the work of Morris Fuller Benton, who complemented the many typefaces he designed for American Type Founders (ATF) with both condensed and heavy versions. The incorporation of two different styles of typeface into one family was probably first explored in 1932, by Jan van Krimpen in his Romulus project. In 1977, mathematician Donald Knuth conceived a programming language called Metafont, that allowed a single font file to be a complex type family with many different versions. Bil’ak is curious to how we will redefine type next and expand its perimeters in the future.
26 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Bil’ak (continued) Lava—voice of a magazine
In this article, Bil’ak describes his experience creating a new typeface for his magazine titled: Works That Work. One on the greatest challenges of creating a type during this day and age is making one that works for both print and web use. Also typefaces are expected to be used across multiple languages. These are the challenges new typeface creators must be prepared to face.
“Non-Latin” typography
According to Bil’ak, non-Latin typography is a new design fronter for future designers. Many non-Latin characters are in dire need of type family design.
Beauty and ugliness in type design
After being asked to speak about conceptual type, Peter Bil’ak speculates upon what conceptual type would actually look like. He did some extensive research and ended up combining type he considered to be beautiful (Bodini and Didot) with type he considered to be ugly (Italin) to create a brand new—perfectly neural typeface: Karloff.
SOME INSPIRATION 27
Majoor Majoor’s type philosophy
Majoor believes you cannot be a good type designer if you are not a book typographer. This is because book typographers have he best understanding of how typefaces mix with each other. Majoor argues that it is acceptable to mix serif with San serif typeface, however it takes great talent to know what combinations work. Some working combos include: Garamond with Univers and Bodoni with Gill Sans.
28 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Hellert Unethical downloading
In this article, Steven Heller describes the guilty revelation experienced when he learned that typefaces licenses were limited to one specific CPU. Meaning that sharing typefaces with other designer—or even your own employees is illegal. Heller calls for the ethical treatment of type designers. Many designers don’t even know of their wrong doing–like Heller before he found out. Other designers just don’t care and continue to share typefaces. This is an issue Heller feels important that designers understand when working with each other and when dealing with clients. By allowing designers to continue doing this, we place our colleagues in financial jeopardy.
SOME INSPIRATION 29
Type II design exercise
learning the importance of leading.
Type II exercise Legibility and Readability Study
In this exercise, I created two sets of paragraphs (serif and sans serif) with 6 deferent leading and font size settings. Adjusting these settings results in a more or less legible paragraph. One must keep in mind that font size setting and leading depend on the type. A serif typeface such as Minion Pro can be legible at a really small font size (such as 8.5pt), sans serif typeface DIN, however, is much to bold to be readable at 8.5pt and must be bumped up to 11pt at the very least. Below is part of the exercise I completed, displaying a paragraph in typeface Rockwell at 9pt with 14pt leading. In my opinion, Rockwell is a fancier serif font and should not be used for big chunks of body text, but looks good in short paragraphs with a little extra leading. This 9/14 setting is a great example of that. I can now imagine this type looking great on an informational display sign or wall. With a previous 9/12 setting, Rockwell type looks much too cramped and completely illegible.
Without typography, one could argue, messages will still be legible, but if one really wants to communicate rather than simply display a heap of alphanumeric data, some consideration would be helpful. Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication—“one cannot not communicate”— puts it very succinctly. If you fail to consider the effect of your message on the recipient, you may inadvertently communicate that you do not care how your message may be received. ROCKWELL, 9/14
DESIGN EXERCISE 31
Type II design projects process and critique recaps.
Type Quotes Layout Process designs
During critique of my Type Quotes Project drafts, I learned that a hierarchy title is required to grab the attention of the reader. I also learned the right way to cite “Read the text before quotes with proper italics. designing it” Something else I realized thing that distinguishes included that white text gets “One well-set type from poorly set 2 type is that the former is never lost in a pink background set with the assumption that “ the typesetting program will and quotes need a bigger automatically do the right thing. Good typesetters trust their eyes” font size to stand out.
1
Robert Bringhurst | The Elements of Typographic Style, Second Edition (1992), Page 20
Combining typefaces is like making a salad. Start with a small number of elements representing different colors, tastes, and textures. Strive for contrast rather than harmony, looking for emphatic differences rather than mushy transitions”
Ellen Lupton |
James Felici | The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type, Second Edition (2012), Page 150
3
“
NEVER use CAPITAL letters to accentuate words in running copy. They STICK OUT far too much spoiling the LOOK of the column or page. Use italics instead. If you have to set words in capitals, use proper small caps with or without initial capitals”
Read the text before 4 designing it”
Robert Bringhurst The Elements of Typographic Style, Second Edition (1992), Page 20
Erik Spiekermann | Erik Spiekermann’s Typo Tips: Seven Rules for Better Typography (2010), Page 1
“
Raoul Hausmann and John Cullars | “Typography” Design Issues, Volume 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1998), Page 71
One thing that distinguishes well-set type
poorly set type is that the former is never “Typography is the final from set with the assumption that the typesetting 5 program will automatically do the right thing. result of a design process” Good typesetters trust their eyes” James Felici
“
The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type, Second Edition (2012), Page 150
White space is not your enemy”
“
“
Kim Golombisky and Rebecca Hagen White Space is Not Your Enemy: A Beginner’s Guide to Communicating Visually (2010), Page 7
NEVER use CAPITAL letters to accentuate words in running copy. They STICK OUT far too much spoiling the LOOK of the column or page. Use italics instead. If you have to set words in capitals, use proper small caps with or without initial capitals” Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann’s Typo Tips: Seven Rules for Better Typography (2010), Page 1
Typography is the final result of a design process”
Raoul Hausmann and John Cullars “Typography” Design Issues, Volume 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1998), Page 71
DESIGN PROJECTS 33
Type Quotes Layout Final design
Included in my final design is the title “Trust your eyes” to help grab a spectator’s attention. I also changed my hue color to a orange the white type would stand out better on. My quotes are now captioned correctly with book titles as the only thing italicize. Overall a much better design.
TRUSTEYES ““
YOUR
Read the text before designing it”
“
Robert Bringhurst
The Elements of Typographic Style, Second Edition (1992), Page 20
One thing that distinguishes well-set type from poorly set type is that the former is never set with the assumption that the typesetting program will automatically do the right thing. Good typesetters trust their eyes” James Felici The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type, Second Edition (2012), Page 150
White space is not your enemy”
“
Kim Golombisky and Rebecca Hagen White Space is Not Your Enemy: A Beginner’s Guide to Communicating Visually (2010), Page 7
“
NEVER use CAPITAL letters to accentuate words in running copy. They STICK OUT far too much spoiling the LOOK of the column or page. Use italics instead. If you have to set words in capitals, use proper small caps with or without initial capitals” Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann’s Typo Tips: Seven Rules for Better Typography (2010), Page 1
Typography is the final result of a design process”
34 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Raoul Hausmann and John Cullars
“Typography” Design Issues, Volume 14, No. 3 (1998), Page 71
Hero’s Poster Process work
For my Hero’s Poster Project, I started by downloading a bunch of new work-horse typefaces I thought may look good for the body text. Unsure if I wanted a serif or San-serif I placed all the new type in body text form and printed a test print document. By placing this test print along side with my sketches I was able to choose the typeface family I wanted for the projects which ended up being Sitka. I came up with the idea of illustrating a hero with “a thousand faces”, based of the speaker’s theory that all heroes in every culture are similar. So in the limited time, I begin illustrating as many hero figures I could think of. I wanted a crazy A-team of heroes—people you could barely imagine being with each other: Superman standing next to Jesus and Michele Obama. I think my idea is strong, however I found illustrating that many people to be very difficult.
The Dragon Within Din, Aleo, Minion
Moyers: Why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology?
Campbell: Because that’s what’s worth writing about. Even in popular novels, the main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. M: So in all of these cultures, whatever the local costume the hero might be wearing, what is the deed?
C: Well, there are two types of deed. One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life. The other kind is the spiritual deed, in which the hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message. M: Does your study of mythology lead you to conclude that a single human quest, a standard
pattern of human aspiration and thought, constitutes for all mankind something that we have in common, whether we lived a million years ago or will live a thousand years from now?
C: My general formula for my students is “Follow your bliss.” Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it.
C: There’s a certain type of myth which one might call the vision quest, going in quest of a boon, a vision, which has the same form in every mythology. That is the thing that I tried to present in the first book I wrote, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. All these different mythologies give us the same essential quest. You leave the world that you’re in and go into a depth or into a distance or up to a height. There you come to what was missing in your consciousness in the world you formerly inhabited. Then comes the problem either of staying with that, and letting the world drop off, or returning with that boon and trying to hold on to it as you move back into your social world again.
C: If the work that you’re doing is the work that you chose to do because you are enjoying it, that’s it. But if you think, “Oh, no! I couldn’t do that!” that’s the dragon locking you in. “No, no, I couldn’t be a writer,” or “No, no, I couldn’t possibly do what So-and-so is doing.”
M: How do I slay that dragon in me? What’s the journey each of us has to make, what you call “the soul’s high adventure”?
M: Is it my work or my life?
M: When I take that journey and go down there and slay those dragons, do I have to go alone?
C: If you have someone who can help you, that’s fine, too. But, ultimately, the last deed has to be done by oneself. Psychologically, the dragon is one’s own binding of oneself to one’s ego. We’re captured in our own dragon cage. The problem of the psychiatrist is to disintegrate that dragon, break him up, so that you may expand to a larger field of relationships. The ultimate
dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.
M: I like what you say about the old myth of Theseus and Ariadne. Theseus says to Ariadne, “I’ll love you forever if you can show me a way to come out of the labyrinth.” So she gives him a ball of string, which he unwinds as he goes into the labyrinth, and then follows to find the way out. You say, “All he had was the string. That’s all you need.” C: That’s all you need —an Ariadne thread.
M: Sometimes we look for great wealth to save us, a great power to save us, or great ideas to save us, when all we need is that piece of string.
C: That’s not always easy to find. But it’s nice to have someone who can give you a clue. That’s the teacher’s job, to help you find your Ariadne thread. M: Like all heroes, the Buddha doesn’t show you the truth itself, he shows you the way to truth.
C: But it’s got to be your way, not his. The Buddha can’t tell you exactly how to get rid of your particular fears, for example. Different teachers may suggest exercises, but they may not be the ones to work for you. All a teacher can do is suggest. He is like a lighthouse that says, “There are rocks over here, steer clear. There is a channel, however, out there”.
M: In all of these journeys of mythology, there’s a place everyone wishes to find. The Buddhists talk of Nirvana, and Jesus talks of peace, of the mansion with many rooms. Is that typical of the hero’s journey - that there’s a place to find?
C: The place to find is within yourself. I learned a little about this in athletics. The athlete who is in top form has a quiet place within himself, and it’s around this, somehow, that his action occurs…. There’s a center of quietness within, which has to be known and held. If you lose that center, you are in tension and begin to fall apart.
The Soul’s High Adventure AR JULIAN
Garamond
Adobe Ming Std
Sitka
Moyers: Why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology?
The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.
Moyers: Why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology?
Campbell: Because that’s what’s worth writing about. Even in popular novels, the main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. M: So in all of these cultures, whatever the local costume the hero might be wearing, what is the deed? C: Well, there are two types of deed. One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life. The other kind is the spiritual deed, in which the hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message.
Campbell: Because that’s what’s worth writing about. Even in popular novels, the main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. M: So in all of these cultures, whatever the local costume the hero might be wearing, what is the deed? C: Well, there are two types of deed. One is the physical deed, in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life.
Sitka Small Bold
The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.
DESIGN PROJECTS 35
Hero’s Poster Final design
I was very nervous for this project critique because I felt I didn’t execute the hero illustrations as well as I could of with more time. However, people praised my idea and ambition to draw that many heroes. I plan on doing another draft of this project with better hero rendering and better design/type treatment.
36 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
Elements of Style Guide Process work
To be honest, I was pretty overwhelmed by the shear number of pages and tables included in this project. I had to overview Butterick’s explanations of how to use tables. But my process was very similar to that of the poster’s: I test printed tons of body text to decide what body and headline typeface THE to use. I ended up using Proxima nova ELEMENTS for the body text and Futura for the OF STYLE titles and headers. The biggest probWilliam Strunk, Jr. lem I faced was out-of-control rags. SECTION II Elementary Principles of Composition
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE
New York 1918
12 | The Elements of Style
11
Make sure you use the active voice: State strait to the point
The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive: I shall always remember my first visit to Boston. This is much better than:
SECTION II
My first visit to Boston will be remembered by me. The latter sentence is less direct, less bold, and less concise. If the writer tries to make it more concise by omitting “by me,” My first visit to Boston will always be remembered, it becomes indefinite: is it the writer, or some person undiscltosed, or the world at large, that will always remember this visit? This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary. The dramatists of Restoration are esteemed today. Modern readers have little esteem for the dramatists of the Restoration. The first would be the right form in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Restoration; the second, in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers. The need of making a particular word the
DESIGN PROJECTS 37
Elements of Style Guide Final design
For the unison aspect of this project, we got positive reviews during project critique—especially for our cover designs. In reality, however, we had lots of trouble Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence: agreeing on a design direction, and Conformity with the beginfavored our own way of designing rather then working together. This reflected badly on our overall grade. So the biggest thing I learned during this project is the importance of a team that works with each other instead of against each other.
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Again, the object is to aid the reader. The practice here recommended enables him to discover the purpose of each paragraph as he begins to read it, and to retain the purpose in mind as he ends it. For this reason, the most generally useful kind of paragraph, particularly in exposition and argument, is that in which A
the topic sentence comes at or near the beginning;
B
the succeeding sentences explain or establish or develop the statement made in the topic sentence; and
C
the final sentence either emphasizes the thought of the topic sentence or states some important consequence.
Ending with a digression, or with an unimportant detail, is particularly to be avoided.
hasty
ii
Z
2
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE
5 2
a
If the paragraph forms part of a larger composition, its relation to what precedes, or its function as a part of the whole, may need to be expressed. This can sometimes be done by a mere word or phrase (again; therefore; for the same reason) in the topic sentence. Sometimes, however, it is expedient to precede the topic sentence by one or more sentences of introduction or transition.
and
USE can
4
o
v
2
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE
Elementary Principles of Composition
but Not that I loved Caesar less, but Rome the more.
L
38 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
9
William Strunk, Jr. New York 1918
Type Zine Process work
The first thing i did for this project was checking out a bunch of magazines from the resource room for design influence. I was very unsure on how a magazine works exactly—they’re a lot different then newspapers. After educating myself on how editorial and feature articles work, I started sketching out layouts. I did thumbnail sketches for the whole magazine (only to realize later that I would run into layout difficulties with the sketch design). Designing the magazine required lots of complete redesigns of pages, but with every redesign I came closer to my desired vision for what I wanted this magazine to look like. My main goal for the magazine was to create a very “flippable” zine that has a wonderful sense of flow.
DESIGN PROJECTS 39
Type Zine Final design
artREVOLTS VOLUME A ISSUE 01
40 TYPOGRAPHER’S HANDBOOK
MARCH 8, 2017
Type Zine Final design
During project critique I received complements on my table of contents navigation device. This is something a put tons of time and thought into making functional so I was feeling very appreciative. Some things I had to fix included some spelling errors, and making titles of books italic. Other than that, no major changes were needed. I plan on getting further feedback on this zine since magazine design is something I am very interested in for a future career goals. I am very satisfied with my first ever magazine design and plan on making many more in my future.
The Artist on a Crusade JR and Activism by Ana Bambic Kostov
Women are Heroes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008
Artist Feature 18 17
DESIGN PROJECTS 41
Zack Spanier
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Futura PT Proxima Nova