The Use of Typography in Print and Electronically.

[typography] “exists to honour content” Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographical Style

Modern day use of typography

• Definition - the style, size and arrangement of the letters in a piece of printing http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

• The art and technique of printing with movable type.

• The composition of printed material from movable type.

• The arrangement and appearance of printed matter. www.dictionary.com

Typography is not simply a means of displaying what you want people to read, it displays emotions and can be used to create personality and feeling.

This means that you should choose your font and spacing carefully and should consider all of the elements of typography

These pictures show how different typefaces provoke different feelings.

Elements of TypographyYou should consider the following 8 points when

creating text. Font choice Font size Font style Justification Margin Paragraph indentation Leading Line length

We will be looking at a few of these points.

Font choice:

A serif is a font with tails

Sans Serif has no tails

Serif fonts should be used for: Text blocks Paper documents Print friendly versions of websites

Examples of serif fonts are:Times New RomanCourier NewPalatino LinotypeBookman Old Style

Sans serif fonts should be used for: Titles and headings Electronic documents

Examples of sans serif fonts are:

Arial

Lucida SansVerdanaTrebuchet MS

Size -When creating text font size should be at least 12 –pt. Headings should be bigger and reflect the importance of the text.

CASE – use case to emphasise words or “SHOUT” at the reader. Do not write blocks of text in complete upper case as it makes reading difficult.

Bold – emphasises words

Underline – use to emphasise words or to show titles.

Italics – use to identify names of books, journals etc or to distinguish certain words.

Generally script or fantasy fonts should not be used in blocks of text as they are hard to read in big chunks. This kind of writing style should be used for headlines or to grab the readers attention. The use of these styles should be kept to a minimum.

Generally script or fantasy fonts should not be used in blocks of text as they are hard to read in big chunks. This kind of writing style should be used for headlines or to grab the readers attention. The use of these styles should be kept to a minimum.

Choosing the right font is essential on the web. If you ever go to a site and the type appears strange or hard to read this could either be bad design from the creator or because the font they specified isn’t available on your computer. Your browser will try to find a similar font which sometimes results in a bad font being used.

Electronic Type

If you choose a font from your hard disk for your website your visitors may not be able to see it so it is best to use common or default fonts. These are the only fonts you can be sure people will have on their computer:

WindowsTimes New RomanArialCourier

MacTimesHelvetica

The best fonts to read on screen

Many people will have these fonts as they are freely downloadable from Microsoft.

Verdana – this font is good for the web because it is wide, has excellent spacing and is easy to read even at small sizes.

Georgia – even though it is a serif it is good for reading on screen because it is flowing and comfortable to read.

You should generally try to not to use any more than 3 fonts on a page and avoid underlining unless for links.

So to summarise, typography plays a huge part in how people perceive your website or print. Therefore choosing the right font and style is essential and many factors should be taken in to consideration. This includes audience, the message you are trying to get across and will your audience have the font you have chosen on their computer and what will replace it if they don’t.

Any questions?

Useful websites

• http://webdesign.about.com/

• http://www.will-harris.com/index.html

• http://www.redsun.com/type/

• http://www.xpressobar.com/tips/typography.shtml

• http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/basic/g/typography.htm