God and the Existence of Evil. John Chrysostom "On the Devil"
God (or devil) in the details: text typography
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Transcript of God (or devil) in the details: text typography
God (or devil) in the details :text typography
Keith Tam
1 Orthography
2 Figures (numbers)
3 Detailing
4 Alignment
5 Hyphenation & justification (H&J)
1orthography
An orthography is a standardized system for using a particular writing system (script) to write a particular language. It includes rules of spelling. Other elements of written language that are part of orthography include hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. (Wikipedia)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY&Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Capitals (uppercase) and small letters (lowercase)Inherent in the language, not simply stylistic variants
Capital and small letters have specific uses in the English language. Other languages might have other orthographic conventions for the use of capital and small letters.
The Medium is the Message
The Medium Is The Message
The medium is the message
the medium is the message
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
Different capitalisation methods for a book title (inherent in the orthography)
this is a stylistic choice, not an orthographic convention
preferred for clarity, but not common
only important words need capitalisation
most common
incorrect
The medium is the message
The medium is the message
The medium is the message
The medium is the message
Stylistic variants denoting a ‘title of work’ using sentence case (external to the character set)
used in manuscripts but not typesetting
denotes a title by convention
does not commonly denote a title
does not commonly denote a title
Everything in it’s placeIts a beautiful dayRock ‘n’ rollDVD’sThe 1980’s
Common errors
Everything in its place belong to ‘it’
It’s a beautiful day = it is
Rock ’n’ roll use an apostrophe for what’s missing
DVDs no apostrophe for plurals
The 1980s no apostrophe for decades: it is plural
Common errors
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy -- like anything that lends its grace to language -- typography is an art that can be deliberately misused.
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy-like anything that lends its grace to language-typography is an art that can be deliberately misused.
Hyphens are different from dashes
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused.
European style: word space + en dash + word space
Hyphens are different from dashes
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy — like anything that lends its grace to language —typography is an art that can be deliberately misused.
North American style: thin space + em dash + thin space
8:30 – 11:30 amMonday – Friday
Use en dashes in place of the word ‘to’
Also use en dashes for compounds
En dashes
Vancouver–SeattleKowloon–Canton RailwayHuman–computer interaction
The shop windows are full of elaborately boxed and be - ribboned who - knows - what. In one window is a bank of TV sets - on the great majority of the screens is the face of Mr Helpmann - the Deputy Minister of Information. He is being interviewed. No - one both-ers to listen to Helpmann.
Hyphens or dashes?
The shop windows are full of elaborately boxed and be-ribboned who-knows-what. In one window is a bank of TV sets – on the great majority of the screens is the face of Mr Helpmann – the Deputy Minister of Information. He is being interviewed. No-one bothers to listen to Helpmann.
Yellow highlights = hyphenated words
The shop windows are full of elaborately boxed and be-ribboned who-knows-what. In one window is a bank of TV sets – on the great majority of the screens is the face of Mr Helpmann – the Deputy Minister of Information. He is being interviewed. No-one bothers to listen to Helpmann.
Yellow highlights = dashes
ice–creamice-cream
Do not use en dashes in hyphenated words!
Quotation marks : single or double
Sam says: ‘A “personnel” transporter? They’ve got it wrong. I had a personal transporter.’
Sam says: “A ‘personnel’ transporter? They’ve got it wrong. I had a personal transporter.”
Single first, then double for quote within quote
Double first, then single for quote within quote
Both styles are correct, as long as it is consistent. I strongly prefer the top one for its stylistic simplicity.
Abbreviations and contractions
Mister = MrMissus = MrsMiss = MsDoctor = DrSaint = StStreet = StRoad = RdLimited = LtdAssistant = Asst
Professor = Prof.Reverend = Rev.Company = Co.Avenue = Ave.
Contractions, first and last letterno need for full point at the end
Abbreviations with missing letters need full point at the end
Acroynms
LASER L.A.S.E.R. laserNATO N.A.T.O. NatoUNESCO U.N.E.S.C.O. UnescoIBM I.B.M. IbmWHO W.H.O. WhoUSA U.S.A. UsaC Y Leung C.Y. Leung —
Can be pronouncedwidely accepted
Archaic format with full points
Without full points
Acroynms
LASER L.A.S.E.R. laserNATO N.A.T.O. NatoUNESCO U.N.E.S.C.O. UnescoIBM I.B.M. IbmWHO W.H.O. WhoUSA U.S.A. UsaC Y Leung C.Y. Leung —
Can be pronounced,widely accepted
confusing
common
not preferred
Archaic format with full points
Without full points
Stylistic variant : italics
Foreign words
His raison d’être is to enjoy life to the fullest.She went to a cha chaan teng for breakfast.
Ship name
The Titanic was an ocean linear built in Liverpool.
Movie, play or TV show title
I like Brazil very much – it is an excellent movie.
Book title
The image of the city is a classic text on urban design.
Song title
Whitney Houston’s Greatest love of all was a hit.
Stylistic variants for emphasis
Italic (gentle emphasis)
What on earth are you doing?
Small caps (gentle emphasis)
What on earth are you doing?
Bold, same or different typeface (stronger emphasis)
What the hell are you doing?
Underline (use sparaingly, or better yet, avoid)
What the hell are you doing?
Capital letters (use sparaingly, or better yet, avoid)
What the HELL are you doing?
Dates
20 June 1978 no punctuation necessary, the clearest
20th June 1978 no punctuation necessary, ordinal number
June 20, 1978 cardinal number (twenty), comma needed
June 20th, 1978 ordinal number (twentieth), comma needed
20/6/1978 date, moth, year (British format)
6/20/1978 month, date, year (US format)
1978.6.20 year, month date
2figures (numbers)
Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though
Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though
Plantin with default lining numerals
Plantin with oldstyle numerals – reads better and more refined
Oldstyle (text) figures work well in continuous text
Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club,
Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at no. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though
News Gothic MT with default lining numerals
Scala Sans with oldstyle figures
Typefaces do not always come with oldstyle figures
132847513946211738942813574841212481
Tabular lining figures (usually the default)
Monospaced and line up neatly in columns. Work well with uppercase text and where absolute clarity is required for factual information, financial figures and office documents.(Typeface: Minion Pro)
Apple 58Banana 1200Lychee 314Starfruit 20312
SD1206250 kcal20 February500 ml
574841212481381247349120384712948113
Proportional oldstyle figures (text figures)
They look out of place alongside uppercase letters but work well with small capitals.
Born 1978 in Hong Kongsd1206SD1206
Proportional oldstyle figures work harmoniously with lowercase text as they have ascenders and descenders, but they don’t line up in columns of figures.(Typeface: Minion Pro)
132811475211738119
Proportional lining figures and tablular oldstyle figures
381247349120384712948113
Proportional lining figuresare cap-height but do not line up neatly in columns (monospaced).
Tabular oldstyle figures have ascenders and descenders but line up neatly in columns.
Use real fraction characters
1-1/2 cup freshly choppedthis is typing, not professional typesetting
Use real fraction characters
11/2 cup freshly chopped
1234567890/1234567890
specially designed fraction character
denominators
numerators
any fractions could be typset in Minon Pro
8’ x 10”
8’ x 10”
Use dimensions mark & primes
close double quotation markapostrophe
this is a lowercase ‘x’, not a multiplication sign
8' × 10"
8' × 10"
Use dimensions mark & primes
inchesfeet
multiply(dimensions mark)
The exact origin of the slab-serif letterforms is unknown, but it is likely that they came from signwriting.4 According to James Mosley however, no reliably dated examples of a ‘true slab-serif letter’ exist before the début of the first egyptian printing type by Figgins.5
4 McLean: ‘An examination of egyptians’ p.395 Mosley defines the ‘true slab-serif letter’ as a ‘monoline, geometrical
construction, with square, unbracketed serifs’. Mosley, The Nymph and the Grot p.50
Footnotes : use true superior figures in the text & full size ones in the notes
3detailing
'prime' "prime"
‘quote’ “quote”
Prime marks should not be used as quotation marks
Ligatures : two or more characters designed as one
et & &first firstfloor floor difficult difficult
Th ft fjst ct sp ſh ſi archaic ligatures used in old books
æ œ ß language-specific ligatures : aesc, ethel, eszett
curriculum vitæ æsthetics œuvre
More ligatures
He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical per-sonage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world.
He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world.
True small caps and fake small caps
The obvious solution to this communication problem was to make the type as big and as bold as possible. Michael Twyman writes, ‘[…]the need for bold type related to what might be described as the growth of non-linearity in graphic design’. During the first few decades of the nineteenth century, three main variet-ies of display typefaces emerged. They were, in order of appearance the fat faces, sanser-ifs (more generally known as grotesques or antiques) and slab-serifs (widely known as egyptians or antiques).
The exact origin of the slab-serif letterforms
Orphan : when paragraphs begin on the last line at the bottom of a page or column – avoid!
is unknown, but it is likely that they came from signwriting. According to James Mosley however, no reliably dated examples of a ‘true slab-serif letter’ exist before the début of the first egyptian printing type by Figgins. The first slab-serif typeface called ‘antique’ appeared in a supplement to a 1815 type specimen pub-lished by Vincent Figgins in 1817. It only had capitals, with serifs that were as thick as the main strokes. Its blackness exceeded that of the fat faces which was unprecedented.
The origin of slab-serif letterforms
Orphaned subhead : when a subhead appears at the bottom of a page, separated from the paragraph that follows it.
known as egyptians or antiques).
The exact origin of the slab-serif letterforms is unknown, but it is likely that they came from signwriting. According to James Mosley however, no reliably dated examples of a ‘true slab-serif letter’ exist before the début of the first egyptian printing type by Figgins. The first slab-serif typeface called ‘antique’ appeared in a supplement to a 1815 type specimen pub-lished by Vincent Figgins in 1817. It only had capitals, with serifs that were as thick as the main strokes. Its blackness exceeded that of
Widow : when paragraphs end on the top of a new page or column – avoid!
The exact origin of the slab-serif letterforms is unknown, but it is likely that they came from signwriting. The first slab-serif typeface called ‘antique’ appeared in a supplement to a 1815 type specimen published by Vincent Figgins It only had capitals, with serifs that were as thick as the main strokes. Its black-ness exceeded that of the fat faces which was unprecedented.
Single words on the last line of a paragraph : as long as it is not hyphenated and not too short, it is not a problem. Could edit the text to avoid.(some call this a widow)
‘Keep options’ can be used to automatically avoid orphans and widows and keep lines together
to have at least how many lines in a paragraph at the start and end of the paragraph
keep headings with how many lines of text in the next paragraph
4alignment
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy, like anything that lends its grace to language, typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft
by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited
messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be
read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to
a kind of statuesque transparency.
Centered setting (auto text wrap)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy,
like anything that lends its grace to language,
typography is an art
that can be deliberately misused.
It is a craft by which the meanings of a text
(or its absence of meaning)
can be clarified, honoured and shared,
or knowingly disguised.
Lines broken for sense with generous leading (manual line breaks)
Flush left, ragged right setting without hyphenation (hard rag)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Flush left, ragged right setting without hyphenation (hard rag)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
rag
The rag here is said to be quite ‘wild’, meaning very rough.
Flush left, ragged right setting with hyphenation (soft rag)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like any-thing that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typogra-phy with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Hyphenation makes the rag softer. Hyphenation does not affect readability too much if not excessive.
Justified: word and/or letter spaces are expanded or contracted to fill the width of the column (without hyphenation)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Word spaces could vary too much if hyphenation is not turned on in justified setting. The texture could become quite uneven.
Justified text with hyphenationHyphenation and justification settings are called ‘H&J’ for short
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly dis-guised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, ty-pography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque trans-parency.
Spacing is more even with hyphenation turned on.
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be
deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured
and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention
to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with
anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Flush right, ragged left setting
Not suitable for long texts, and certainly not for body texts. Use sparingly, and break lines for sense (manual line breaks).
TheVancouverSymphonyOrchestra
Without optical margin alignment
The left edge of the text block doesn't seem to be aligned, as the shapes of the letters vary.
TheVancouverSymphonyOrchestra
With optical margin alignment turned on
The left edge is aligned optically instead of mathematically. This tends to work better with smaller text sizes.
enter size of the type here
The obvious solution to this com-munication problem was to make the type as big and as bold as pos-sible. Michael Twyman writes, ‘the need for bold type related to what might be described as the growth of non-linearity in graphic design’.
Without optical margin alignment
Optical margin alignment (hanging punctuation)
The obvious solution to this com-munication problem was to make the type as big and as bold as pos-sible. Michael Twyman writes, ‘the need for bold type related to what might be described as the growth of non-linearity in graphic design’.
5hyphenation & justifiction (h&j)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read,
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of mean-ing) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly dis-guised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typogra-phy must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must
Default settings with no hyphenation, with a rather narrow column width
With hyphenation: slightly better but still not good enough
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Desired =normal word spacingwhat we really want
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Maximum =how much you allow to expand until it would not look good
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Minimum =how much you allow to contract until it would not look good
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Word spacing = spaces between words
This sample shows word spacing reduced to 60%This sample shows word spacing expanded to 180%
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Letter spacing = spaces between letters
This sample shows letter spacing reduced to –5%This sample shows letter spacing expanded to +10%
Minimum Desired Maximum
Word spacing 80% 100% 133%
Letter spacing 0% 0% 0%
Glyph scaling 100% 100% 100%
Default justification values
Glyph scaling = digitally condensing and expanding the type(use with extreme caution or not at all!)
This sample shows a glyph scaling of 90%This sample shows a glyph scaling of 110%
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn.
Like oratory, music, dance, cal-ligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its ab-sence of meaning) can be clar-ified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw at-tention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with
Default settings with no hyphenation, with a rather narrow column width
With hyphenation: slightly better but still not good enough
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn.
Like oratory, music, dance, cal-ligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its ab-sence of meaning) can be clar-ified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw at-tention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with
Default settings with no hyphenation, with a rather narrow column width
With hyphenation: slightly better but still not good enough
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn.
Like oratory, music, dance, cal-ligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, hon-oured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with un-solicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typogra-phy with anything to say therefore
Default settings with no hyphenation, with a rather narrow column width
With hyphenation & justification settings adjusted, and optical margin alignment turned on
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn.
Like oratory, music, dance, cal-ligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, hon-oured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with un-solicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typogra-phy with anything to say therefore
Default settings with no hyphenation, with a rather narrow column width
With hyphenation & justification settings adjusted, and optical margin alignment turned on
This block of text is far too narrow for justified set-ting. The e n o r m o u s word spaces make read-ing very dif-ficult and not to mention ugly.
Good justification is impossible with columns that are too narrow – avoid!
Justified alignment is good for immersive reading material that are meant to be read largely in a linear fashion, eg novels, with symmetrical layouts.
Flush left, ragged right setting is generally preferred for more structured texts and non-linear reading, eg coffee table books, textbooks, non-fiction, etc. with asymmetrical layouts.
thatilendsiitsigraceitoilanguage
Word spacing = 100%said to be about the width of the lowercase i
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Normal word spacing at 100% (optimal)
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy – like anything that lends its grace to language – typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Word spacing = 60%, words harder to be differentiated
Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy — like anything that lends its grace to language — typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honoured and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency.
Word spacing = 180%, lines no longer cohere together
end