Minions Guide to Typography - Book Preview by Zoë Keidge

THE M I NIONS GUI DE TO TYPOGRA PHY

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THE MINIONS GUIDE TO

T Y P O G R A P H Y

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THE MINIONS GUIDE TO

T Y P O G R A P H Y

EDITED BY ZOË KEIDGE

Publisher and Editor: Zoë Keidge Published May, 2015 Graphic Design and Layout: Zoë Keidge

Designed on a standard portrait format: 8x10 in (20x25cm), hardcover picturewrap. Typeset in Minion Pro and Minion Ese.

Printed by Blurb, Australia, June 2015.

Both content and imagery have been sourced, modified or copied from Ellen Lupton’s, Jessica Hische’s and Nicole Phillips’ websites and books.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including but not limited to photocopying, scanning and recording by any informaiton and retrieval system, without permission in writing by the publisher. Also note that no part of this book can be reproduced or utilised without correct referencing of both the book and contributors to the book.

This book was created for a university course entitled, Typography for Print. I would like to acknowledge Domonique Falla, the creator of the Typsim conference, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s content and speakers have contributed largely towards this book. I would also like to acknowledge the speakers themselves, Dave Foster, Carla Hackett, Jess Cruikshank, Barry Spencer, Jamie Clarke, Jasmine Dowling and Luke Lukas. Finally I would like to acknowledge Jessica Hische, Ellen Lupton and finally Nicole Phillips, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s websites and resources have created majority of the content for this book.

10 11 14 21 24 26 28 30 35 38 40 43 48 50 53 56 58 61 66 68 70 72 74 76 80

Introduction Chapter 1: Type Anatomy Chapter 2: Size & Scale Case Study: Dave Foster Chapter 3: Type Classification Chapter 4: Families & Superfamilies Case Study: Carla Hackett Chapter 5: Caps & Small Caps Chapter 6: Mixing Typefaces Case Study: Jess Cruikshank Chapter 7: Numberals Chapter 8: Punctuation Case Study: Barry Spencer Chapter 9: Typeface Design & Letterforms Chapter 10: Kerning Case Study: Jamie Clarke Chapter 11: Tracking Chapter 12: Space & Spacing Case Study: Jasmine Dowling Chapter 13: Alignment Chapter 14: Vertical Text Case Study: Luke Lukas Chapter 15: Enlarged Capitals Chapter 16: Hierarchy Bibliography 11

The Minions Guide to Typography is a book constructed as a basic guide to typography. This book covers not only the fundamentals of type, letters and text, but also looks at influential typographers, people who have a unique interest and talents when it comes to typography. These individuals have been sourced from the second recently held, Typism Inspirational conference. I chose to design this book as somewhat of a guide to typography, as it is something I can easily see myself coming back to, for notes, references, and inspiration in designing and the use of typography in the future. Because this book not only features the technical aspects of type, but also broadens the topic of typography to styles and ideas generated by typographers, I am hoping that it will become an insightful reference for the basics typography.

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01 TYPE ANATOMY

tittle shoulder

cap height x-height

baseline uppercase

serif

eye

ligature

counter

finial

bowl

ascender

spine

bowl

descender spur terminal

stem crossbar

small caps

lowercase

beak

arm

foot

ASCENDER HEIGHT Some elements may extend slightly above the cap height, such as h, k, l and f.

CAPS HEIGHT The distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letter determines the letterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point size.

DESCENDER HEIGHT The length of the letterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s descenders contributes to its overall style and attitude.

talk, Fancy X-HEIGHT is the height of the main body of the lowercase letter (or the height of the lowercase letter x) excluding its ascenders and decenders.

THE BASELINE is where all the letters sit. This is the most stable axis along a line of text, and it is a crucial edge for aligning text with images or other text.

OVERHANG The curves at the bottom of letters hang slightly below the baseline. Commas and semicolons also cross the baseline. If a typeface were not positioned this way, it would appear to teeter precariously. Without overhang, rounded letters would look smaller than their flat-footed compatriots.

02 SIZE & SCALE

HEIGHT Attempts to standardize the measurement of type began in the eighteenth century. The point system is the standard used today. One point equals 1/72 inch or .35 millimeters. Twelve points equal one pica, the unit commonly used to measure column widths. Typography can also be measured in inches, millimeters, or pixels. Most software applications let the designer choose a preferred unit of measure; picas and points are standard defaults. 12 points equal 1 pica

S I Z E

WIDTH A letter also has a horizontal measure, called its set width. The set width is the body of the letter plus a sliver of space that protects it from other letters. The width of a letter is intrinsic to the proportions and visual impression of the typeface. Some typefaces have a narrow set width, and some have a wide one. You can change the set width of a typeface by fiddling with its horizontal or vertical scale.This distorts the line weight of the letters,however, forcing heavy elements to become thin, and thin elements to become thick. Instead of torturing a letterform, choose a typeface that has the proportions you are looking for, such as condensed, compressed, wide, or extended.

6 picas (72 points) equal 1 inch

Big

60-POINT SCALA A typeface is measured from the top of the capital letter to the bottom of the lowest descender, plus a small buffer space. In metal type, the point size is the height of the type slug.

GOUDY OLD STYLE, 72-PT

ARIAL, 72-PT

Do I look fat 18

MINION PRO, 72-PT

MICROSOFT HIMILAYA, 72-PT

in this sentence? THE POWER OF X HEIGHTS When two typefaces are set in the same point size, often one looks bigger than the other. Differences in x-height, line weight, and set width affect the lettersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; apparent scale, its space efficiency, and its overall visual impact.

A DISPLAY or headline style looks spindly and weak when set at a small size. Display styles are intended for use at 24 pts. and larger.

BASIC TEXT styles are deigned for sizes ranging from 9 to 14pts. their features are strong and meaty but not too assertive.

CAPTION STYLES are built with the heaviest stroke weight. They are designed for sizes ranging from 6 to 8pts.

A A A

SCALE Scale is the size of design elements in comparison to other elements in a layout as well as to the physical context of the work. Scale is relative. 1 2-pt type displayed on a 32-inch monitor can look very small, while 12-pt type printed on a book page can look flabby and overweight. Designers create hierarchy and contrast by playing with the scale of letterforms. Changes in scale help create visual contrast, movement, and depth as well as express hierarchies of importance. Scale is physical. People intuitively judge the size of objects in relation to their own bodies and their surrounding environment.

THE THE MINIONS MINIONS RULE RULE TYPE CRIME Miniomal differences in type size make this design look tentative and arbritary

SCALE CONTRAST The strong contrast bewtween type sizes gives this design dynamism, decisiveness and depth

THE XIX AMENDMENT: Typographic installation at Grand Central Station showcasing scale in a real world setting, New York City, 1995. Designer: Stephen Doyle. Sponsors: The New York State Division of Women, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Revlon, and Merrill Lynch. Large-scale text creates impact in this public installation.

DAVE FOSTER

DAVE FOSTER The following is a short showcase of the work of Dave Foster. He recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and his speech focused on typography in his life, how he creates visual works, and how he first got into typography. This spread showcases his work and briefly talks about who Dave is. Dave is an independent designer based in Sydney, Australia where he draws typefaces and lettering for design studios, type foundries, brands and individuals around the world. He has a total of ten years design work, seven of which he was a graphic designer. Some advice Dave gave is â&#x20AC;&#x153;have an opinionâ&#x20AC;?, when referring to design work. It can be seen that Dave focuses on drawing work by hand before then digitalizing it and fixing any mistakes made in the hand drawing process. He is also a wiz at creating typefaces, using the program Robofont to create typefaces such as Blanco. In 2011, he won the Design NSW Travelling Scholarship which allowed him to turn his passion for letters, normally restricted to lunch breaks and evenings, into something more productive.

TYPE CLASSIFICATION

HUMANIST OR OLD STYLE The roman typefaces of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries emulated classical calligraphy. Garamond is a typeface designed in inspiration of Clause Garamond’s sixteenth centurey typefaces.

TRANSITIONAL These typefaces have sharper serifs and a more vertical axis than humanist letters. When the typefaces of John Baskerville were introduced in the mid eighteenth century, their sharp forms and high contrast were considred shocking.

MODERN The typefaces designed by Bodoni in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radically abstract. Several other designers followed suit. Note the thin, straight serifs; vertical axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes.

Aa Aa Aa

EGYPTIAN OR SLAB SERIF Numerous bold and decorative typefaces were introduced in the nineteenth century for use in advertising. Egyptian typefaces have heavy, slablike serifs.

HUMANIST SANS SERIF Sans-serif typefaces becasme common in the twentieth century. Gill Sans, designed by Eric Gill in 1928, has humanist characteristics. Note the small, lilting counter in the letter a, and the calligraphic variations in line weight

TRANSITIONAL SANS SERIF Helvetica, designed by Max Miedinger in 1957, is one of the world’s most widely used typefaces. Its uniform, upright character makes it similar to transitional serif letters. These fonts are also referred to as “anonymous sans serif.”

GEOMETRIC SANS SERIF Some sans-serif types are built around geometric forms. In futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927, the O’s are perfect circles, and the peaks of the A and M are sharp triangles.

Aa Aa Aa Aa

A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Humanist letterforms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Historians and critics of typography have since proposed more finely grained schemes that attempt to better capture the diversity of letterforms. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create new typefaces based on historic characteristics.

FAMILIES & SUPERFAMILIES

The roman form is the core or spine from which a family of typefaces derives.

Italic letters, which are based on cursive writing, have forms distinct from roman.

small caps have a height that is similar to the lowercase x-height.

MINION PRO REGULAR

MINION PRO ITALIC

MINION PRO REGULAR (ALL SMALL CAPS)

The roman form, also called plain or regular, is the standard, upright version of a typeface. It is typically conceived as the parent of the larger family

The italic form is used to create emphasis. Especially among serif faces, it often employs shapes and stroked distinct from its roman coutnerpart. Note the differences between the roman and italic a.

Small caps (capitals) are designed to untegrate with a line of text, whre full sized capitals would stand out awkwardly. small capitals are slightly taller than the x height of lowercase letters.

Bold (and semibold) typefaces are used for emphasis within a hierarchy.

Bold (and semibold) typefaces each need to include an italic version, too.

MINION PRO BOLD AND SEMIBOLD

MINION PRO BOLD AND SEMIBOLD ITALIC

Bold versions of traditional text fonts were added in the twentieth century to meet the need for emphatic forms. Sans-serif families often include a broad rand of weights (thin, bold, black, etc.).

The typeface designer tries to make the bold versions feel similar in comparison to the roman without making the overall form too heavy. The counters need to stay clear and open at small sizes. Many designers prefer not to use bold and semi-bold versions of traditional typefaces.

Italics are not slanted letters.

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TRUE ITALIC

TYPE CRIME:

PSEUDO ITALICS:

The wide, ungainly forms of thee mechanically skewed letters look forced and unnatural, and they are not really true italics.

FAMILIES

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SUPERFAMILIES

A traditional roman book face typically has a small familyâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;an intimate group consisting of roman, italic, small caps, and possibly bold and semibold (each with an italic variant) styles. Sans-serif families often come in many more weights and sizes, such as thin, light, black, compressed, and condensed. A superfamily consists of dozens of related fonts in multiple weights and/or widths, often with both sans-serif and serif versions. Small capitals and non-lining numerals (once found only in serif fonts) are included in the sansserif versions of Thesis, Scala Pro, and many other contemporary superfamilies. 30

Minion Pro Regular Minion Pro Italic Minion Pro Medium Minion Pro Medium Italic Minion Pro Semibold Minion Pro Semibold Italic Minion Pro Bold Minion Pro Bold Italic Minion Pro Bold Cond Minion Pro Bold Cond Italic 31

CARLA HACKETT

CARLA HACKETT The following is a short showcase of the work of Carla Hackett. She recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and her speech focused on her journey to being a typographer. This spread showcases her work and briefly talks about who Carla is. Carla is a Melbourne based designer who works out of Little Gold Studios in Brunswick. Carla only started getting into script writing in 2013, and has come an exceedingly long way since then, as seen by the examples on the left page. She gave some advice to up and coming designers about how she created typographic work. These are; I. Find your creative muse II. Take creative risks III. Find your people IV. Trust the process V. Learn by doing

CAPS & SMALL CAPS

CAPITAL investment CAPITAL punishment CAPITAL crime

ADJUSTED LEADING The leading has been fine-tuned by selectively shifting the baselines of the small capitals to make the space between lines look even.

CAPITAL investment CAPITAL punishment CAPITAL crime

TYPE CRIME In this stack of lowercase and capital letters, the spaces between lines appear uneven becasue caps are tall but have no descenders.

A word set in ALL CAPS within running text can look big and bulky, and A LONG PASSAGE SET ENTIRELY IN CAPITALS CAN LOOK UTTERLY INSANE. Small capitals are designed to match the x-height of lowercase letters. Designers, enamored with the squarish proportions of true small caps, employ them not only within bodies of text but for subheads, bylines, invitations, and more. Rather than Mixing Small Caps with Capitals, many designers prefer to use all small caps, creating a clean line with no ascending elements. InDesign and other programs allow users to create FALSE SMALL CAPS at the press of a button; these SCRAWNY LETTERS look out of place.

TYPE CRIME: PSEUDO SMALL CAPS

Helvetica was never meant to include small caps. These automatically generated characters look puny and starved; they are an abomination against nature.

PSEUDO SMALL CAPS

are shrunken versions of FULL-SIZE CAPS.

true small caps integrate peacefully with lowercase letters. SMALL CAPS, MINION PRO

Only use small caps when they are oficially included in the type family. When working with OpenType fonts (labeled Pro), access small caps in InDesign via the Character Options>OpenType menu. Older formats list small caps as a separate file in the Type>Font menu.

MIXING TYPEFACES

SINGLE FAMILY MIXES

Creamy and Extra Crunchy Differences within a single family Avenir Light and Avenir Heavy

Avenir Light Oblique and Avenir Black Oblique

Sweet Child of MINE Minion Pro regular and Minion Pro Bold

Differences within a SUPERFAMILY

Minion Pro Italics and Minion Pro Condensed Bold

Noodles with Potato Sauce Helvetica Regular and Helvetica Bold

Bland and blander

Helvetica Oblique and Helvetica Oblique Bold

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. Give each ingredient a role to play: sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and the pungent shock of an occasional anchovy.

TYPE CRIME These typefaces are from the same family, but they are too close in weight to mix well.

MULTIPLE FAMILY MIXES

Jack Sprat and his voluptuous wife

Two-way contrast

Times Roman regular and Avenir Black Times Roman italic and Avenir Black Oblique

Sweet, sour, and hot

Minion Pro regular, Letter Gothic Std and Lucida Fax

Three-way contrast

Minion Pro Italics, Letter Gothic Slanted and Lucida Fax Oblique

SINGLE FAMILY MIXES

Creamy and Extra Crunchy Differences within a single family Avenir Light and Avenir Heavy

Avenir Light Oblique and Avenir Black Oblique

Sweet Child of MINE Minion Pro regular and Minion Pro Bold

Differences within a SUPERFAMILY

Minion Pro Italics and Minion Pro Condensed Bold

Noodles with Potato Sauce Helvetica Regular and Helvetica Bold

Bland and blander

Helvetica Oblique and Helvetica Oblique Bold

TYPE CRIME These typefaces are from the same family, but they are too close in weight to mix well.

MULTIPLE FAMILY MIXES

Jack Sprat and his voluptuous wife

Two-way contrast

Times Roman regular and Avenir Black Times Roman italic and Avenir Black Oblique

Sweet, sour, and hot

Minion Pro regular, Letter Gothic Std and Lucida Fax

TYPE CRIME These two styles are too similar to provide counter point to each other.

Three-way contrast

Minion Pro Italics, Letter Gothic Slanted and Lucida Fax Oblique

Minions really love bananas Too close for comfort Garamond regular and Times Roman regular

Garamond italics and Times Roman Italics

When mixing typefaces on the same line, designers usually adjust the point size so that the x-heights align. When placing typefaces on separate lines, it often makes sense to create contrast in scale as well as style or weight. Try mixing big, light type with small, dark type for a criss-cross of contrasting flavors and textures.

JESS CRUIKSHANK

JESS CRUIKSHANK The following is a short showcase of the work of Jess Cruikshank. She recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and her speech focused on her journey to being a freelance typographer and illustrator. This spread showcases her work and briefly talks about who Jess is. Jess started out in Brisbane, doing a Bachelor of Design at the QCA, she now has graduated and works as a freelance designer, letterer and illustrator in Sydney. She has always worked her lettering into projects, even at university, creating a unique style of her own. On the left hand page you can see one project, Packwood, and how many different variations of great designs she came up with, before the hand lettered logo was perfect for the client. This just shows how much work goes into one single project, lettering wise. Some advice Jess gave to the Typism audience was that you should be proactive, say yes and then shit yourself later.

07 NUMERALS

LINING NUMERALS Lining numerals, take up uniform widths of space, enabling the numbers to line up when tabulated in columns. They were introduced around the turn of the twentieth century to meet the needs of modern business. Lining numerals are the same height as capital letters, so they sometimes look big and bulky when appearing in running text.

Retina, designed by Tobias Frere Jones, 2000, was created for the extreme typographic conditions of the Wall Street Journalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial pages. The numerals are designed to line up into columns. The different weights of Retina have matching set widths, allowing the newspaper to mix weights while maintaining perfectly aligned columns. The notched forms (called ink traps) prevent ink from filling into the letterforms when printed at tiny sizes.

NON-LINING NUMERALS Non-lining numerals, also called text or old style numerals, have ascenders and descenders, like lowercase letters. Nonlining numerals returned to favor in the 1990s, valued for their idiosyncratic appearance and their traditional typographic attitude. Like letterforms, old style numerals are proportional; each one has its own set width. 43

LINING NUMERALS

123 123 456 456

HELVETICA REGULAR

123 456

NON-LINING NUMERALS

123 456

CORBEL REGULAR

TEXT SET WITH NON-LINING NUMERALS

GEORGIA REGULAR

TEXT SET WITH LINING NUMERALS

Non-lining numerals integrate visually with the text. Different match and currency symbols are designed to match the different numeral styles. Smaller currency symbols look better with non-lining numerals.

FUTURA CONDENSED EXTRABOLD

Adobe Garamond Pro includes both lining and non-lining numerals, allowing designers to choose a style in response to the circumstances of the project. The lining umerals appear large, becasue they have the height of capital letters

08 PUNCTUATION

A well-designed comma carries the essence of the typeface down to its delicious details. Helvetica's comma is a chunky square mounted to a jaunty curve, while Bodoni's is a voluptuous, thin-stemmed orb. Designers and editors need to learn various typographic conventions in addition to mastering the grammatical rules of punctuation.

HELVETICA NUE BOLD

BODONI BOLD

A pandemic error is the use of straight prime or hatch marks (often called dumb quotes) in place of apostrophes and quotation marks. Double and single quotation marks are represented with four distinct characters, each accessed with a different keystroke combination. Know thy keystrokes! It usually falls to the designer to purge the client's manuscript of spurious punctuation. 46

Word spaces are created by the space bar. Use just one space between sentences or after a comma, colon, or semicolon. The space bar should not be used to create indents or position text on a line, use tabs instead. Em dashes express strong grammatical breaks. An em dash is one em wide-the width of the point size of the typeface. In manuscripts, dashes are often represented with a double hyphen (--); these must be replaced. En dashes serve primarily to connect numbers (1-10). An en is half the width of an em. Manuscripts rarely employ en dashes, so the designer needs to supply them. Hyphens connect linked words and phrases, and they break words at the ends of lines. Typesetting programs break words automatically. Disable auto hyphenation when working with ragged or centered text; use discretionary hyphens instead, and only when unavoidable. Quotation marks have distinct "open" and "closed" forms, unlike hatch marks, which are straight up and down. A single close quote also serves as an apostrophe ("It's Bob's font."). Prime or hatch marks should only be used to indicate inches and feet (5'2''). Ellipses consist of three periods, which can be rendered with no spaces between them, or with open tracking (letterspacing), or with word spaces. An ellipsis indicates an omitted section in a quoted text or...a temporal break. Most typefaces include an ellipsis character, which presents closely spaced points. 47

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Hanging TYPE CRIME - quotation marks carve out chunks of white space at the edge of the text.

punctuation Hanging punctuation prevents quotation and other marks from taking a bite out of the crisp left edge of a text block. Hanging quotation marks make a clean edge by pushing the quotation marks into the margin.

â&#x20AC;? 49

BARRY SPENCER

BARRY SPENCER The following is a short showcase of the work of Barry Spencer. He recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and his speech focused on typography in his life, and more specifically the way we view letterforms. This spread showcases his work and briefly talks about who Barry is. Barry is a Melbourne based designer and lecturer, who labels himself as a Legibilitor, Speculator, Designer, Typographer and soon to be Doctor. Legibilitor is clearly a made up word for a bit of fun, and draws attention to the fact he actually labels himself a Speculative Typographer. He recently transformed this research and exploration into a PhD thesis titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Speculatypeâ&#x20AC;?, which is currently in the final stages of completion. Barry believes that by undertaking his experimental and speculative approach towards letterforms, it has allowed him to reach a point where he has now fundamentally altered the way that he creates, perceives and understands the shapes of the Latin alphabet.

TYPEFACE DESIGN & LETTERFORMS

Fontlab and other applications allow designers to create functional fonts that work seamlessly with standard software programs such as InDesign and Photoshop. The first step in designing a typeface is to define a basic concept. Will the letters be serif or sans serif? Will they be modular or organic? Will you construct them geometrically or base them on handwriting? Will you use them for display or for text? Will you work with historic source material or invent the characters more or less from scratch? The next step is to create drawings. Some designers start with pencil before working digitally, while others build their letterforms directly with fontdesign. Begin by drawing a few core letters, such as o, u, h, and n, building curves, lines, and shapes that will reappear throughout the font. All the letters in a typeface are distinct from each other, yet they share many attributes, such as x-height, line weight, stress, and a common vocabulary of forms and proportions. You can control the spacing of the typeface by adding blank areas next to each character as well as creating kerning pairs that determine the distance between particular characters. Producing a complete typeface is an enormous task. Yet people with a knack for drawing letterforms, the process is hugely rewarding.

Initial concept designs for the typeface ‘Minion Ese’, the headlining font in this book, designed by Zoë Keidge 54

10 KERNING

Kerning is an adjustment of the space between two letters. The characters of the Latin alphabet emerged over time; they were never designed with mechanical or automated spacing in mind. Thus some letter combinations look awkward without special spacing considerations. Gaps occur, for example, around letters whose forms angle outward or frame an open space (W, Y, V, T). In metal type, a kerned letter extends past the lead slug that supports it, allowing two letters to fit more closely together. In digital fonts, the space between letter pairs is controlled by a kerning table created by the type designer, which specifies spaces between problematic letter combinations. Working in a page layout program, a designer can choose to use metric kerning or optical kerning as well as adjusting the space between letters manually where desired. A welldesigned typeface requires little or no additional kerning.

METRIC KERNING Metric kerning uses the kerning tables that are built into the typeface. When you select metric kerning in your page layout program, you are using the spacing that was intended by the type designer. Metric kerning usually looks good, especially at small sizes. Cheap novelty fonts often have little or no built-in kerning and will need to be optically kerned.

OPTICAL KERNING Optical kerning is executed automatically by the page layout program. Rather than using the pairs addressed in the font's kerning table, optical kerning assesses the shapes of all characters and adjusts the spacing wherever needed. Some graphic designers apply optical kerning to headlines and metric kerning to text. You can make this process efficient and consistent by setting kerning as part of your character styles. 56

Takes Two MINION PRO, WITH KERNING SUPRESSED Spacing appears uneven, with gaps around T/a, T/w and w/o

Takes Two MINION PRO, WITH METRIC KERNING Spacing appears even, between T/a and T/w

Takes Two MINION PRO, WITH METRIC OPTICAL Spacing appears even, between T/a, T/w and w/o

Warm Type MINION PRO ITALIC, WITH KERNING SUPRESSED Spacing appears uneven between W/a and T/y

Warm Type MINION PRO ITALICS, WITH METRIC KERNING Spacing appears more even between W/a and T/y

Warm Type MINION PRO ITALICS, WITH METRIC OPTICAL Spacing is comparable to metric kerning

LOVE LETTERS MINION PRO ALL CAPS, WITH KERNING SUPRESSED Spacing is tight between T/T and loose between O/V

LOVE LETTERS MINION PRO ALL CAPS, WITH METRIC KERNING Improved spacing between T/T

LOVE LETTERS MINION PRO ALL CAPS, WITH METRIC OPTICAL Improved spacing between T/T and O/V

JAMIE CLARKE

JAMIE CLARKE The following is a short showcase of the work of Jamie Clarke. He recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and his speech focused on how he went from a life of graphic design, to a life about typography. This spread showcases his work and briefly talks about who Jamie is. Jamie illustrates type and lettering. Each of his letters tell a story, helping the message come to life. After ten years as a creative director of his own digital agency, he decided to retrain. He studied type design at the Department of Typography at Reading University, and letterpress at the St. Bide Foundation in London. His work all start out as pencil drawings before being redrafted digitally and then finalized in a variety of styles. He also runs the popular type and lettering blog, Type Worship, which explores letter and typography trends.

11 TRACKING

NORMAL TRACKING Letters do love one another, however, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V for example, whose seductive valley makes her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbors a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours.

POSITIVE TRACKING (+20) Letters do love one another, however, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V for example, whose seductive valley makes her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbors a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours.

NEGATIVE TRACKING (-20) Letters do love one another, however, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V for example, whose seductive valley makes her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbors a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours. TYPE CRIME TIGHTLY TRACKED TEXT Letters are tracked too close for comfort.

Adjusting the overall spacing of a group of letters is called tracking or letterspacing. By expanding the tracking across a word, line, or entire block of text, the designer can create a more airy, open field. In blocks of text, tracking is usually applied in small increments, creating a subtle effect not noticeable to the casual reader.

Occasionally, a single word or phrase is tracked for emphasis, especially when CAPS or small caps are used within a line. Negative tracking, rarely desirable in text sizes, can be used sparingly to help bring up a short line of text. White type on a black background is considered more legible when it is tracked. 61

BANANAS CAPITALS: NORMAL TRACKING

BANANAS CAPITALS: LOOSE TRACKING (+75)

bananas, bananas SMALL CAPS: NORMAL VS. LOOSE TRACKING (+75)

bananas, bananas LOWER CASE: NORMAL TRACKING

bananas, bananas LOWER CASE: LOOSE TRACKING (+75)

TYPE CRIME: TRACKING LOWERCASE LETTERS Loosely spaced lowercase letters - especially italics - look awkward becasue these characters are designes to sit closely together on a line. Designers most commonly apply tracking to headlines and logos (where kerning adjustments are also frequently required). As text gets bigger, the space between letters expands, and some designers use tracking to diminish overall spacing in large-scale text. Loose or open tracking is commonly applied to capitals and small capitals, which appear more regal standing slightly apart. 62

SPACE & SPACING

SPACE You can express the meaning of a word or an idea through the spacing, sizing, and placement of letters on the page. Designers often think this way when creating logotypes, posters, or editorial headlines. The compositions shown here express physical processes such as disruption, expansion, and migration through the spacing and arrangement of letters. The round Os in Futura make it a fun typeface to use. 64

LINE SPACING The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing. It is also called leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard

distance creates a denser typographic color, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders. Expanding the line spacing creates a lighter, more open text block. As leading increases, lines of type become independent graphic elements rather than parts of an overall visual shape and texture. 65

different

folks

different

strokes Adjusting line spacing with the baseline shift tool helps create an even appearance.

different

folks

different

strokes Adjusting line spacing with the baseline shift tool helps create an even appearance. 66

The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing. It is also called leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imagining software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive layouts. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour - while risking colisions between ascenders and descenders. 12/12 MINION PRO (12pt type with 12pts line spacing, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;set solidâ&#x20AC;?)

The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing. It is also called leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imagining software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive layouts. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour - while risking colisions between ascenders and descenders. 12/14.4 MINION PRO (Auto spacing, 12pt type with 14.4pts line spacing)

JASMINE DOWLING

JASMINE DOWLING The following is a short showcase of the work of Jasmine Dowling. She recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and her speech focused on her journey to being a typographer, and branching into freelance work. This spread showcases her work and briefly talks about who Jasmine is. Jasmine is based in Brisbane, and like Jess, she studied a Bachelor of Design at the QCA. Jasmine also tried to incorporate her style into university work, and is now widely recognized as a successful brush typographer. On the left page you can see that samples of Jasmines work, showing how many different designs and ways she can use brush typography. She works as a freelancer and also does her own design work, which is sold on her website. Some of the best advice she gave about typography when starting a new style or trying to become a freelancer was to just start.

13 ALIGNMENT

CENTERED Lines of uneven length on a central axis.

JUSTIFIED Left and right edges are both even.

Centered text is formal and classical. It invites the designer to breal a text for sense and create elegant, organic shapes. Centering is often the simplest and most intuitive way to place a typographic element. Used without care, centered text can look staid and mournful, like a tombstone.

Justified text makes a clean shape on the page. Its efficient use of space makes it the norm for newspapers and books. Ugly gaps can occur, however, as text is forced into lines of even measure. Avoid this by using a line length that is long enough in relation to the size of type. As type gets smaller, more words fit on one line.

TYPE CRIME POORLY SHAPED TEXT BLOCK In most uses, centered text should be broken into phrases with a variety of long and short lines.

TYPE CRIME FULL OF HOLES A column that is too narrow if full of gaps

FLUSH LEFT/RAGGED RIGHT CENTERED Left edge is hard;length right on edge is soft axis. Lines of uneven a central

FLUSH RIGHT/RAGGED LEFT JUSTIFIED Rightand edge is hard; soft Left right edgesleft areedge bothiseven.

FlushCentered left text respects the organic flow of text is formal and classical. language avoids thetouneven that It invites and the designer breal a spacing text for sense plagues justified A bad rag can ruin the and create type. elegant, organic shapes. relaxed, organic appearance of a flush Centering is often the simplest and left most column. must strive vigilantly to intuitiveDesigners way to place a typographic element. createwithout the illusion a random, edge Used care,ofcentered textnatural can look staid withoutand resorting to excessive hyphenation. mournful, like a tombstone.

Flush text rightmakes text can be a welcome Justified a clean shape ondeparture the page. the familiar. Usedmakes for captions and side Itsfrom efficient use of space it the norm for bars, it can and suggest affinities elements. newspapers books. Ugly among gaps can occur, Because flush is unusual, can however, as text is right forcedtext into lines of iteven annoy cautious readers. rags threaten measure. Avoid this by using Bad a line length that flush text in just as theytoafflict flush left, and is longright enough relation the size of type. As punctuation canmore weaken thefit hard rightline. edge. type gets smaller, words on one

TYPE CRIME BAD RAGSHAPED TEXT BLOCK POORLY Anmost ugly uses, wedgecentered shape spoils the ragged edge. into phrases with a variety In text should be broken of long and short lines.

TYPE CRIME PUNCTUATION FULL OF HOLES EATS THE EDGE Excessive right edge. A column punction that is tooweakens narrow the if full of gaps

FLUSH LEFT/RAGGED RIGHT Left edge is hard; right edge is soft

FLUSH RIGHT/RAGGED LEFT Right edge is hard; left edge is soft

Flush left text respects the organic flow of language and avoids the uneven spacing that plagues justified type. A bad rag can ruin the relaxed, organic appearance of a flush left column. Designers must strive vigilantly to create the illusion of a random, natural edge without resorting to excessive hyphenation.

Flush right text can be a welcome departure from the familiar. Used for captions and side bars, it can suggest affinities among elements. Because flush right text is unusual, it can annoy cautious readers. Bad rags threaten flush right text just as they afflict flush left, and punctuation can weaken the hard right edge.

TYPE CRIME BAD RAG An ugly wedge shape spoils the ragged edge.

TYPE CRIME PUNCTUATION EATS THE EDGE Excessive punction weakens the right edge.

Choosing to align text in justified, centered, or ragged columns is a fundamental typographic act. Each mode of alignment carries unique formal qualities, cultural associations, and aesthetic risks.

14 VERTICAL TEXT

BOTH DIRECTIONS BOTTOM TO TOP

Vertical baselines, there is no fixed rule determining whether type should run from top to bottom or from bottom to top. It is more common, however, especially in the United States, to run text on the spine of the books from top to bottom. (You can salso run text up and down simultaneously.)

TOP TO BOTTOM SMALL CAPS, STACKED

TYPE CRIME STACKED LOWERCASE

v e r t i g o v e r t i g o v e r t i g o v e r t i g o

Roman letters are designed to sit side by side, not on top of one another. Stacks of lowercase letters are especially awkward because the ascenders and descenders make the vertical spacing appear uneven, and the varied width of the characters makes the stacks look precarious. Capital letters form more stable stacks than lowercase letters. Centering the column helps to even out the differences in width. Many Asian writing systems, including Chinese, are traditionally written vertically; the square shape of the characters supports this orientation. The simplest way to make a line of Latin text vertical is to rotate the text from horizontal to vertical. This preserves the natural affinity among letters sitting on a line while creating a vertical axis. 73

LUKE LUCAS

LUKE LUCAS The following is a short showcase of the work of Luke Lucas. He recently spoke at the 2014 Typism Conference on the Gold Coast, and his speech focused on how he first got into design, and then worked his way into specializing in typography design. This spread showcases his work and briefly talks about who Luke is. Luke is now a freelance creative, art director, illustrator, designer and typographer living on the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. He doesn’t only do type work, however he has said that typography is the work he enjoys most. His work covers all different sorts of styles, and in his Typism speech he talk about why he enjoys typography so much. “I love that the same word, passage or even letter can be treated in bunch of different ways and embody entirely different meanings. That and through subtleties like a slight shift in line weight, the elongation of a tail or the arc you use, a letter can go from contemporary to traditional or happy to sad in a single stroke.”

ENLARGED CAPITALS

n this paragraph, the enlarged capital sits on the same baseline as the text that follows. This simple solution is easy to implement on both page and screen. Setting the first few words of the text block in small cwapitals helps smooth the transition between the initial and the text.

ďż˝

n enlarged letter cut into the text block is called a drop capital or a drop cap. This example was produced using the Drop Caps feature in InDesign. The software automatically creates a space around characters and drops them the requested number of lines. The designer can adjust the size and tracking of the capital to match the surrounding text. The space around the capital is rectangular, which can be visually awkward, as seen here with the sloping silhouette of the letter A.

Initials soon became part of typography. A printer could set them together with the main text in wood blocks or cast lead characters, or add them with a separate process such as engraving. Today, enlarged caps are easily styled as part of a publicationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typographic system.

designers sometimes adapt the drop cap convention for other purposes. An illustration or icon can appear in the place of a letterform. Purely typographic alternatives are also possible, such as inserting a title or subtitle into space carved from the primary text block. Such devices mobilize a familiar page structure for diverse and sometimes unexpected uses.

Enlarged capitals, also called versals, commonly mark the entrance to a chapter in a book or an article in a magazine. Many medieval manuscripts are illuminated with elaborately painted rubrics. This tradition continued with the rise of the printing press. At first, initials were hand-painted onto printed pages, making mass-produced books resemble manuscripts, which were more valuable than printed books.

as it the best of times, the worst of times, or just Times New Roman? The dropped capital used here (the Bold) was positioned as a separate element. a text wrap was applied to an invisible box sitting behind the capital, so that the text appears to flow around the intruding right prow of the W. Likewise, the left prow extends out into the margin, making the character feel firmly anchored in the text block. Hand-crafted solutions like this one cannot be applied systematically.

16 HIERARCHY

BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINED CAPS! TYPE CRIME TOO MANY SIGNALS Emphasis can be created with just one shift

A typographic hierarchy expresses the organization of content, emphasizing some elements and subordinating others. A visual hierarchy helps readers scan a text, knowing where to enter and exit and how to pick and choose among its offerings. Each level of the hierarchy should be signaled by one or more cues, applied consistently across a body of text. A cue can be spatial (indent, line spacing, placement) or graphic (size, style, color). Infinite variations are possible. Writers are trained to avoid redundancy as seen in the expressions “future plans” or “past history.” In typography, some redundancy is acceptable, even recommended. For example, paragraphs are traditionally marked with a line break and an indent, a redundancy that has proven quite practical, as each signal provides backup for the other. To create an elegant economy of signals, try using no more than three cues for each level or break in a document. Emphasizing a word or phrase within a body of text usually requires only one signal. Italic is the standard form of emphasis. There are many alternatives, however, including boldface, small caps, or a change in color. A full-range type family such as Scala has many weight and style variations designed to work together. You can also create emphasis with a different font. If you want to mix font families, adjust the sizes so that the x-heights align.

Minion Names A. Carl B. Phil C. Tom D. Kevin

Minion Names Carl Phil Tom Kevin

Minion Colours A. Yellow B. Yellow C. Yellow D. Purple

Minion Colours Yellow Yellow Yellow Purple

III Minion Eye Count A. One B. Two C. Two D. Two SYMBOLS, INDENTS AND LINE BREAKS

Minion Eye Count One Two Two Two NDENTS AND LINE BREAKS ONLY

minion names Carl Phil Tom Kevin minion colours Yellow Yellow Yellow Purple minion eye count One Two Two Two FONT CHANGE, INDENTS AND LINE BREAKS

Carl minion Phil names Tom Kevin Yellow minion Yellow colours Yellow Purple One minion eye Two couunt Two Two ALIGNMENT, FONT CHANGE AND LINE BREAKS

Bergsland, D., Book Typography: Part One, Hackberry Fonts, last accessed 2015 http:// blog.hackberry-fonts.com/2012/01/booktypography-part-one.html Clarke, J., About Jamie Clarke, Jamie Clarke Type, last modified 2015, http://www. jamieclarketype.com/about-jamie-clarke/ Cruikshank, J., Profile, Jess Wong, last accessed 2015, http://www.jesswong.com Dowling, J., About, Jasmine Dowling, last accessed 2015, http://jasminedowling.com Foster, D., About, Foster Type, last accessed 2015, http://fostertype.com Hackett, C., About, Carla Hackett, last accessed 2015, http://carlahackett.com Hische, J., Thoughts: Talking Type, Jessica Hische, last accessed 2015, http://jessicahische. is/talkingtype Lucas, L., About, Luce Lucas, last accessed 2015, http://www.lukelucas.com 82

Lupton, E., Thinking With Type: Contents, Thinking With Type, last modified 2009, http:// www.thinkingwithtype.com/contents/text/ Phillips, N. Typograph.Journal. Brisbane, Australia: Foyer Print, 2015. Spencer, B., About Me, Barry Spencer Design, last modified 2014, http://barryspencerdesign. com.au Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Jamie Clarke, Typism, last modified 2015, http://typism.com.au/ typism-2015-wrap-up-jamie-clarke/ Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Jess Cruikshank, Typism, last modified 2015, http://typism.com. au/typism-2015-wrap-up-jess-cruickshank/ Typism. 2015. Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Jasmine Dowling. http://typism.com.au/typism-2015wrap-up-jasmine-dowling/ Typism. 2015. Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Dave Foster. http://typism.com.au/typism-2015wrap-up-dave-foster/ Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Carla Hackett, Typism, last modified 2015, http://typism.com.au/ typism-2015-wrap-up-carla-hackett/ Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Luke Lucas, Typism, last modified 2015, http://typism.com.au/ typism-2015-wrap-up-luke-lucas/ Typism 2015 Wrap-up: Barry Spencer, Typism, last modified 2015, http://typism.com.au/ typism-2015-wrap-up-barry-spencer/ 83

THE MINIONS GUIDE TO TYPOGRAPHY

Tank yu, tulaliloo ti amo, & nanna!

ZOË KEIDGE

The Minions Guide To Typography is a book for lovers of Minions, typography and the combination of both in a wonderfully playful font called Minion Ese.

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